War (Bob Marley song) composer Carlton Barrett
Songwriting controversy
"War" is credited to Allen "Skill" Cole (idea) and Carlton Barrett (music); the music was an extension of the one-drop drumming style, which Carlton Barrett had developed and refined, if not invented. The lyrics are a near-exact repetition of a 1963 speech in the UN by the Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie. However, the two simple guitar chords and the semi-improvised, spirited melody put to Selassie's words is unmistakably Marley's.
According to Stephen Davis' biography "Bob Marley," it also appears that Marley had credited several of his multi-million selling 1974-1976 songs to close friends and relatives because he was under an unfavorable publishing contract, signed in April 1968 with Cayman Publishing, that would have otherwise deprived him of much of his songwriting royalties. Crediting close friends, such as football player Allan "Skill" Cole or  Wailers drummer Carlton "Carly" Barrett therefore enabled Bob Marley to circumvent the law until new, more favorable agreements were made. This practice, along with the practice of rewarding friends who contributed to compositions by crediting them — even if they only contributed with ideas — and Marley's sudden death without leaving a will all combined to create confusion about the copyright status of several songs, including "War".
Barrett's brother, Wailer musician Aston "Family Man" Barrett (who created the bass line, key to the song's efficiency) has since brought lawsuits against the Marley estate (in practice, the widow Rita Marley) for unpaid royalties and credit for songs such as "War" that were claimed to have been either written by others and not by Bob Marley, or in collaboration with Marley. One such suit reached a settlement in 1994 in which Barrett was paid $500,000. Barrett later continued to pursue legal action, seeking £60 million ($113.6 million at the time) in a suit against the Island-Universal record label and the Marley family, but the case was dismissed on the grounds that the earlier settlement proscribed any further claim on the estate
author songwriter creator maker writer