The social messages conveyed by the song ‘Get Up, Stand Up’ by Bob Marley and the poem ‘Civil Rights’ by Aldo Kraas, are the issues of oppression, standing up for your rights and racial injustice. Both poem and song are vehicles for social protest, and when used effectively are successful at getting across the message to a reader or listener although they express their messages in slightly different ways.
The song 'Get Up Stand Up' is a song which discusses the importance of standing up for your rights because no one else is going to do it for you. Don't wait, and expect god to make everything right, get up and do something to help yourself and others. “But if you know what life is worth, you will look for yours on earth, so you better stand up for your rights”. This line is an example of how the song talks about how if you don't do it yourself, things aren't going to happen. It discusses how one has to take responsibility for themselves and do something, thus the title of the song.
The poem 'Civil Rights’ focuses more on stating what everyone in the world deserves, what they are entitled to have or do. The line “Every body deserves the same treatment, everybody deserves the same education” is an example of a typical line of the song, as it is followed by ten lines which are extremely similar. The song ‘Get Up Stand Up’ focuses on God in all verses. An example of this is the line “Almighty God is a living man.” The poem ‘Civil Rights’ also mentions religion in the line “Everybody has the right to go to church”. The difference is that god and religion is a major focus of the song ‘Get Up Stand Up’ while the poem ‘Civil Rights’ only mentions the issue and doesn’t discuss it to the same extent as the song does. However, this is the only main difference and the two pieces have basically the same message even though they convey that message in different ways.
Bob Marley knew the issue of rights and respect well. As Marley's music career took him to many places, such as America and London, he was exposed to many, who could have thought less of him, or treated him differently because of the colour of his skin as he was a black man from Jamaica. Although Marley’s race is not actually discussed in the song, it is assumed that readers will realize this and there is a message beneath the lyrics. Aldo Kraas has a different situation, and he simply wrote about this issue as he felt it needed to be expressed. One of his opening lines is “It was made for everybody, it includes White, Black, and Yellow” which sets up the rest of the poem with the idea of racial issues. Both pieces discuss this issue although there is a deeper message in Marley’s song.
The purpose of both pieces is to raise awareness and inform the readers of the issues. Although they have similar purposes, Bob Marley is more direct with his song, actually stating what he wants to achieve. The poem 'civil rights' simply states many things that should be, but not actually discussing what the desired result is.
The song 'Get up stand up' is written with a positive attitude. It is very upbeat and is almost optimistic in the way that it attempts to convey the message. It urges listeners to make a difference and do something about the problem. It doesn't approach the problem in a negative way and try to scare people into action as some songs do and this is one reason why it is effective. The lyrics are so strong that it is obvious how Bob Marley feels about what is happening and that the issue is very close to heart.
It makes people want to act out, an example of this is the line 'come on now, get up, stand up!' The punctuation in this line makes this line energetic and the backing tracks help build this up. The poem 'civil rights' is very different, and it shows great passion from Kraas. No strong language or punctuation is used which results in the poem being somewhat dry, although it is evident that the poet does feel strongly about the issue.
Both pieces use craftsmanship, using different techniques to express the message. The song 'Get up Stand up' uses imagery to convey the messages, particularly when the subject of God is discussed. ‘Great god will come from the skies’ is an example of imagery. When one reads or hears this line, an image is created in their head as the line is describing an actual event. Repetition is also used as the chorus is repeated often throughout the song. It is repeated many times which results in the chorus being easily remembered. The poem civil rights doesn't use imagery to create images, and there are actually very few techniques used. The main technique which is quite obvious, is repetition, in that the last twelve lines have the same beginning, all starting with 'everyone'. Apart from that one technique, there are no others.
The voicing used in 'Get up stand up' is more effective as it is a recording, and multiple voices are used and the layering adds more depth to the song, something which can't be expressed through poetry. Some of the lines in the song require one to think about the lyrics, and there are multiple ways they can be interpreted. “We sick an tired of-a your ism-skism game -Dyin n goin to heaven in-a Jesus name, lord.” This can be interpreted as an anti religious remark, or simply a hint to get up and do something. The language used in the poem 'Civil Rights' is very easy to understand, unlike that in the song ‘Get Up Stand Up’.
Both the song 'Get Up Stand Up' and the poem 'Civil Rights are vehicles of social protest and convey their messages clearly. However, of the two pieces I believe that the song 'Get up stand up' is the more successful piece at conveying the message of racial injustice and standing up for your rights. The poem ‘Civil Rights’ by Aldo Kraas is not well known and recognized as a piece of effective protest poetry. The song ‘Get Up, Stand Up’ has been played on television, radio, multiple CD’s and could potentially appear in movies. It comes across in a more memorable and influential way as it uses a wider variety of techniques and is a stronger piece. It is famous around the world as a protest song because of its effectiveness.
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