Ijahman Levi was born Trevor Sutherland in Jamaica in 1946 and is a reggae … Read Full Bio ↴Ijahman Levi was born Trevor Sutherland in Jamaica in 1946 and is a reggae musician. His first album, Haile I Hymn, was released on Island Records in 1978. He became Ijahman Levi after a religious conversion to the Rastafari movement in prison where he was between 1972 and 1974. It and the three following records preached Rastafari movement as well as Twelve Tribes of Israel doctrine.

* 1978 : Haile I Hymn [Chapter 1] - Mango Records
* 1979 : Are We a Warrior - Mango Records
* 1983 : Tell It to the Children - Tree Roots
* 1990 : Africa - RAS
* 1995 : Live in Paris - Tree Roots
* 1996 : Sings Bob Marley - Com Four
* 2003 : Roots of Love - Melodie

Redemption Song
Ijahman Levi Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Old pirates, yes, they rob I;
Sold I to the merchant ships,
Minutes after they took I From the bottomless pit.
But my hand was made strong By the 'and of the Almighty.
We forward in this generation Triumphantly.
Won't you help to sing These songs of freedom - '
Cause all I ever have: Redemption songs; Redemption songs.
Emancipate yourselves from mental

slavery; None but ourselves can free our minds.
Have no fear for atomic energy, '
Cause none of them can stop the time.
How long shall they kill our
prophets, While we stand aside and look Ooh!
Some say it's just a part of it: We've got to fulfil de book.
Won't you help to sing These songs of freedom - '
Cause all I ever have: Redemption songs; Redemption songs;
Redemption songs.
--- [Guitar break] --- Emancipate yourselves from
mental slavery; None but ourselves can free our mind.
Wo!
Have no fear for atomic energy, '
Cause none of them-a can-a stop-a the time.
How long shall they kill our prophets,
While we stand aside and look Yes,
some say it's just a part of it: We've got to fulfil de book.
Won't you help to sing Dese songs of freedom - '

Cause all I ever had: Redemption songs - All I ever had:
Redemption songs: These songs of freedom, Songs of freedom.

Overall Meaning

The first verse of Ijahman Levi's "Redemption Song" sets the stage for a story of oppression and resistance. He describes old pirates robbing him and selling him into slavery. He implies that his life was a descent into a "bottomless pit." However, he finds strength in the "hand of the Almighty" and moves forward with triumph in his heart. He invites his listeners to sing along with him in pursuit of freedom, to help break the chains of oppression, and to celebrate redemption songs.

The second verse is a call to mental emancipation. Levi cautions against allowing ourselves to fall under the domination of mental slavery. He reminds us that we are the only ones who can free our minds. He also urges us not to fear atomic energy, which, as a powerful metaphor, might represent any intimidating force. He tells us that none of these forces will stop the march of progress or the erosion of power. The final part of the verse, a nod to the struggles of the prophets, is a call to action. Some say that the slaughter of prophets is "just a part of it," or just how things work. However, Levi reminds us that we've got to "fulfill de book," a reference to prophetic books such as the Book of Revelation, and work to create a better world.

Line by Line Meaning

Old pirates, yes, they rob I;
I was robbed by old pirates.

Sold I to the merchant ships,
I was sold to merchant ships.

Minutes after they took I From the bottomless pit.
They took me from a terrible place shortly after they bought me.

But my hand was made strong By the 'and of the Almighty.
God made me strong.

We forward in this generation Triumphantly.
We are going to move forward to victory in this generation.

Won't you help to sing These songs of freedom - '
Can't you help me sing about freedom?

Cause all I ever have: Redemption songs; Redemption songs.
All I have is songs of redemption.

Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery; None but ourselves can free our minds.
We need to free ourselves from mental slavery because nobody else can do it for us.

Have no fear for atomic energy, '
We shouldn't be afraid of atomic energy.

Cause none of them can stop the time.
Nobody can stop time.

How long shall they kill our prophets, While we stand aside and look Ooh!
Why do we stand by and let them kill our prophets?

Some say it's just a part of it: We've got to fulfil de book.
Some people believe it's inevitable and we must follow what's written in the book.

Won't you help to sing These songs of freedom - '
Can't you help me sing about freedom?

Cause all I ever have: Redemption songs; Redemption songs;
All I have are songs of redemption.

Redemption songs.
Songs about redemption.

--- [Guitar break] ---

Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery; None but ourselves can free our mind.
We need to free ourselves from mental slavery because nobody else can do it for us.

Wo!

Have no fear for atomic energy, '
We shouldn't be afraid of atomic energy.

Cause none of them-a can-a stop-a the time.
Nobody can stop time.

How long shall they kill our prophets,
Why do they keep killing our prophets?

While we stand aside and look Yes,
We just stand there and watch it happen.

some say it's just a part of it: We've got to fulfil de book.
Some people believe it's inevitable and we must follow what's written in the book.

Won't you help to sing Dese songs of freedom - '
Can't you help me sing about freedom?

Cause all I ever had: Redemption songs - All I ever had:
All I've ever had are songs of redemption.

Redemption songs: These songs of freedom, Songs of freedom.
Songs about redemption are songs of freedom.

Contributed by Sebastian I. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

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