Ab major · Camelot 4B · 78 BPM
Waiting in Vain
by Bob Marley & The Wailers
- 78
- BPM
- Ab major
- Key
- 4B
- Camelot
- 83
- Danceability
- 3
- Acousticness
Junior Marvin's electric guitars ran through "Waiting in Vain", a song Bob Marley wrote and recorded with Bob Marley and the Wailers for their 1977 album Exodus. Released as a single, it reached number 27 on the UK Singles Chart.
The single was one of only a few of Marley's Island singles to carry a non-album B-side. That track was "Roots", an outtake from the Rastaman Vibration sessions, and it later appeared on the compilation Rebel Music and on Exodus (Deluxe Edition). When the single was reissued in 1981, the B-side had been swapped for a megamix titled Marley Mix Up Medley.
Marley handled lead and backing vocals and guitars on the recording, with Aston Barrett on basses and Carlton Barrett on drums. Tyrone Downie contributed synthesizer, electric piano, organ and backing vocals, while Alvin "Seeco" Patterson played percussions. A rare 19-minute long acoustic version of the song is available on YouTube. The Wailers had begun life in 1963 under several earlier names, including the Wailing Rudeboys and the Teenagers, with Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer as founding members. After Tosh and Wailer left in 1974, Marley carried on with a new lineup that included the I-Threes. He died from cancer in 1981, at which point the group disbanded.
Waiting in Vain runs at 78 BPM, the tempo of soul, trip-hop and half-time hip-hop. In classical terms it sits in andante territory. A bar of 4/4 lasts 3.08 seconds, and a quarter-note delay is 769 ms. It is in Ab major, Camelot 4B, which shares its notes with F minor and mixes cleanly with Db major and Eb major.
We use multiple sources as part of our online research for the song story including Wikipedia.