We won't stand for this!

Get up, Stand up by Bob Marley

Get up, stand up: stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up: stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up: stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up: don't give up the fight!

Preacherman, don't tell me,
Heaven is under the earth.
I know you don't know
What life is really worth.
It's not all that glitters is gold;
'Alf the story has never been told:
So now you see the light, eh!
Stand up for your rights. Come on!

Get up, stand up: stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up: don't give up the fight!
Get up, stand up: stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up: don't give up the fight!

Most people think,
Great God will come from the skies,
Take away everything
And make everybody feel high.
But if you know what life is worth,
You will look for yours on earth:
And now you see the light,
You stand up for your rights. Jah!

Get up, stand up! (Jah, Jah!)
Stand up for your rights! (Oh-hoo!)
Get up, stand up! (Get up, stand up!)
Don't give up the fight! (Life is your right!)
Get up, stand up! (So we can't give up the fight!)
Stand up for your rights! (Lord, Lord!)
Get up, stand up! (Keep on struggling on!)
Don't give up the fight! (Yeah!)

We sick an' tired of-a your ism-skism game -
Dyin' 'n' goin' to heaven in-a Jesus' name, Lord.
We know when we understand:
Almighty God is a living man.
You can fool some people sometimes,
But you can't fool all the people all the time.
So now we see the light (What you gonna do?),
We gonna stand up for our rights! (Yeah, yeah, yeah!)

So you better:
Get up, stand up! (In the morning! Git it up!)
Stand up for your rights! (Stand up for our rights!)
Get up, stand up!
Don't give up the fight! (Don't give it up, don't give it up!)
Get up, stand up! (Get up, stand up!)
Stand up for your rights! (Get up, stand up!)
Get up, stand up! ( ... )
Don't give up the fight! (Get up, stand up!)
Get up, stand up! ( ... )
Stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up!
Don't give up the fight! /fadeout/

       Bob Marley was a very very famous singer during mid 1900s to late 1900s. Marley was a artist of reggae, who specialized in his area of music. Bob Marley is widely known for his songs in social issues, but more importantly oppression. I first heard of Bob Marley on the radio when I tuned in to Magic 106.7. It was then when the station played "One Love," that I discovered a new artist that I liked. It wasn't until later on in high school that I looked into his songs. "Get up, Stand Up" was a classic hit talking about people standing up for their rights. The song a has a nice groove that a person can easily get lost into, if there don't listen to the lyrics. The message is quite clear that there is inequality of some sort is going on. This could still pertain to slavery, but more likely the rights of Blacks in America. Remember African Americans were still oppressed even if the population of the African Americans exceeded the population of the whites in some states. 

       There is also an underlining message about religion. Bob Marley talks about religion, most likely Catholicism, and how it is now helping the situation on Earth. The song speaks of how people are tired of the story of people going to heaven, when their oppress on Earth. People are waiting for God to save them on Earth, but nothing is happening. As a result, Bob Marley speaks in the song that although people might go to heaven, you must also live your actually life on Earth and not just the afterlife. That is why Marley tells people to stand up for their rights because you do not just have one life to live.