Old man sits alone at home in a northern town

Opens up his only book he gets a few drinks down,

A few drinks down, a few drinks down.

"I feel an empty longing, my sorrows do I drown.

I feel an empty longing, my sorrows do I drown."

"Saw eastern fires burning and riches in the north

But the warm south breezes brought me to Jamaica's shores,

To Jamaica's shores.

A white man soon got rich there and ruled just like a king,

Took up and cast off many queens, despised their suffering,

Their suffering, despised their suffering.

Old man sits alone at home, tv turned up loud

"Who is this dreadlocked young man with hand held to his brow,

To his brow, hand held to his brow?"

A gasp came from the old man's lips

His drink fell to the ground,

A gasp came from the old man's lips

His drink fell to the ground.

Old man Marley sits at home in a northern town

Through his streaming tears he clasps his knitted brow,

His knitted brow, clasps his knitted brow.

"Oh my son what have I done? You make an old man proud.

Oh my son what have I done? You make an old man proud.

Till now I've been living as a hand me down.

Do you wear the mask of greed or the thorny crown?"