It’s the original cover of Bob Marley & The Wailers’ Catch a Fire. It looks like a Zippo lighter and, hinged and riveted, it opens like one too. Only the very early copies had this cover and I bought it with a record token I’d received for my birthday. I only bought the record for the cover, I didn’t really know who Bob Marley was. It was only years later when he became huge that I even remembered that my precious Zippo cover contained one of his albums. Bob Marley would have been 70 today and like most of the world, I’m a massive fan. I’ve spent my life boasting that I was into Bob Marley long before everyone else and could prove it by producing Catch a Fire in its original Zippo sleeve. But the truth is, I wasn’t. And today seems the right day to finally admit it.
The only cigarette lighter I’ve ever owned.

- Happy birthda...22nd Mar 2015
- Why did the I...17th Mar 2015
- I was startin...16th Mar 2015
- It's Laetare ...15th Mar 2015
- The last fare...13th Mar 2015
- So, Jeremy Cl...12th Mar 2015
- I'm queer.11th Mar 2015
- Dame Jenni Mu...10th Mar 2015
- It's internat...8th Mar 2015
- A third year ...7th Mar 2015
- The Radio 2 Y...6th Mar 2015
- To the Bush t...4th Mar 2015
- Literary refe...3rd Mar 2015
- Well, it's go...2nd Mar 2015
- I love chocol...1st Mar 2015 prev next