Bob Marley and Chronixx have made the 46-song playlist selected by the Presidential Inauguration Committee of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to mark the 46th president’s inauguration, scheduled for Wednesday, January 20th.
DJ D-Nice and Raedio, the music company founded by Issa Rae and Benoni Tagoe, curated the playlist in collaboration with the Presidential Inauguration Committee. The selection of songs was crafted to fit the incoming administration’s theme, “America United.”
According to a statement from the Biden-Harris team, the playlist “represents the diversity of our nation, and our strength and resilience as we look forward to new leadership and a new era in America.”
The playlist, available on all major streaming services, includes acts such as Bruce Springsteen’s stirring “We Take Care of Our Own,” Kendrick and Mary J Blige’s “Now or Never,” The O’Jays’ “Give the People What They Want,” Mac Miller’s “Blue World,” Marley’s “Could You Be Loved,” Beyoncé’s “Find Your Way Back” and Dua Lipa’s “Levitating,” as well as classic tunes like The Doobie Brothers’ “What a Fool Believes” and Led Zeppelin’s “Fool in the Rain.”
Tracks by Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield and Major Lazer are also included.
Could You Be Loved by Bob Marley and the Wailers and Eternal Light by Chronixx and the Free Nationals are among the 46 songs selected.
Could You Be Loved was first released in 1980 on the Bob Marley and the Wailers’ album Uprising and included on the 1984 Legend album. The latter album remains at the top of the Billboard Reggae Album chart to this day.
Could You Be Loved, an enduring favourite, has been covered by several artistes, including Marley’s children, and played in several movies: I Love You To Death (1990), Joey Breaker (1993), How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998), The Bachelor (1999), Blue Crush (2002), 50 First Dates (2004), Fool’s Gold (2008), Fire in Babylon (2010), and Just Go With It (2011).
Eternal Light, a collaboration between Chronixx and Free Nationals, also made the playlist. The song, classified as R&B/Soul, was released in 2019, is described as sultry, sensual, melodious and as evoking positive vibes and good vibration.
No bad vibes cyaan’ stop this good vibration, yeah
That’s the positive vibes we keep creating, yeah
Sounds that make you feel right
We keep it blazing, yeah
“We know that music has the power to bring people together, and after a year of national challenges and division, we hope this collection serves as an indication of a new beginning, positive change, and a reminder that music of all types is a common language,” Benoni Tagoe, co-founder of Raedio, said in a press statement last Friday.