Crazy Baldheads

Captain Trips is talking out of his ass, and this is coming from a Jamaican. The government is not run by white people and most Jamaican citizens are not Rastafarians. Rastafarians are a minority discriminated against by a large portion of the Jamaican population. However, Bob, in referring to the baldheads here was expanding the plight of rastafarians to that of the majority of the population because in Jamaica "baldhead" and "babylon" is used to refer to the establishment as set up by colonial powers and as they have continued. The song is a post-colonial lament and call-to-arms that could be sung by any former colonial peoples exploited to create wealth for an upper-class that benefits from their hardwork then tries to teach them to hate themselves and adopt the attitudes and perspectives of the oppressive powers that be (Brainwash education). The first poster mostly got it.

maybe.. just my guess.. he doesn't like how his people work and work for the goverment and what they get in return is hate, scorn, poverty, and being brainwashed while they get educated. And i guess he wants to chase them outa town and get a better goverment so these things don't happen to his people.

Jamaica didn't achieve full independence until 1962. At the time Bob wrote this song (1976), Jamaica was still very much dealing with the social and political ramifications of British rule. As far as the Rastafari, it is and was a popular movement that was made even more popular by Roots music, so the government did try to use the music for their own gain. So yes, there is alot of politics and colonialism in the song, but the real origin of the song is much simpler than that.

The history that the Bob Marley Museum in Kingston (his old house - great trip btw - a must) gives on their tour was that Bob, being from south Kingston, moved into a nice house on the northeast side of town that was an affluent neighborhood with Kingston's who's who's living there. Bob moved in and lived life large. He would have people over for footie matches and jam sessions on the back porch. The neighbourhood wasn't used to all this sort of activity.

After a late night of (more than likely) a lot of medicinal herbs and jamming with friends, his neighbours, who were white by the way, complained. Bob was pissed off enough to write this song. It is true that this song carries the weight of the oppressive colonial history of Jamaica as a whole, the song is also about his @$$h@le neighbours that personified, as you can hear, a lot of what was going wrong with Jamaica at the time.

what does this song meaaann?

maybe.. just my guess.. he doesn't like how his people work and work for the goverment and what they get in return is hate, scorn, poverty, and being brainwashed while they get educated. And i guess he wants to chase them outa town and get a better goverment so these things don't happen to his people.

Is he talking about skinheads?

takemeaway is close. To understand the meaning of the song, one must understand something about bob. bob is a rastafarian (obviously). They believe a verse in the bible indicates that one must not cut his hair to remain holy. this practice is primarily a black-jamaican one. the government is really messed up in jamaica, it's ran by all white christians, but the majority of the citizens are black and rastafarian. Thus the government, are the "crazy baldheads."

hmm...i'd have to say that captain trips is right. but to elaborate even further, i think that marley is speaking out in particular about the christian missions to convert rastafarian people/other religions to christianity ("telling us of your god above"), and, as already stated, their political/economic/social monopoly in jamaica, despite the difference in numbers. one <3 ~ Che

Its not the just the gov't or the christians. If you weren't Rasta, you were a baldhead. He's talking about all non Rastas in general.

the baldheads = people with no dreadlocks