“Buffalo Soldiers” by Bob Marley

In today’s English Cafe 292, Jeff was nice enough to invite me back to talk about the U.S. military soldiers called “Buffalo Soldiers.” In the Learning Guide under “What Insider’s Know,” we also talked about the song called “Buffalo Soldiers” by Bob Marley.  In case you want to hear it, here it is, with the lyrics (words).  Keep in mind that Bob Marley was from Jamaica and spoke Jamaican English, so he won’t sound like the Americans you’re used to on the podcast.  Enjoy!

~ Lucy

“Buffalo Solders”
by Bob Marley

Buffalo soldier, dreadlock rasta:
It was a buffalo soldier in the heart of (in the middle of) America,

Stolen from Africa, brought to America.
Fighting on arrival, fighting for survival
I mean it, when I analyze the stench (strong, bad smell)
To me, it makes a lot of sense
How the dreadlock rasta was the Buffalo Soldier

And he was taken from Africa, brought to America
Fighting on arrival, fighting for survival (trying to stay alive)

Said he was a Buffalo Soldier, dreadlock rasta
Buffalo Soldier, in the heart of America

If you know your history
Then you would know where you coming from
Then you wouldn’t have to ask me
“Who the heck do I think I am?”

I’m just a Buffalo Soldier
In the heart of America
Stolen from Africa, brought to America
Said he was fighting on arrival, fighting for survival
Said he was a Buffalo Soldier, win the war for America

Dreadie, woe yoe yoe, woe woe yoe yoe
Woe yoe yoe yo, yo yo woe yo, woe yoe yoe
(repeat)

Buffalo Soldier, trodding (walking on top of something) through the land
Said he wanna run, then you wanna hand
Trodding through the land, yea, yea

Said he was a Buffalo Soldier
Win the war for America
Buffalo Soldier, dreadlock rasta
Fighting on arrival, fighting for survival
Driven from (pushed out of) the mainland
To the heart of the Caribbean

Singing, woe yoe yoe, woe woe yoe yoe
Woe yoe yoe yo, yo yo woe yo woe yo yoe
(repeat)

Trodding through San Juan
In the arms of America
Trodding through Jamaica, a Buffalo Soldier
Fighting on arrival, fighting for survival
Buffalo Soldier, dreadlock rasta
Woe yoe yoe, woe woe yoe yoe
Woe yoe yeo yo, yo yo woe yo woe yo yoe

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18 Responses to “Buffalo Soldiers” by Bob Marley

  1. emiliano says:

    So good, so nice song and so clear meaning.
    I like very much Bob Marley but know I like him a bit more.

    Thank you Jeff.

    emiliano

  2. emiliano says:

    Sorry,
    Thank you Lucy……and Jeff too by letting you to make another English Cafe with him.

    Have a nice day Lucy, also a lot of new birthdays in good health.

    emiliano

  3. Peter says:

    The world runs on tricks everybody plays

  4. Daniel says:

    I do not know what’s the secret about Marley’s songs, the fact is that I never get tired of listening to it.
    Thanks.

  5. Peter says:

    Didn’t take my interest at all
    I believe the song is trying to make an statement, but loosing it in the heart of the song

  6. Derdei says:

    Hi, Jeff and Lucy

    I have been listning to your podcasts a mounth ago. You are definetely the best one. I have been thinking to be an ESL member since my first visits, but quiet frankly this Bob Marley’s topic pushed me to the final decision. I’ll be a member at last next week.

    HAve a nice day!!!

  7. Tania says:

    Hi! Very nice song. Thank you.

    Best wishes,

    Tania

  8. Betty says:

    Thank you very much, Lucy, for this ‘Buffalo Soldiers’ topic, and for explaining about ‘Buffalo Soldiers’ so clearly to us in the English Cafe 292.

    I really like the song ‘Buffalo Soldiers’, and I like the lyrics as well.

    The song tells us the sad and unfair past for a lot of African Americans.

    I learned my early age English by listening to English songs, I am still learning English from songs you tell us here, and I think it is a lot more interesting to learn English this way.

    Thanks again!

  9. Betty says:

    Hi Derdei, please excuse for my abruptness. Reading your post about your decision to become a member urged me to say something about my own decision to become a Premium Member – since February 2011.

    The reason why I chose Premium instead of Basic Membership is because I think the former is better value than the latter.

    I get all the previous learning guides as far back as 15 May 2006, so the extra USD50 I paid during the first month gave me an extra 5 years’ learning guides, plus the benefit of unlimited download time.

    I do hope that if you decide to become a Premium Member, you can take time to appreciate all the hard work of the ESLPOD.com team for the past five years.

    Sorry, I was wrong, ESLPOD.com existed more than five years – the learning guides started from five years ago, but the first ESLPOD.com podcast was dated 22 July 2005, ie almost six years ago.

    Best wishes
    Betty

  10. Betty says:

    Sorry, Error in Betty’s previous post:

    1st paragraph:
    ‘please excuse for my abruptness’
    should read as: ‘please excuse me for my abruptness’

    2nd paragraph:
    ‘The reason why I chose Premium instead of Basic Membership is because I think the former is better value than the latter’.
    should read as: ‘The reason why I chose Premium instead of Basic Membership was because I thought the former was a better value than the latter’.

    It happened in February 2011 and I should have used ‘past tense’.

    Thanks

  11. Betty says:

    I listened to Jeff talking about the famous Song ‘Oh My Darling, Clementine’ in English Café 292.

    In which Jeff said: ‘I love that ending! In other words, he misses Clementine, his love who died, but then he kissed her younger or little sister and fell in love with her instead. Isn’t that great? Just like a man to forget his old love when a new love comes along’.

    And then, coincidentally, I read about a news titled ‘Paul McCartney to wed for third time’ in ’uk.news.yahoo.com’.

    The news report said: ‘‘McCartney was happily married for 29 years to American photographer Linda Eastman until her death of breast cancer in 1998. He said at the time that he and Linda had spent just 11 nights apart during their marriage.

    Ever the romantic, his second marriage just four years later in 2002 to ex-model Heather Mills took observers by surprise’.

    It is purely coincident that I listened to Jeff about the man in the song ‘Oh My Darling, Clementine’ and I read the news about Paul McCartney’s romantic life.

    What a coincident!

    Thank you so much, Jeff, for explaining the song ‘Oh My Darling, Clementine’ so well. It is the first time I understand the song and it’s implication.

    Perhaps I should avoid letting little boys listen to it. You know what I mean!

  12. Talal says:

    Hahaha , yeah. You r right Betty , u should !!

  13. Derdei says:

    Hi Betty,

    Thanks to share with us your experience as an ESL Premium member. I totally agree with you that being an ESL Premium is more interresting than a Basic one. Plus the number of benefits to get the learning guide, there also, as Jeff used to say, the satisfaction to support this program.

    Many thanks again!

    Regards!

  14. Ziba says:

    Dear Lucy,
    I couldn’t hear the song. the address of song is blocked in my country. how can i find it.
    Let me Know please
    best reagards,
    Ziba (Iran)

  15. Music is a good way to teach English. Jeff and Lucy ever find a way to teach us more and more. Congratulations for you both. God bless everybody.
    Aecio from beautiful green and yellow Brazil.

  16. Betty says:

    Thank you, Talal, thank you for agreeing with me.

    I thought you were very busy preparing for your exams. I know, you love learning English so much that you seldom miss the blog here. In fact your English is very good, I wish my English was better when I was younger. It would have made my studies a lot easier.

    *******************

    Thank you, Derdei, thank you for being so supportive.

    Yes, you are absolutely right, we do get satisfaction by becoming a member of ESLPOD.com because we are helping to support this program.

    *******************

    Today is Mother’s Day (or Mothering Sunday) in the U.S., Hong Kong, and Taiwan etc.
    I would like to wish all mothers in the world a very happy Mother’s Day.

    *******************

    I read about Lucy’s birthday from Tania and Emiliano’s message on 4th May in Warren’s blog ‘Happy Birthday, Ella!’ on Thursday, April 28th, 2011.

    I could not find the information about Lucy’s birthday, where do Tania and Emiliano get the information from?

    Knowing Tania and Emiliano, I am sure they must be correct. So, A BELATED HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR DEAR LUCY, THANK YOU FOR BEING SUCH A GOOD TEACHER. ALL THE BEST WISHES TO YOU.

  17. emiliano says:

    Hi Betty,

    Yes, be sure that our dear Lucy´s birthday is May 4th but she told us that she and her family was always celebrating her
    birthday on May 5th as it´s a Mexico National Feast.
    Why?
    Just because it´s a great feast for the Mexicans an Americans who are living in Arizona and Lucy was living in Tucson (Arizona)
    when she was a little child or a teenager.

    All the Mexicans that live in California, Arizona, New Mexico and some other south states celebrate this Day as a great feast, the
    same as in Mexico.

    There is a lot of History to read about this date and how much it represents to the Mexicans who defeated the French
    forces sent to Mexico to support the Maximilian of Austria imposed by Napoleon III as a Monarch of the Mexicans Country.
    ——-

    Our nice girl and teacher Lucy celebrates every 4th of May her birthday and I (Tania first) like to wish her all the best
    in this special day.
    ——-

    Welcome Derdei to the Blog, and as Betty said to you don´t hesitate to be a premium member of ESL Club, it would be
    one of the best decisions of your life if you want to learn English in the best site of the web.
    You may imagine I am a member for long who is day after day more happy of doing that some years ago.

    emiliano

  18. Tania says:

    Hi! Excellent acting in “Asking for Information About a Coworker”. Excellent scriptwriter.
    Thank you for the new words and the new phrases: lowdown, to glean, to pry, “Fill me in.”, “Don’t pry!”, the cute one, to get a scoop.

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