Smoke Two Joints
1992 · From 40oz. to Freedom
Two brothers wrote it in Waikiki in 1982; Sublime's 1992 cover buried the original and got misfiled under Bob Marley.
★ 3.0
The Songs canon
Sourced and sung.
Every song chosen by hand, with the recording to play it.
Browse all 2,393 songs or filter by genre, subject, artist, and year.
Browse all 2,393 songs or filter by genre, subject, artist, and year.
Red Red Wine
1983
UB40 knew only Tony Tribe's reggae cover, saw "N Diamond" on the label, and guessed a Jamaican singer.
★ 4.5
April 29, 1992
1996 · From Sublime
Nowell sings the wrong date, April 26, and the band kept the take anyway; he died before the album arrived.
★ 4.7
Bongo Bong
1998 · From Clandestino
A Mano Negra tune remade over a Black Uhuru groove, and the same melody resurfaces twice more on Clandestino.
★ 4.8
Uptown Top Ranking
1977
Two Jamaican teenagers, seventeen and eighteen, answering Trinity over Alton Ellis's riddim, number one in Britain within months.
★ 5.3
Murder She WroteChaka Demus & Pliers
Murder She Wrote
1994
Sly and Robbie cut it over the Bam Bam riddim, and Omarion, Pitbull and Jason Derulo all borrowed it later.
★ 5.4
Tide is High (Blondie)
1980
A Paragons rocksteady tune from 1967, Jimmie Haskell's horns and strings on top, and Harry strolling to number one.
★ 5.5
Trenchtown RockBob Marley and the Wailers
Trenchtown Rock
1977
Self-produced by the Wailers, and the track that opened the Lyceum nights Island taped in July 1975.
★ 5.7
Clandestino
1998 · From Clandestino
Recorded on portable gear while Chao roamed Latin America, an undocumented migrant's lament carried by the lightest guitar.
★ 5.8
Me Gustas Tu
2000 · From Proxima Estacion: Esperanza
Three guitar chords, spoken city names saluting Havana's Radio Reloj, and a list of small pleasures that lands on you.
★ 5.8
Is This Love (Bob Marley)Bob Marley and the Wailers
Is This Love (Bob Marley)
1978 · From Kaya
Kaya's warmest track went top ten in Britain, and its London video gave a young Naomi Campbell her debut.
★ 6.4
Welcome to Jamrock
2005
An Ini Kamoze sample under it, Stephen Marley at the desk, and verses answering the postcard version of Jamaica.
★ 6.5
Watching the Detectives
1977 · From My Aim is True
Costello wrote it after a night with the first Clash album; Nieve's piano stalks it like Bernard Herrmann.
★ 6.6
54-46 Was My NumberToots and the Maytals
54-46 Was My Number
1969
Hibbert's prison number for a title, eighteen months served on a charge he disputed, Leslie Kong producing.
★ 6.7
Many Rivers to CrossJimmy Cliff
Many Rivers to Cross
1969 · From Jimmy Cliff
Fifteen minutes on foot to a New York studio was all the writing time, and Blackwell approved it instantly.
★ 6.9
I Shot the SheriffBob Marley and the Wailers
I Shot the Sheriff
1973 · From Burnin'
Marley swapped police for sheriff to avoid a government fuss, and Clapton's 1974 cover became his only American number one.
★ 7.3
Three Little BirdsBob Marley and the Wailers
Three Little Birds
1977 · From Exodus
Reportedly inspired by canaries at his Hope Road windowsill, cut in London, and the gentlest reassurance in reggae.
★ 7.4
The Harder They Come
1972 · From Original Soundtrack (The Harder They Come)
Cliff coined the phrase on set, Henzell made it the film's title, and the Dynamic Sounds session was filmed.
★ 7.5
Get Up, Stand Up
1973 · From Burnin'
Written with Tosh after Marley toured Haiti, and the last song he ever sang onstage, Pittsburgh, September 1980.
★ 7.7