When Ziggy Marley looks at the Occupy movement sweeping the land, he wonders, “Where’s the music?” “In the ’60s and ’70s, there was plenty of music for peaceful revolutions,” Marley said. “Where are these songs now? Who is writing them? From Occupy Wall Street to revolution in Egypt, I wonder where the music is.”
Marley, who plays the Paradise on Wednesday, knows a thing or two about revolution rock.
His father, Bob Marley, is second only to Bob Dylan when it comes to writing pop protest anthems. Ziggy also has penned a few protest tunes equal to dad’s genius — “Justice” and “Tumblin’ Down” come to mind.
After nearly three decades of making music — Ziggy and siblings Stephen, Sharon and Cedella started the Melody Makers as teenagers — the reggae icon worries music is losing its spiritual and political sides.
“I use the analogy of circus with music,” he said. “You have clowns, tightrope walkers, the man that puts his head in the lion’s mouth. But now the circus is all clowns trying to keep us laughing. The tightrope walker is still in the back, but no one’s watching him. People just want entertainment. There’s more to music than entertainment.”
So why hasn’t Ziggy written some Occupy music? Probably because he’s been too busy championing his own uphill battle: the legalization of marijuana.
Last week, a Gallup poll revealed a record-high 50 percent of Americans believe marijuana should be legal. Of course, this means half the country still doesn’t support legalization.
To push his agenda, Marley puts his message in his music.
He wrote the title track to his latest album, the excellent “Wild and Free,” in support of California’s Prop. 19 to legalize marijuana. He even convinced his buddy and fellow legalization advocate Woody Harrelson to sing on the track.
It’s no surprise Ziggy and Woody would sing the praises of weed. The real shocker is that Woody’s voice isn’t bad.
“I had no idea if he could sing or not,” Marley said, then chuckled. “We were at my house and I was recording and he just started singing. I said, ‘Oh, man, that sounds good, keep going.’ ”
He’s also pushing his cause with a comic book titled “Marijuanaman,” which came out, not surprisingly, April 20.
A longtime comic book geek (shocking, right?), Marley created “Marijuanaman” with writer Joe Casey and artist Jim Mahfood. Twisting the Superman origin, the team crafted a story of an alien with a galactic view of our planet’s dwindling resources and his dream to save us all with one super-plant.
Comic books and duets with Woody Harrelson — probably not what Dad would have done. But listening to Marley’s catalog from his ’88 breakout “Conscious Party” to “Wild and Free,” it’s clear he’s no clown. Maybe he should take a crack at writing that Occupy theme song.
