“Get Up, Stand Up” by The Wailers is a reggae protest song from the 1973 album Burnin’. It was released as a single on 14 September 1973, with “Slave Driver” as the B-side, through Tuff Gong and Island Records. The song was written by Bob Marley and Peter Tosh, produced by Chris Blackwell and The Wailers, and recorded at Harry J. Studios in Kingston, Jamaica.

The track is one of Bob Marley and The Wailers’ most direct political songs. Instead of focusing on romance or personal storytelling, it calls for resistance, dignity, and spiritual awareness. Its message is built around the repeated demand to “get up” and defend one’s rights, making it one of the most recognizable reggae anthems connected to activism and social justice.

Musically, “Get Up, Stand Up” is rooted in classic reggae. Its main musical elements include a steady offbeat rhythm guitar pattern, bass groove, drums, percussion, organ or keyboard textures, backing vocals, and the distinctive vocal interplay associated with The Wailers. The article does not provide a full studio personnel list for the original recording, but the song’s sound is strongly tied to the band’s reggae arrangement and its chant-like chorus.

The original album version runs 3 minutes and 42 seconds, while the single version runs 3 minutes and 11 seconds. Its concise structure helped make the song powerful and memorable, but its message also allowed it to become a long-lasting live favorite, often extended and reshaped in concert performances.

One important curiosity is the song’s origin. Bob Marley wrote “Get Up, Stand Up” while touring Haiti, after being deeply affected by the poverty and living conditions he saw there. That experience gave the song a sharper social and political purpose, turning it into a call for people to demand their rights rather than wait passively for change.

Another interesting detail is the song’s musical inspiration. The chorus melody is described as being clearly based on the instrumental hook from “Slippin’ into Darkness” by War, a band Marley admired. This connection gives the song an additional layer of cross-genre influence, linking Jamaican reggae with American funk and soul textures from the early 1970s.

“Get Up, Stand Up” became one of the defining songs in The Wailers’ catalog. It was performed frequently at Marley’s concerts and was often used as the final song of the show. Most notably, it was the last song Bob Marley ever performed on stage, during his concert at the Stanley Theater in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on 23 September 1980.

The song also has an important connection to the three central Wailers. Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, and Bunny Wailer each recorded or released their own versions of “Get Up, Stand Up” in different contexts, with varying arrangements and approaches to the third verse. Peter Tosh included his solo version on his 1977 album Equal Rights, while Bunny Wailer later released a version on Protest.

One memorable live curiosity involves Peter Tosh unexpectedly joining Bob Marley during a 1978 concert at the Starlight Amphitheater. According to Ben Harper’s account, Tosh appeared unannounced while the song was being performed, took the microphone from Marley, and sang the final verse to a huge audience reaction.

Commercially, the song had modest chart peaks compared with its later cultural status. It reached No. 33 on the Dutch Top 40 in 1973 and No. 49 in New Zealand in 1986. Over time, however, its reputation grew far beyond those chart positions, and it became one of Marley’s most celebrated songs.

In 1999, the 1973 Island Records recording by Bob Marley & The Wailers was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. The song has also been covered and reinterpreted by several artists, including Martha Veléz, and was performed live at an Amnesty International Concert for Human Rights by Bruce Springsteen, Sting, Peter Gabriel, Tracy Chapman, and Youssou N’Dour.

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Get up, stand up: Stand up for your rights
Get up, stand up: Stand up for your rights
Get up, stand up: Stand up for your rights
Get up, stand up: Don't give up the fight

Preacher man, don't tell me
Heaven is under the earth
I know you don't know
What life is really worth
It's not all that glitters is gold
Half the story has never been told
So now you see the light, eh
Stand up for your rights, come on

Get up, stand up, stand up for your rights
Get up, stand up, don't give up the fight
Get up, stand up, stand up for your rights
Get up, stand up, don't give up the fight

Most people think
Great God will come from the skies
Take away everything
And make everybody feel high
But if you know what life is worth
You will look for yours on earth
And now you see the light
You stand up for your rights
Jah

Get up, stand up (Jah, Jah)
Stand up for your rights (oh)
Get up, stand up (get up, stand up)
Don't give up the fight (life is your right)
Get up, stand up (so we can't give up the fight)
Stand up for your rights (lord, lord)
Get up, stand up (keep on struggling on)
Don't give up the fight (yeah)

We sick an' tired of-a your ism-skism game
Dyin' 'n' goin' to heaven in-a Jesus' name, lord
We know when we understand
Almighty God is a living man
You can fool some people sometimes
But you can't fool all the people all the time
So now we see the light (what you gonna do?)
We gonna stand up for our rights (yeah, yeah, yeah)

So you better
Get up, stand up (in the morning git it up)
Stand up for your rights (stand up for our rights)
Get up, stand up
Don't give up the fight (don't give it up, don't give it up)
Get up, stand up (get up, stand up)
Stand up for your rights (get up, stand up)

Get up, stand up
Don't give up the fight (get up, stand up)
Get up, stand up
Stand up for your rights
Get up, stand up
Don't give up the fight

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