12 September, 1980.

Good ole’ Bob, turning up this morning with a song to lift the spirits, and let’s face it, we could all do with a little bit of that. It’s bloody miserable out in the big wide world right now. Alternatively, this could be seen as a ‘stick your head in the sand everything will be just fine’ kind of vibe, which is also rather appealing at the moment.

Written by Bob Marley, this was included on his 1977 album Exodus. There is some dispute about the inspiration for the song, with Marley’s friend Tony Gilbert claiming the song was literally about three birds, possibly canaries, that used to sit on the window.

Another version comes from Marley’s backing singers, The I Three (commonly known as I Threes) who were a trio of female singers. Member Marcia Griffiths claimed that Marley would always refer to them as his Three Little Birds.

On its release as a single, which wasn’t until 1980 by the way, the song spent nine weeks on the UK chart and peaked at number seventeen. Since then it has gone on to become one of his most popular songs.