DON'T F*CK WITH ME!
If you ever saw "The Harder They Come," you know this scene. If you haven't watched the movie, you should.
They started to promote reggae. Only this was in a world with no YouTube, never mind the internet. We weren't sure how to PRONOUNCE IT! Was it like "Reggie" in the "Richie Rich" comics or was it like "gay" or... You see the way they promoted something back then was via the press. There were articles in "Time" and other magazines, there was a big push, but there was no radio airplay.
Most of the push came with the release of the Wailers "Catch a Fire," their first "rock" album, produced and released by Chris Blackwell. Marley and the group were stranded in London, needing cash, and Blackwell gave it to them in return for this record that he adjusted for white audiences. Which didn't catch a fire whatsoever, not in the U.S. That didn't happen for Marley until five albums later, with the release of "Live!," which percolated in the marketplace during 1976 and is a one listen smash...all you need to hear is the opener, "Trenchtown Rock." After that...Marley and the Wailers were stars. And it was definitely Bob Marley and the Wailers, he pointed to the emblem on his white BMW and said that was what it stood for.
But before that...
The first reggae hit to break in the U.S. was by an American! Johnny Nash, with his original "I Can See Clearly Now," a phenomenal track that one can never burn out on. The attendant press said it was reggae, but the success of the track transcended the hype, it was EVERYWHERE! And if you bought the album it was littered with Marley covers, it opened with "Stir It Up," but no one in the U.S. knew who Marley was.
But before Marley gained traction, there was the 1972 film, "The Harder They Come," directed by Perry Henzell and masterminded by Chris Blackwell. It was not released in America until 1973, part of the reggae push, but unlike "Catch a Fire," "The Harder They Come" did ignite, albeit slowly, via word of mouth after continued exhibition, especially in the college student mecca of Boston, where the film had a seven year midnight run at the Orson Welles Cinema.
But it wasn't only the film, within which Jimmy Cliff starred as Ivan, it was also the SOUNDTRACK! A cornucopia of reggae's greatest hits featuring first and foremost the work of Cliff, the album caught you immediately with "You Can Get It If You Really Want."
"But you must try, you must try..."
I never heard this on the radio. But I bought the album and the music was undeniable.
The record also contained the Melodians' "Rivers of Babylon," and the Slickers' "Johnny Too Bad," and the Maytals' (soon to be known as "Toots and the Maytals") "Pressure Drop, but...
As good as those tracks were, and they were great, they were superseded by the work of Jimmy Cliff, the title track and then "Rivers of Babylon" and the piece-de-resistance..."Sitting in Limbo."
"Sitting here in limbo
But I know it won't be long
Sitting here in limbo
Like a bird without a song"
You'd never heard something quite like this. It was a giant leap forward. Soft, hooky, ethereal and meaningful, wow!
But as big as the movie and these songs were, "The Harder They Come" was still a cult item. Not a cult item like today, a small vertical, but without mainstream AOR airplay only dedicated music fans and those who'd seen the movie were exposed. And for them...the album was a staple of their collection, that never went out of style.
And Jimmy Cliff was the biggest star in reggae. Eclipsing Bob Marley by far. Whose Island career really didn't gain any significant traction until "Rastaman Vibration," four studio albums in.
But when Jimmy's 1973 Island album "Struggling Man" did such, despite the movie, Jimmy jumped ship. To the major labels. EMI in Europe and Reprise in the U.S. It was like he sold out, in search of stardom, he was not an authentic Jamaican spliff-smoker, he was part of the machine, he was no longer one of the struggling originals. And this perception spread from the island to the mainland, and the small group who were reggae fans shunned Cliff, he was for everybody else, not them.
But Reprise couldn't break Cliff, not in the traditional way. Meanwhile, Marley was percolating up from the bottom, and when he and his group finally got a toehold, it was not radio that spread the word, but the public, who adored the Wailers like fans adored the Grateful Dead. The Wailers got even less radio airplay. But word was you just had to see them. And people did, and the legend grew.
Jimmy put out "Give Thankx" in 1978, and it received a push from Reprise, I bought it and liked it, but sans Chris Blackwell, sans being part of the Island reggae cult, sans a hit (which even Marley and the Wailers did not have), Jimmy Cliff was just another major label act trolling for radio airplay to rocket them into the stratosphere, and that never happened.
And then Jimmy Cliff converted to Islam, when reggae fans were all over Rastafarianism. And this sealed his outsider status. And reggae fans knew. Jimmy was not a pariah, he was just a sideshow, a very small sideshow... Reggae lifted the boats of everyone playing it except for Jimmy, the wind was no longer in his sails.
Jimmy even switched to Columbia, worked with the Stones' producer Chris Kimsey, but the reggae cult shrugged its shoulders.
Meanwhile, Bob Marley had died of cancer, and it's impossible to compete with a dead man. Marley was seen as the epicenter of reggae, true believers considered him the god, and Jimmy Cliff was just a guy who starred in a movie. But he wasn't!
But in music back then, commercial success was everything. And you couldn't sell many tickets without it. Furthermore, tickets were still cheap.
So...
Jimmy Cliff continued to live, he made records, but he was now seen as separate from Jamaica.
Now the last time I saw Jimmy Cliff was in 2012, at Coachella, on the main stage, in the afternoon, when not only are there few in attendance, there are not many in front of the main stage. And neither was I... But I heard this voice... I remember immediately looking to the sky. Who is this? And I turned around and...
It was Jimmy Cliff. Who was promoting a new album, "Rebirth," but you didn't have to know the record to get the performance.
It was the kind you never forget. Sans big production, in the sun, which is not conducive to impact, Jimmy seemed to hover twenty or thirty feet above the stage, that's how powerful his voice and music were. It was astounding.
And now he's dead.
Coda:
The news is everywhere. Boomers and Gen-X'ers know his name. Youngsters? I've never heard one of them reference "The Harder They Come," even though Jimmy Cliff was more than that, much more...
There was "Vietnam," released in '68, but most people did not catch on until after the war was over. There was no internet to provide alternative airplay, sans the radio...you were dead in the water, or close to it.
And then there was "Wonderful World, Beautiful People" in '69... Another track that didn't really gain traction until later, in the seventies.
As for "You Can Get It If You Really Want." This used to be the ethos of America, the so-called "American Dream," which today is more achievable in Canada and certain European nations than the U.S. But it was even harder to move up the ladder in Jamaica...but at the time...as many tickets as today's musical acts sell, as many streams as they have, acts were much bigger fifty years ago. Music was beyond entertainment, it was laden with meaning, it drove the culture, music was IT! And the best way to go from nowhere to somewhere was to have a hit, not be on a reality TV show or concoct some scam in Silicon Valley.
As for the movie's title track...
"Well they tell me of a pie up in the sky
Waiting for me when I die
But between the day you're born and when you die
They never seem to hear you even cry"
There's more truth in that verse than you find in today's Spotify Top 50. An honest appraisal of the human condition. Today they're selling fantasy, back then reality triumphed.
And in the song Jimmy ultimately did:
"So as sure as the sun will shine
I"m gonna get my share now, what's mine
And then the harder they come
The harder they fall, one and all"
This is not the false braggadocio of a rap record, this is not the trappings, this is the essence...through sheer will I'm going to lift myself up, all by lonesome, because no one is helping me, and as far as those who held me back...F*CK THEM!
"Many Rivers to Cross"?
"Many rivers to cross
And it's only my will that keeps me alive"
Live long enough and you struggle. You think you're flying high, then you lose your job, your spouse...it's not clear sailing for anybody, ANYBODY! And it's hard to put one foot in front of another. It's only sheer will that keeps you alive.
"And this loneliness won't leave me alone
It's such a drag to be on your own"
When you've got nothing, nobody wants to be your friend, no one wants to date you, you're alone, in the wilderness, and staying upright and functioning is extremely difficult, not that you'll learn about this in today's music...where too many are complaining they're not yet rich or famous, or from internet influencers, who believe by laying themselves bare and talking about how screwed they are that this resonates...even though what they're really looking for is attention...and money.
And then there's "Sitting in Limbo," alone with your thoughts on the beach.
"Well they're putting up resistance
But I know that my faith will lead me on"
Faith in yourself. That's how you break through.
"Sitting here in limbo
Waiting for the tide to flow
Sitting here in limbo
Knowing that I have to go"
To succeed you must take action. You must confront your issues, your problems, your naysayers. You cannot cower, you must hold your head high.
Like Jimmy Cliff.
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