‘Firebrand, poet and heart-throb’: how the film One Love captures the truth about Bob Marley | Bob Marley
Harry J’s studio, Kingston, Jamaica, winter 1976. Wearing a Spartan Health Club T-shirt and busted sandals, Bob Marley finishes singing a take of a weirdly cheery song called Smile Jamaica. I had been reporting from the island for the British rock press and was popping by to give my farewells – only to be surprised by this ditty that sounded like a tourism commercial. Why so upbeat? Marley took a swig of green juice and, frowning, crisply replied: “People in Jamaica too vex.”Vex means angry, and the truth of his analysis…