"Small Axe" is a powerful song that emerged from a period of frustration within the Jamaican music industry. Lee "Scratch" Perry, who collaborated with Bob Marley on the song, felt that power was concentrated in too few hands. The song uses the metaphor of a "small axe" to represent the ability to challenge and dismantle that established power, with lyrics like "If you are a big tree, we are the small axe, sharpened to cut you down." It was first released as a single in 1970 and later re-recorded for The Wailers' 1973 album, Burnin'.