Lyrics to
The Heathen

This version of The Heathen was released by Bob Marley in 1977.

Our About Bob Marley page at Decade Lyrics includes the lyrics for The Heathen from 1977 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.

De heathen back dey ‘pon de wall!
De heathen back, yeah, ‘pon de wall!
De heathen back dey ‘pon de wall!
De heathen back, yeah, ‘pon de wall!

Rise up fallen fighters;
Rise and take your stance again.
‘Tis he who fight and run away
Live to fight another day.
With de heathen back dey ‘pon de wall!
De heathen back, yeah, ‘pon de wall!
De heathen back dey ‘pon de wall!
De heathen back, yeah, ‘pon de wall!

As a man sow, shall he reap
And I know that talk is cheap.
But the hotter the battle
A the sweeter Jah victory.
With de heathen back dey ‘pon de wall!
De heathen back, yeah, ‘pon de wall!
De heathen back dey ‘pon de wall!
De heathen back, yeah, ‘pon de wall!

De heathen back dey ‘pon de wall!
De heathen back, yeah, ‘pon de wall!
De heathen back dey ‘pon de wall!
De heathen back, yeah, ‘pon de wall!

Rise up, fallen fighters:
Rise and take your stance again.
‘Tis he who fight and run away
Live to fight another day.
De heathen back dey ‘pon de wall!
De heathen back, yeah, ‘pon de wall!
De heathen back dey ‘pon de wall!
De heathen back, yeah, ‘pon de wall!
De heathen back dey ‘pon de wall!
De heathen back, yeah, ‘pon de wall!
De heathen back dey ‘pon de wall!
De heathen back, yeah, ‘pon de wall!
De heathen back dey ‘pon de wall!
De heathen back, yeah, ‘pon de wall!
De heathen back dey ‘pon de wall!
De heathen back, yeah, ‘pon de wall!

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Bob Marley has released many songs over the years besides The Heathen. 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 the music of the 1970s looking for more songs from 1977 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and The Heathen by Bob Marley

The lyrics for The Heathen are defined as the words making up the song released by Bob Marley in 1977. It also includes the verses and words used by the background chorus in the song. Like many hit songs, the lyrics to The Heathen 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 The Heathen 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 The Heathen" means the words set to the music of The Heathen, 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 The Heathen and the lyrics to The Heathen 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 The Heathen, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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