Lyrics to
Slave Driver

This version of Slave Driver was released by Bob Marley in 1973.

Our About Bob Marley page at Decade Lyrics includes the lyrics for Slave Driver from 1973 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.

Ooh-ooh-oo-ooh. Oo-oo-ooh! Oo-oo-ooh.
Slave driver, the table is turn; (catch a fire)
Catch a fire, so you can get burn, now. (catch a fire)
Slave driver, the table is turn; (catch a fire)
Catch a fire: gonna get burn. (catch a fire) Wo, now!

Ev’rytime I hear the crack of a whip,
My blood runs cold.
I remember on the slave ship,
How they brutalize the very souls.
Today they say that we are free,
Only to be chained in poverty.
Good God, I think it’s illiteracy;
It’s only a machine that makes money.
Slave driver, the table is turn, y’all. Ooh-ooh-oo-ooh.

Slave driver, uh! The table is turn, baby, now; (catch a fire)
Catch a fire, so you can get burn, baby, now. (catch a fire)
Slave driver, the table is turn, y’all; (catch a fire)
Catch a fire: so you can get burn, now. (catch a fire)

Ev’rytime I hear the crack of a whip,
My blood runs cold.
I remember on the slave ship,
How they brutalize the very soul.

O God, have mercy on our souls!
Oh, slave driver, the table is turn, y’all; (catch a fire)
Catch a fire, so you can get burn. (catch a fire)
Slave driver, the table is turn, y’all; (catch a fire)
Catch a fire …

---

Want more lyrics and songs by Bob Marley?

Bob Marley has released many songs over the years besides Slave Driver. 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 popular 1970s songs looking for more songs from 1973 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and Slave Driver by Bob Marley

The lyrics to Slave Driver are just the words, phrases, verses and chorus that Bob Marley used when the song was created in 1973. The lyrics to Slave Driver have both easy-to-spot meanings and hidden metaphors that have been discussed by the music press and fans, but only Bob Marley and any collaborators know all of the inspirations for the song.

If you like etymology or breaking apart phrases and words, it is easy to understand the lyrics to Slave Driver by Bob Marley. 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 Slave Driver" means the words set to the music of Slave Driver, 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 Slave Driver and the lyrics to Slave Driver 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 Slave Driver, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

More Songs & Lyrics by Bob Marley

Visit our Bob Marley profile for more Bob Marley songs, lyrics & info!

)