Lyrics to
Top Rankin’

This version of Top Rankin’ was released by Bob Marley in 1979.

Our About Bob Marley page at Decade Lyrics includes the lyrics for Top Rankin’ from 1979 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.

They don’t want to see us unite:
All they want us to do is keep on fussing and fighting.
They don’t want to see us live together:
All they want us to do is keep on killing one another.

Top rankin’, top rankin’:
Are you skankin’ (skankin’, skankin’)?
Are you skankin’ (skankin’, skankin’)?
Wo-ho, top rankin’ (top rankin’), ‘Ow, did you mean what you say now?
Are you – ‘ow are you (rankin’, rankin’) –
are ya – Lord, Lord, Lord! (skankin’, skankin’)?

They say the blood runs;
And it runs through our line,
And our hearts, heart of hearts divine, eh!
And John saw them comin’, ooh! – a-with the truth
From an ancient time.

The brotherly love (brotherly love), the sisterly love (sisterly love)
I feel this morning; I feel this morning:
Brotherly love (brotherly love), the sisterly love (sisterly love)
I feel this morning, this morning. Hey!

They don’t want us to unite:
All they want us to do is keep on fussing and fighting.
They don’t want to see us live together;
All they want us to do is keep on killing one another.

Top rankin’ (top rankin’)!
Did ya mean what you say now (top rankin’)?
Are you skankin’ (skankin’, skankin’)?
Are you skankin’ (skankin’, skankin’)?
Top rankin’ (top ranking),
Did you (top rankin’) mean what you say (top rankin’)?
Are you (rankin’, rankin)?
Are you (skankin’, skankin’)?
Top rankin’ (top rankin’);
Top rankin’ (top rankin’);
Are you (skankin’, skankin’)?
‘Ow are you (skankin’, skankin’)?

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Bob Marley has released many songs over the years besides Top Rankin’. 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 1979 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and Top Rankin’ by Bob Marley

The lyrics for Top Rankin’ are made up of the words, verses and background chorus for the popular 1979 song by Bob Marley. Like a lot of songs, the lyrics to Top Rankin’ have both direct meanings and metaphorical context hidden within the song's words. All of the meanings are only truly known by the creators of the lyrics for Top Rankin’ - Bob Marley and any of the writers who worked with them on the song.

If you have an interest in the structure of words and phrases, you can dissect the lyrics to Top Rankin’ by Bob Marley in multiple ways. 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 Top Rankin’" means the words set to the music of Top Rankin’, 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 Top Rankin’ and the lyrics to Top Rankin’ 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 Top Rankin’, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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