Grammar question. Could anyone help me?

Question

I am reading an old lyric composed by Bob Marley named Redemption song. This is a part of this lyric:

Old pirates yes they rob I
Sold I to the merchant ships
Minutes after they took I
From the bottomless pit.

Why Did Marley write "Old pirates yes they rob I - Sold I to the merchant ships" instead "Old pirates yes they rob ME - Sold ME to the merchant ships"?

Answer 1

It's Jamaican English. I've heard many such accents when I studied the Rastafari in my Anthro class. I've noticed lots of little grammar differences.
It can also be see in other music like the Song Day-O, only there it's subject to object changes. Think:
Daylight come and me wanna go home.
They shift them back and forth a lot.

Answer 2

I think this one is already covered nicely. If you substitute "me" for "I" it all makes perfect sense.

In Jamaica it is quite common to find the nominative "I" used for all cases, and "me" is hardly seen (similar with "we" and "us"). It's no more than a dialect of English which doesn't use the correct grammatical forms.

For comparison you might want to think about English West Country dialect where "look what I done" is more common that "look what I did". In this case the verb is not conjugated correctly, but it still makes sense in that dialect.

Answer 3

It's not really a grammar question--you've already recognized Marley's usage as wrong in standard English.

I think he did it because you can emphasize "I" in the song better than you could "me." Try singing along, putting the "correct" pronoun (me) into the song--it doesn't sound as good, does it?

Answer 4

It's just part of the vernacular of English as spoken in Jamaica....

Answer 5

because o f rhyme

Answer 6

Yup, that's exactly what he meant.

Answer 7

if you get an answer, let me know cause I have no idea!!