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One Love/People Get Ready

song written and composed by Bob Marley, interpolating "People Get Ready" by Curtis Mayfield; recorded by The Wailers and Bob Marley & The Wailers

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJun 17, 2026
Entity authorityQ2464708 ↗
Source-derived summary

"One Love" is a ska song written by Bob Marley and recorded by his group the Wailers from their 1965 debut studio album The Wailing Wailers. It was rerecorded as part of the 1970 medley "All in One", which contained reggae reworkings of their early ska songs. This was released as a single and is also included on the compilation African Herbsman under the name "All in One".

The famous version of "One Love" that appears on their album Exodus was recorded in 1977 for Island Records under the title of "One Love/People Get Ready". This version credits Curtis Mayfield (as Island Records wanted to avoid copyright problems), and it gives co-authorship credits to both Marley and Mayfield as it contains an interpolation of the Impressions' song "People Get Ready", written by Mayfield. As the main artist, Marley and his group were credited as Bob Marley and the Wailers. It was not released as a single until 16 April 1984, to promote the forthcoming greatest hits album Legend. However, the single became one of his biggest hits and has been included on many of Marley and the Wailers subsequent compilation albums. The original recording of the song does not credit Mayfield's song and is simply titled "One Love"; this is because copyright law was not enforced for Jamaican recordings at this time. The original song was published in the key of B♭ major, but it has since been transposed in the key of C major.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “One Love/People Get Ready” as song written and composed by Bob Marley, interpolating "People Get Ready" by Curtis Mayfield; recorded by The Wailers and Bob Marley & The Wailers. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Love, People and Ready.

Editorial reviewA productive route into publication, performance and collection histories when the underlying object or edition remains clearly identified. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1965, 1970, 1977, 1984—that can be checked directly. The authority record carries competing date values—1965, 1977—which should remain separate until their references and qualifiers are resolved. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Love, People and Ready providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “One Love/People Get Ready”, the useful work is to connect “song written and composed by Bob Marley, interpolating "People Get Ready" by Curtis Mayfield; recorded by The Wailers and Bob Marley & The Wailers” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2464708. None of the 2 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1965, 1970, 1977 and 1984.

Critical limits

Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

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  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
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The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “One Love/People Get Ready”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow One Love/People Get Ready primary sources, One Love/People Get Ready archive and Love research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “One Love/People Get Ready”?
  2. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
  3. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “One Love/People Get Ready” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.