Redemption Song by Bob Marley and The Wailers has been included on a list of the best songs about independence compiled by Hello Music Theory, one of the top websites offering online music education.

In a ranked list of 21 songs about independence selected by the site, Marley’s Redemption Song is listed as Number 19, according to Jamaicans.com. Bob Marley wrote Redemption Song in 1979 at a time in his life when he was thinking about his own mortality, having been diagnosed with cancer and experiencing significant pain.

It is the last track on the 12th album recorded by Marley and The Wailers, Uprising, which was produced by Chris Blackwell and released on the Island Records label. Considered one of his greatest songs, Marley used part of a speech given in 1937 by Marcus Garvey, Jamaica’s first National Hero and a strong advocate of Black nationalism.

The song contains the line, “Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, None, but ourselves can free our minds”.

The lyrics urge people to follow their own life paths rather than live the way society may expect them to live. The words also encourage listeners to eliminate negative influences in their lives and work toward fulfilling their potential.

Jamaicans.com wrote that the full list of 21 songs chosen by Hello Music Theory as the best in addressing the concept of independence is included as follows, in order of their rank on the list:

· Try It On My Own by Whitney Houston
· Miss Independent by Ne-Yo
· Independence Day by Martina McBride
· I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor
· Independent Women, Pt. 1 by Destiny’s Child
· It’s My Life by Bon Jovi
· Breakaway by Kelly Clarkson
· Wide Open Spaces by The Chicks
· Confident by Demi Lovato
· Control by Janet Jackson
· Stronger by Britney Spears
· Soar by Christina Aguilera
· I Won’t Back Down by Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers
· Independent by Salt-N-Pepa
· Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield
· King Of Anything by Sara Bareilles
· Follow Your Arrow by Kacey Musgraves
· Bird Set Free by Sia
· Redemption Song by Bob Marley and The Wailers
· It’s My Life by No Doubt, and Free by Ultra Naté