Bob Marley And The Wailers - "Rat Race"

"'Rat Race' appeared on the Rastaman Vibration album, which was released in May 1976 on the Island label. The song was instantly popular and remained in the Wailers' repertoire for many years. Its popularity with Jamaican and non-Jamaican audiences all over the world is no doubt due to its reference to both a specifically Jamaican situation and a more universal context of suffering and oppression. In other words, the song's message was sufficiently clear for every Jamaican to pick up all the references in 1976 and vague enough for every listener to interpret it according to the situation he or she was in at the time (Marley's use of proverbs or proverb-like statements like 'When the cat's away, the mice will play' and 'In the abundance of water, the fool is thirsty' ensured that). When 'Rat Race' was first released in May 1976, the People's National Party was in office with Michael Manley as Prime Minister. ... Once in office, Manley's government launched a raft of measures like free education and a land reform, but these measures cost money and the 1973 oil crisis dealt a serious blow to the Jamaican economy. ..."

PERFECT SOUND FOREVER (Video)