"Jah Live" is a song by Bob Marley & The Wailers

Bob Marley & The Wailers

Bob Marley & The Wailers were a Jamaican reggae, ska and rocksteady band formed by Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer in 1963. Additional members were Junior Braithwaite, Beverley Kelso, Cherry Smith and Aston and Carlton Barrett...

, released as a single in 1975. The song was recorded and released within days following the announcement of the death of Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia

Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia

Haile Selassie I , born Tafari Makonnen, was Ethiopia's regent from 1916 to 1930 and Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974...

 whom Rastafarians

Rastafari movement

The Rastafari movement or Rasta is a new religious movement that arose in the 1930s in Jamaica, which at the time was a country with a predominantly Christian culture where 98% of the people were the black descendants of slaves. Its adherents worship Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia , as God...

 see as God, whom they call Jah

Jah

Jah is the shortened form of the divine name YHWH , an anglicized version of the Tetragrammaton . The name is most commonly associated with the Rastafari movement or within the word hallelujah, although Christian groups may use the name to varying degrees. For example, Jehovah's Witnesses use a...

. The song was written as a message to the world that Haile Selassie I had not died as the Ethiopia

Ethiopia

Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...

n government of the time and (according to the song) detractors of the Rastafarian religion claimed. When the song was released, Selassie was claimed dead by the Ethiopian authorities but there was no body. Marley was prescient in response to the news that no body had not been found saying, "Yuh cyant kill God".

In the song, Marley directly confronts those who doubt the Rastafari movement

Rastafari movement

The Rastafari movement or Rasta is a new religious movement that arose in the 1930s in Jamaica, which at the time was a country with a predominantly Christian culture where 98% of the people were the black descendants of slaves. Its adherents worship Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia , as God...

 because of the apparent death of Selassie I:

Fools sayin' in their heart

Rasta your God is dead

But I and I know Jah! Jah!

Dreaded it shall be dreaded and dread...

Though originally recorded as a single, the song has since been released on the 1992 box set Songs of Freedom

Songs of Freedom

Songs of Freedom is a four-disc box set containing music by Bob Marley and the Wailers, from Marley's first song "Judge Not" recorded in 1961, to a live version of "Redemption Song", recorded in 1980 at his last concert....

, as a bonus track on the 2001 re-release of Marley's 1976 album Rastaman Vibration

Rastaman Vibration

Rastaman Vibration is a roots reggae album by Bob Marley & The Wailers released on April 30, 1976. The album was a great success in the USA, becoming the first Bob Marley release to reach the top ten on the Billboard 200 charts Rastaman Vibration is a roots reggae album by Bob Marley & The Wailers...

and in 2002 on its "deluxe edition", and on the compilations One Love: The Very Best of Bob Marley & The Wailers (2001) and Gold (2005).

A dub version of the song, titled "Concrete", was released on the single's B-side. It has since been released on the deluxe edition of Rastaman Vibration in 2002. The song is featured in the closing credits of Countryman

Countryman

- Personnel :*Craig Allen – Art Direction, Design*Sweet Pea Atkinson – Vocals*Dan Bosworth – Guitar*Sir Harry Bowens – Vocals*Kim Buie – Executive Producer*Santa Davis – Drums*Richard Feldman – Guitar, Producer, Engineer, Mixing*Pam Hall – Vocals...

, the legendary rasta movie.