Bob Marley – Stir It Up

It’s hard to feel down when you hear this song. 

This song got me into Bob Marley. He wrote this song in 1967 and recorded it that year and released it as a single. It was later covered by Johnny Nash in 1972 and it peaked at #12 in the Billboard 100 for Johnny.

Bob Marley and the Wailers re-recorded it in 1973 for the “Catch the Fire” album. The Nash version was Bob’s first success outside of Jamaica.

It has been said that Bob Marley wrote this song for his wife Rita.

Bob Marley on Johnny Nash

“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,” he said. “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.”

From Songfacts

Texas-born singer-songwriter Johnny Nash released his final US hit as a follow-up to his signature tune “I Can See Clearly Now.” Both singles were infused with the reggae sound he brought back from a 1967 trip to Jamaica, where he met up-and-comer Bob Marley. Not only was Marley an assistant producer on Nash’s album, but he also contributed a handful of tunes, including “Stir It Up,” a love song about stirring up desire that Marley wrote for his wife, Rita.

Nash’s version would become Marley’s first hit outside of Jamaica, but he originally recorded it with his own group, The Wailers. After Nash’s success, The Wailers recorded it again for their 1973 album, Catch a Fire. Marley’s version came to the forefront when it appeared on his greatest hits collection Legend in 1984, three years after his death.

In the UK, this was released as the first single, followed by the Nash-penned “I Can See Clearly Now.”

On this track, Nash is backed by the reggae band the Fabulous Five Inc.

A year before the album was released, Marley and Nash collaborated on the score for the Swedish film Vill sa garna tro, which cast Nash in a starring role – but things didn’t go as planned, mainly because no one could find Marley. John “Rabbit” Bundrick, Nash’s keyboardist and co-composer on the score, recalled in the liner notes for Marley’s Songs of Freedom: “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. Johnny never forgave him for taking his guitar. Bob disappeared as magically as he had arrived.”

Nash put his anger aside when “Stir It Up” became a hit, and invited Marley on a tour of the UK to promote the album.

Diana King covered this for the 1993 comedy Cool Runnings, about a Jamaican bobsled team competing in the Winter Olympics.

In the 2007 movie I Am Legend, Will Smith plays a Bob Marley-obsessed virologist who has survived a zombie apocalypse. When he finally meets another non-infected human, he is horrified to learn she’s never heard of Marley, so he puts on the Legend CD (note the album and movie titles), tells her it’s the best album ever made, and plays “Stir It Up.” Marley’s music is a theme throughout the film, as Smith’s character draws on it for faith. In the film, his daughter is named Marley.

“Stir It Up”

Stir it up; little darlin’, stir it up. Come on, baby.
Come on and stir it up: little darlin’, stir it up. O-oh!It’s been a long, long time, yeah!
(stir it, stir it, stir it together)
Since I got you on my mind. (ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh) Oh-oh!
Now you are here (stir it, stir it, stir it together), I said,
it’s so clear
There’s so much we could do, baby, (ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh)
Just me and you.

 

Come on and stir it up; …, little darlin’!
Stir it up; come on, baby!
Come on and stir it up, yeah!
Little darlin’, stir it up! O-oh!

I’ll push the wood (stir it, stir it, stir it together),
then I blaze ya fire;
Then I’ll satisfy your heart’s desire. (ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh)
Said, I stir it every (stir it, stir it, stir it together),
every minute:
All you got to do, baby, (ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh)
Is keep it in, eh!

(Stir it up) Oh, little darlin’,
Stir it up; …, baby!
Come on and stir it up, oh-oh-oh!
Little darlin’, stir it up! Wo-oh! Mm, now, now.

Quench me when I’m thirsty;
Come on and cool me down, baby, when I’m hot. (ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh)
Your recipe is, – darlin’ – is so tasty,
When you show and stir your pot. (ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh)

So: stir it up, oh!
Little darlin’, stir it up; wo, now!
Come on and stir it up, oh-ah!
Little darlin’, stir it up!
—
[Guitar solo]
—
Oh, little darlin’, stir it up. Come on, babe!
Come on and stir it up, wo-o-a!
Little darlin’, stir it up! Stick with me, baby!
Come on, come on and stir it up, oh-oh!
Little darlin’, stir it up. [fadeout]

Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player.

37 thoughts on “Bob Marley – Stir It Up”

  2. Pretty good, happy feeling song…though I like Johnny’s version a bit better, maybe because it’s the one I grew up hearing. I would have suggested to Marley that he maybe should have had more respect for Nash, as without his Americanizing his music and other reggae, many on this side of the Caribbean might have never heard of him or the Wailers.

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    1. I missed BOTH growing up…and this is the first one I found. Yea it must have been something personal between the two…at least it sounded personal without Bob saying what it was.

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    2. Johnny Nash’ version is the one I know, and I agree with you, Dave. Just having others be aware is a huge leap forward. I was surprised at how much Keith Richards talked about Jamaica and the music there and living there in his book. He had a few words about Marley also!

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  6. I really liked I am Legend. I thought it was a very thoughtful, clever zombie movie. Terrifying at times…Bob Marley’s Legend is one of the best albums ever, in my opinion. And Stir it Up epitomizes the Bob Marley sound and perhaps, even more than that, the Bob Marley experience.

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  8. If Chuck Berry is Mr. Rock & Roll, Bob Marley is Mr. Reggae. While it does get a bit repetitive, I just dig Marley’s groove.

    A record I can highly recommend is his excellent live album “Babylon by Bus.” Basically, it’s a greatest hits compilation played live. I think the dynamic of these live takes is better than on the studio versions.

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  10. OMG. Well, this just answers a very old question for me. I’ve heard both versions and love both versions…and didn’t realize it. I’d heard Marley’s version on classic rock quite a bit but, I always had it in the back of my mind that something was missing. The first I heard this song was Nash’s in the early 70s. Then, I didn’t hear it anymore…just Marley’s on classic rock stations.

    Marley’s is smooth and groovy. Nash’s is a little more upbeat. And, the mother of all mondegreens for me…I always heard “Ceria” or “Seria” instead of “Stir it up” (a name close to Cecelia). LOL!

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    1. LOL…yea Nash’s I would say is more commercial than Marley’s… It’s a great song…I just love the mood that Marley had.

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      2. I cheated on this… I posted it way back but I only had two views…I thought I would clean up some of those…delete the old and post ones that wasn’t seen by anyone. Not many of those…Recycling my dear lady.

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      3. At least you don’t have the habit of reposting the same ones on the same date, year after year…or worse, reposting the same every month. The Curmudgeon guy from up north that did history posts…wife died recently… He did that a lot. Three other bloggers I used to follow were forever repeating the same stuff. Why do they bother? And, WP’s Reader (both of them) will show that you’ve posted something before, esp. if you repost word for word.

        The only things I’ve reposted are the CT material posts. Some of those were originally posted, like, six years ago. The rest of my stuff, I try to keep different. Photography helps. So do current stories…

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      4. The only way I repost is if the viewers were LOW…I mean low…2 to 3…
        And…what I do is add to it because I was really lazy then…one short paragraph and it was over…I will spruce it up…it is a different post now…and I delete the other.

        I know what you mean about double posting too soon. These were January of 2018 I believe.

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      6. September of 2017….no notice until May of 2018…
        Something awful has happened…I’m emailing now…just a shock…I’m finishing it up now.

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  11. I agree with comments about Johnny Nash’s version, that’s the one I grew up with, marley’s I didn’t get to hear for another decade or so, bar maybe one live TV appearance. Bob nicking Johnny’s stuff, whoulda thought it! 🙂 Maybe he hadnt had the songwriting royalties yet and blamed Johnny…..

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