Lyrics to
Rat Race

This version of Rat Race was released by Bob Marley in 1976.

Our About Bob Marley page at Decade Lyrics includes the lyrics for Rat Race from 1976 as well as all of the other lyrics from Bob Marley that we have in our lyrics database.

Here's more interesting things in songs and lyrics tied to Bob Marley or about the 1970s in general.

Uh! Ya too rude!
Uh! Eh! What a rat race!
Oh, what a rat race!
Oh, what a rat race!
Oh, what a rat race!
This is the rat race! Rat race! (Rat race!)

Some a lawful, some a bastard, some a jacket:
Oh, what a rat race, yeah! Rat race!

Some a gorgon-a, some a hooligan-a, some a guine-gog-a
In this ‘ere rat race, yeah!
Rat race!
I’m singin’ that
When the cat’s away,
The mice will play.
Political voilence fill ya city, ye-ah!
Don’t involve Rasta in your say say;
Rasta don’t work for no C.I.A.
Rat race, rat race, rat race! Rat race, I’m sayin’:
When you think is peace and safety:
A sudden destruction.
Collective security for surety, ye-ah!

Don’t forget your history;
Know your destiny:
In the abundance of water,
The fool is thirsty.
Rat race, rat race, rat race!

Rat race!
Oh, it’s a disgrace
To see the human-race
In a rat race, rat race!
You got the horse race;
You got the dog race;
You got the human-race;
But this is a rat race, rat race!

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Bob Marley has released many songs over the years besides Rat Race. Bob Marley released songs from 1973 to 1995 spanning across albums like Catch A Fire, Burnin', Natty Dread, Live!, Rastaman Vibration, Exodus, Kaya, Babylon By Bus, Survival, Uprising, Confrontation, Rebel Music, and Natural Mystic: The Legend Lives On. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Bob Marley.

If you're a fan of 1970s songs looking for more songs from 1976 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and Rat Race by Bob Marley

The lyrics for Rat Race are defined as the words making up the song released by Bob Marley in 1976. It also includes the verses and words used by the background chorus in the song. Like many hit songs, the lyrics to Rat Race have different meanings to different people. While it is clear in some of the lyrics what the artist is trying to really say, only Bob Marley and those working with them know all of the meanings behind all of the lyrics to their songs.

Some folks are interested in word and phrase etymology. It is easy to understand the lyrics to Rat Race by Bob Marley if you think through it. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to Rat Race" means the words set to the music of Rat Race, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Bob Marley. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to Rat Race and the lyrics to Rat Race are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Bob Marley who came here looking just for the lyrics to Rat Race, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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