Black Star Line - References in Popular Music

References in Popular Music

Reggae singer Fred Locks, an adherent of the Rastafari faith, re-introduced the Black Star Line to a Jamaican audience with his 1976 hit "Black Star Liners" (which has been called one of "the most important songs in reggae music of the 1970s"), portraying Garvey as a Moses-like prophet: Seven miles of Black Star Liners coming in the harbour / I can hear the elders saying / These are the days for which we've been praying / ... told us that the Black Star Liners are coming one day for us.

The Black Star Line was also commemorated by blues singers such as Hazel Meyers and Rosa Henderson; by the musical group Brand Nubian (on their 1993 album In God We Trust); and by Ranking Dread with "Black Starlina" on his Kunta Kinte Roots album. In addition, the title for the 1998 album Black Star, by the American mcees Mos Def and Talib Kweli, was a reference to The Black Star Line.

"Train to Zion" by Linval Thompson (writer) and U Brown featured the lines: Train to Zion is coming / Don't want no one to miss it / It's the Black Star Liner / It's going to Zion...

The 1977 reggae album by Culture, Two Sevens Clash, featured a song called "Black Starliner Must Come".

Black Star Liner was the name of a British electronic group, who won a Mercury Music Prize for their album Bengali Batam Youth Foundation.