In 1967, Bob Marley had an idea for a love song. It only took three chords and a ubiquitous title phrase to kickstart the song’s writing, and by the time he was finished, Marley would have a track that would become one of his most beloved and well-known songs. It only took half a decade for that to happen.
The first version of ‘Stir It Up’ appeared in 1967 when Marley recorded the song with his band, The Wailers. This version was closer to the ska and rocksteady genres that the group were playing around that time, predating reggae by at least a year. Without much exposure outside of Jamaica, the original version of ‘Stir It Up’ quickly fell by the wayside.
That was until American singer Johnny Nash came along. Nash had signed Marley to his first publishing contract in 1967, so he had an inside look into Marley’s catalogue. Nash took a liking to ‘Stir It Up’ and decided to record it for his 1972 album I Can See Clearly Now. Nash’s version of the song would become a top 20 hit in both the UK and US, but Marley wasn’t happy that Nash had secured a hit with a song he wrote.
“He’s a hard worker, but he didn’t know my music. I don’t want to put him down, but reggae isn’t really his bag,” Marley told Melody Maker in 1973. “We knew of Johnny Nash in Jamaica before he arrived, but we didn’t love him that much: We appreciated him singing the kind of music he does – he was the first US artist to do reggae – but he isn’t really our idol. That’s Otis or James Brown or Pickett, the people who work it more hard.”
Marley and Nash had established a solid working relationship together, with Marley writing a number of songs included on I Can See Clearly Now. The pair even toured the UK together in 1971, but when Marley absconded with one of Nash’s guitars, the partnership became strained.
“I really don’t know what happened to Bob. All I do know is that his air ticket, Johnny’s guitar, and Johnny’s tape recorder all disappeared, along with Bob,” John ‘Rabbit’ Bundrick explained in the liner notes for the compilation album Songs of Freedom. “Johnny never forgave him for taking his guitar. Bob disappeared as magically as he had arrived.”
Bundrick would later provide the iconic sweeping synthesiser on Marley’s version of ‘Stir It Up’. With the success of Nash’s version, Marley decided that he and The Wailers had to re-record the song for their 1973 album Catch a Fire. That version would later be included in the compilation Legend and has become the most well-known version of the track, even though it failed to chart on its initial release. Nash and Marley would eventually bury the hatchet, touring the UK together again in 1973.
