The good and the great continue to depart- Jimmy Cliff died yesterday at the age of 81. His voice, often described as mellifluous- I'll go for mesmerising and a joy to listen to- is one of the sounds of reggae for me. When I first began to buy reggae records, via covers by The Clash and interviews in the weekly music press, Jimmy Cliff and the soundtrack to The Harder They Come was one of my entry points. The soundtrack to that film is hit after hit. Jimmy sang the title track and recorded it specifically for the film, as well as Many Rivers To Cross and You Can Get It If You Really Want alongside songs from The Maytals, The Melodians, The Slickers and Desmond Decker. Jimmy played the lead role in the film too, Ivan.
Way back in the early 90s I bought a Jimmy Cliff compilation at a record fair in Buxton which had these two songs on it...
I was already familiar with Wild World due to the Maxi Priest cover version from 1988. Good as that is, Jimmy Cliff's version is sublime. Vietnam was called 'the best protest song I ever heard' by no less an authority than Bob Dylan.
In 2012 Jimmy released a cover of Guns Of Brixton, Jimmy returning the tip of the trilby to Paul Simonon who references Ivan in the lyrics. Jimmy's version was produced by Tim Armstrong of Rancid, a massive Clash fan- Jimmy later covered a Rancid song too.
'You see he feels like Ivan/ Born under the Brixton sun'
A life well lived and a giant of Jamaican music. Jimmy Cliff RIP.
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