Om voor de hand liggende redenen actueler dan ooit. Marley schreef de song naar aanleiding van een politieinval in de woning van Joe Higgs, een goede vriend van de band en de mentor van The Wailers. Arme Jamaïcanen – en met name Rastafarians – waren regelmatig het slachtoffer van politiegeweld en Marley vond het zijn plicht de Jamaïcaanse onderklasse – waar hij zelf ook ooit toe behoorde – een stem te geven.
De tekst kan uiteraard verschillend gelezen worden. Marley zélf prefereerde een ‘spirituele’ lezing (“burning all illusions”), maar hij gaf toe dat de tekst ook ánders gelezen kon worden: “In the end, Marley didn’t want to limit his lyrics to a single interpretation. Anderson [vriendin van Bob] explained how the words took on a different meaning from its “Weepin’ and Wailin’” start. “When we came to London to record it, Bob changed it to ‘Burnin’ and Lootin’,” she told Steffens. “Because he said, ‘That’s what’s going on down there”.
O God, I was a prisoner, too – yeah!
Could not recognize the faces standing over me
They were all dressed in uniforms of brutality. (Ay!)
How many rivers do we have to cross
Before we can talk to the boss? (Yeah!)
All that we got, it seems we have lost
We must have really paid the cost
(That’s why we gonna be)
Burning and a-looting tonight
(Say we gonna burn and loot)
Burning and a-looting tonight
(One more thing)
Burning all pollution tonight
(Oh, yeah, yeah)
Burning all illusion tonight
Oh, stop them!
Give me the food and let me grow
Let the Roots Man take a blow
All them drugs gonna make you slow now
It’s not the music of the ghetto. (Ay!)
Weeping and a-wailing tonight
(Who can stop the tears?)
Weeping and a-wailing tonight
(We’ve been suffering these long, long-a years!)
Weeping and a-wailing tonight
(Will you say cheer?)
Weeping and a-wailing tonight
(But where?)
Give me the food and let me grow
Let the Roots Man take a blow
All them drugs gonna make you slow now
It’s not the music of the ghetto. (Ay!)
We gonna be burning and a-looting tonight
(To survive, yeah!)
Burning and a-looting tonight
(Save your baby lives)
Burning all pollution tonight
(Pollution, yeah, yeah!)
Burning all illusion tonight
(Lord-a, Lord-a, Lord-a, Lord!)
Burning and a-looting tonight
Burning and a-looting tonight
