The very first reggae song that I ever heard was not from Bob Marley or Peter Tosh, it was "You Can Get It If You Really Want", written and sung by Jimmy Cliff. At the time,
very early 70's, I had never heard of reggae and the wave that hit Europe only a year or two later was nowhere in sight. That wave almost washed him from the scene but he remained in the background, producing and recording records and later in his life, singing cover versions of popular songs. His most famous cover version was probably "I Can See Clearly Now" from the film "Cool Runnings" made in 1993.
For me personally, when I left Ireland for good, I had a time when things were not going very well and the song "Many Rivers To Cross" felt something like an anthem to me and it is still a bookmark of that period.
Jimmy passed away this week-end in his home town in Jamaica at the age of 81. I will miss him.
Comments