Radio X, side B, track 1: “Tumblin’ Down” by Ziggy Marley and The Melody Makers

Oh, Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers, I think this song is all political stuff, but at the time I heard it, it just sounded like a cool fight between an eagle, a bear, and a lion.  That sounded pretty awesome to me.  I would pay to see that fight.  Now, I’d pay to NOT see that fight.  And at the time, since to my untrained ears you had such a foreign, thick accent, I thought you were singing “The Lord gon’ come tumblin’ down” instead of what you were actually singing that “the load” was tumblin’ down.  I probably wouldn’t have made any sense of it anyway, but I thought this song was all Biblical and stuff.  And as someone who’d attended my share of Bible camp where the only time you heard about God in a song was when they were singing how great He was, I was pretty blown away that someone was singing that the Lord was going to tumble down.  That’s pretty heavy stuff, Ziggy Marley and The Melody Makers, for a young boy raised to believe that the Lord was eternal and infallible.  And here was some guy on my radio singing that He was gonna tumble right down.  Needless to say, I didn’t bring up my interpretation of this song to anyone in my family who was religious as they might have told me I could no longer listen to it.  And THAT would have been sacrilege.

“Tumblin’ Down”

Here comes the eagle

Here comes the bear

And they’re fighting to control
The lion’s dominion

But the load gon’ come
Tumbling down
Load gon’ come
Tumbling down
The load gon’ come
Tumbling down
Load gon’ come

Tumblin’ down

Here comes synthetic food
And their big money

And they want to control
Our body and soul

But the load gon’ come
Tumbling down
The load gon’ come
Tumbling down
Oh yah!
Load gon’ come
Tumbling down
Load gon’ come

It’s gonna tumble right down

Here comes the eagle

Like a chicken
Here comes the bear

They fighting to control
The lion’s dominion

Not today or tomorrow
Load gon’ come
Tumbling down (tumbling down)
Load gon’ come
Tumbling down (tumbling down)
The load gon’ come
Tumbling down (tumbling)
Load gonna come

Tumblin’ down
(Load gon’ come)
(Tumbling down)
Load gon’ come
Tumblin’ down
The load gon’ come
Tumbling down
The load gonna come

Tumblin’ down