Bob Marley Interview, NYC, June 1975

From the GraffitiVerite.com website.

“Bob [Bryan] has agreed to release this Classic Interview with Bob Marley from his archives, exclusively on the GraffitiVerite.com website only. The copyrights to all images and Interviews belong solely to Mr. Bryan and may not be duplicated, linked or published without prior written permission of Mr. Bryan.

I met Bob Marley at a Dance Hall Recital in NYC. We agreed to meet to do an interview for my New Magazine IMPRESSIONS MAGAZINE OF THE ARTS. Bob Marley indicated that he hated doing interviews, because “they” were always quoting him “out of context” and leaving out important points that were important to him. I promised him that if he agreed to do the interview, I would print it exactly like we conducted it, without leaving anything out. I would have agreed to anything because this was a hugely significant interview for the fresh New Magazine Publisher.

(In fact I agreed to not only put him on the front cover, but also to put him on the back cover of the magazine-which I subsequently did.)

I rendezvoused with Bob at his suite in a hotel in downtown Manhattan. I noticed that he had a huge BMW parked downstairs.

One of the first questions I asked before the official interview started was “What’s up with the BMW?” Bob Marley’s smiled and generously responded,

“What do ya mean Mon?”

“I mean, you got this really expensive luxury car downstairs; don’t you think thats a little incompatable with your down-to-earth image?” Bob leaned forward, smiled broadly and replied, “Think about it Mon, BMW, Bob Marley and the Wailers.” That irony struck me as hilariously funny ,and I accepted it as totally clear and perfect explanation as Bob Marley and the cub reporter (me) shared our first of many monster laughs together that memorable NYC summer afternoon.

After that great moment, I offered Bob Marley a small token of my respect and admiration.. He looked at my token gift and said, “What is that Mon?”

“It’s a gift, ” I replied. “Put that t’ing away Mon, this is how we do it.” After sprinkling and rolling a newspaper into the longest phatest tube I’ve ever seen, we began to relax and settle in. After sharing what Bob called a “Spliff,” I was so far gone I couldn’t remember my own name, never you mind conduct an lucid professional interview with the Great Bob Marley. My mind was a total blank!

Nevertheless being a professional, I pressed on and thanks to my trusty tape recorder, I was able to have a record of the “Interview.” Later when I played it back for himself, I couldn’t understand the thick Patois (accent) of Bob. Strangely enough, I couldn’t understand myself either!! I seemed to have dropped into the same Jamaican Patois as him .

It really is an amazing piece of tape!!

The ultimate solution was to have someone familar with the dialect, translate it. I hired the services of some sympathetic Jamaican‘s, who lived in Brooklyn, NYC. What follows is my strange interview with the irrepressible Bob Marley of the Wailers.”