Blast From The Past- Jimmy Cliff Against Apartheid

The 1980's was a popular decade for artists to get together in the form of supergroups to sing songs for various worthy causes. The most noted projects were Band Aid and USA For Africa. Both of those efforts raised money for famine relief in Africa by selling tons of records. But from my perspective, the coolest project was Artists United Against Apartheid. They got together and did a song/video called "Sun City". Jimmy Cliff was one of the artists involved in this very worthwhile project. Here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjWENNe29qc

For those of you who don't know, the Sun City area in South Africa was a "whites only" resort region where the controlling white minority in that country could go on vacation and not have any contact with black citizens other than those who worked there. While this was happening, pop artists from all over the world were earning LOTS of money by performing for the white guests in Sun City. But since apartheid was nothing more than blatant, brutal racism peppered with homicide and other criminal activity to defend its existence, a number of performers decided to say no to the big paychecks provided by performing at Sun City. This song was their statement. I am still blown away by the roster of artists who participated, and it is such a cool thing to see Mr. Cliff in the video.

And let me finish by saying this...anyone reading this who is too young to remember apartheid, you are lucky to have been born into a world where this isolated instance of organzied criminal intolerance no longer exists. If you want to learn more, start by watching the movie Cry Freedom and doing the appropriate Google searches.

Jamaica's Daily Paper Does Feature Story On This Site

Many thanks to the good folks at The Gleaner, Jamaica's daily paper, for their feature story in today's edition about my efforts to get Jimmy Cliff into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. I have no doubt that the good folks in Jamaica know what a great artist Mr. Cliff is, and now thanks to The Gleaner they know about what I am seeking to do on his behalf. Here is a link to the online edition of the story:

http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20090423/ent/ent1.html

Those of you who are devoted reggae fans may have read Catch A Fire, the wonderful biography of Bob Marley written by Timothy White. He mentions in the first paragraph of the preface that The Gleaner was one of his main sources for the book. It is truly the paper of record for Jamaican people, and I am happy to have been featured there.

Easily The Strangest Jimmy Cliff Cover Ever

Kids Incorporated was a television show in the United States that ran on NBC for a couple of years in the mid 1980's, and then moved over to the Disney Channel for several more years. The show basically consisted of teens and tweens learning "valuable lessons" from their interactions with classmates, friends, teachers, etc... and then performing bland versions of popular songs to sum up their weekly dose of wisdom. For those of you who remember the popular "Afterschool Special" of many years ago, Kids Inc. was an even more poorly acted version of that show with the pop music as the intended hook to get young viewers to tune in and learn why it was bad to lie, cheat, etc...

There were a few actors/performers on the show who actually went on to stardom later in life. One of those folks is Black Eyed Peas member and solo artist Fergie. I am attaching a link so that you can see a very young Fergie performing "Trapped" on Kids Inc. The song was obviously included because Bruce Springsteen made it quite popular at the time. Seeing a child sing the powerful lyrics is downright laughable. But in a sense, that kind of makes this clip worth watching. Enjoy...as best you can. As I said, strangest Jimmy Cliff cover ever!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMlU9CdExfg

Many Covers of "Many Rivers"

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Jimmy Cliff must certainly feel good about all of the great artists who have recorded covers of his song "Many Rivers To Cross". I had mentioned this in a previous posting, and I decided to go ahead and list some of these performances and ask each of you to comment on which one is your favorite. Here we go:

UB40
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CktlPIlsBdw

John Lennon and Harry Nilson
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgzWqfZo8fY

Lenny Kravitz
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tr1S8HWSWf4

Elvis Costello
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0IAkrAmrpU

Joe Cocker
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NK93kcCS9Q

Government Mule
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0MCJLNgICM

Cher
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcJCCtZRxCk

And, of course, Jimmy Cliff
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGeCeK85sUg


Personally, I think it is hard to beat the original version. However, the Lenny Kravitz cover is pretty spectacular.

Great Live Clip of "You Can Get It If You Really Want" from 2003

Check out this great live clip of Jimmy Cliff on Brittish television in 2003

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ykkVt7ZOIA&feature=related

Join the Online Petition to Get Jimmy Cliff in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

There is now an online petition to help Jimmy Cliff get his place in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Click on the link below and sign to help us achieve this goal.

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/jimmycliffforthehall/

Watch the Video for The Harder They Come

Here's a Jimmy Cliff classic with scenes from the movie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGE4dnrPPZQ

Find Jimmy Cliff T-Shirts Online

Many of us as music fans love to show our support by wearing t-shirts from the artists we enjoy. In the case of Mr. Cliff, you have to do a bit of looking in order to find this kind of merchandise. I've gathered links to some of the places where you can find Jimmy Cliff merchandise, and I'll put them on here. As I've said before, purchasing his music is easy enough. Most any of the usual sites that feature popular music, reggae, etc...have his albums. T-shirts are a little harder to find, but here they are...

Tie Dyed with Jimmy Cliff on front and Lion of Africa on back:
http://www.musicbands.com/Jimmy-Cliff-TShirt/M/B000BT490C.htm?traffic_src=froogle&utm_medium=organic&utm_source=froogle

Plain white with I Love Jimmy Cliff on front
http://www.loveyoushirts.com/Name.aspx?id=1&imgText=Jimmy&imgText2=Cliff

The Harder They Come Movie poster on front
http://rockashrit.powweb.com/order/product_info.php?products_id=5021

I have only recently discovered these links and I can't vouch for the service of the providers. Please post a comment if you have purchased from them

The Impact of The Harder They Come

The word "influential" get tossed around in music circles quite a bit, whether it is warranted or not. But it would be hard to find a better way to describe the impact of the film The Harder They Come and its soundtrack album. For many music fans in the United States in the early to mid 1970's, the film and the soundtrack were their first mainstream exposure to reggae music. Jimmy Cliff stars in the film as Ivanhoe "Ivan" Martin, an aspiring reggae singer who leaves the Jamaican countryside for the island's capital in hopes of making it big in the music business. He faces corruption in the recording industry, sells some weed, and eventually becomes a folk hero and the most wanted man on the island. The film became a cult classic, showing in art house theaters and the popular weekend midnight movie presentations of the day. To learn more about the impact of this film, I would suggest watching a documentary from the Starz movie channel called Midnight Movies. It runs on the channel occasionally, but is also available on Netflix here:

http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Midnight_Movies/70081634?lnkctr=srchrd-sr&strkid=1581866569_0_0

The soundtrack album features wonderful work from Jimmy Cliff, including the title cut and "Many Rivers To Cross". Also featured on the album are Toots and The Maytals, The Melodians, Desmond Dekker, and The Slickers. This collection has been included in greatest album lists from Time, Blender, Pitchfork Media and Rolling Stone. Here is the Rolling Stone listing:

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/6598690/119_the_harder_they_come

The album is widely available on sites that sell music, including Amazon and many others. It is an essential for your collection and is truly the album that helped bring reggae music into American popular culture.

Jimmy Cliff Sings Disney Song

Here is a link to a Jimmy Cliff duet on the song "Hakuna Matata" from the Lion King. There is information on the page that will help you find the album it appears on if you are interested.

http://www.coveringthemouse.com/2007/08/hakuna-matata-lebo-m-jimmy-cliff.html

Jimmy Cliff Documentary on Netflix

For those of you who are Netflix members and would like to learn about Jimmy Cliff, you can rent the following documentary:

http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Jimmy_Cliff_Moving_On/70006762?lnkctr=srchrd-sr&strkid=1478121498_0_0

The Harder They Come on IMDB

Here is a link for IMDB's page relating to the movie The Harder They Come, which starred Jimmy Cliff as singer/outlaw Ivan Martin. The soundtrack album is considered by many to be the most influential reggae collection ever released. The film is considered a cult classic these days. I will post much more about the film in the future.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070155/

Annie Lennox covers Jimmy Cliff

The list of artists that have covered Mr. Cliff's classic song "Many Rivers To Cross" is very impressive. It includes Linda Rondstadt, Martha Reeves, Elvis Costello, Joe Cocker, Cher, U2, Bill Withers, UB40, Heather Nova, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Lenny Kravitz, and The Black Crowes.

For fans of American popular music, the most visible recent cover was delivered by Annie Lennox on American Idol Season 7: Idol Gives Back. Here is a link to the performance:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSSQXis_M4Q

While I can't say I am much of a fan of Idol, I was very happy to see this classic song performed to such a large audience. If you are aware of any other covers of this song out there that need attention, please post them or send me a link.

Bruce Springsteen covering Jimmy Cliff

Many of you may know that Bruce Springsteen is a Jimmy Cliff fan and has been covering Cliff's song "Trapped" in concert for more than two decades. Here is a live performance of the song by Springsteen and the E Street Band from 2008.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3p_JA_BmCwU&feature=PlayList&p=76E3DEF4D2364CD9&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=40

Enjoy!! Many other artists have covered Cliff's music, and I'll post as much of that as I can very soon.

Getting started as a Jimmy Cliff fan

I have posted links on this page that will lead you to Mr. Cliff's music. If you don't mind dropping a few bucks at the iTunes store, I highly suggest purchasing Mr. Cliff's anthology that is available there. It will run you $19.99, but it features 28 songs that offer a great retrospective of his career. That is an awfully good price per song based on the going rates. But if you don't want to drop the money until you have heard more, check out the links on this page and hear his music for free. There are also quite a few videos to be seen on You Tube.

For those of you who are Netflix subscribers, you will want to check out the following:

http://www.netflix.com/Movie/The_Harder_They_Come/60001914?lnkctr=srchrd-sr&strkid=976763448_0_0

This is the info for the movie called The Harder They Come, an early 1970's cult classic that features Mr. Cliff in the lead role. There will be a great deal more soon to come on this blog about the film.

Want all of your help

If you are a fan of Mr. Cliff and agree with my efforts to get him inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, then I would truly appreciate your help. Please feel free to send me any links or advice that may help make the site better.

Getting Things Started

If you are reading this, I hope it is because you are already a devoted fan of the great Jimmy Cliff or perhaps are just a music lover seeking to learn about this great artist. I've only been a fan for a couple of years, but I have come to understand that he has a special place in music history as one of the greatest reggae artists of all time. But beyond that, he has influenced countless artists in many genres. His songs deal with timeless themes of struggle and triumph, joy and pain, and the belief that a better day is on the horizon. It is my hope to do a few very specific things with this blog:

1. Create a place where the fans of Mr. Cliff can show their deep appreciation for his music
2. Introduce people who are unaware of Mr. Cliff to his wonderful music
3. Help further awareness of Mr. Cliff's career that will ultimately lead to his induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

Please feel free to share this link with your friends and help me spread the good word