Five songs that prove Jimmy Cliff was a musical genius
The musical world was shaken recently as it was announced that reggae legend Jimmy Cliff had sadly passed away.
“It’s with profound sadness that I share that my husband, Jimmy Cliff, has crossed over due to a seizure followed by pneumonia,” his wife wrote in a statement shared on social media. “I am thankful for his family, friends, fellow artists and coworkers who have shared his journey with him. To all his fans around the world, please know that your support was his strength throughout his whole career.”
The loss is one that can be felt throughout the musical industry, impacting artists and fans alike, for Cliff was more than just a reggae star; he was the reggae star. The genre may well not have travelled over to the UK and the US if not for Cliff, who was a representation of everything that makes the genre so special.
His knowledge of music, and his ability to present it in a way that reflected the best aspects of the sound he loved and his own ability as a singer, was something to well and truly marvel at. We will never have anyone like Cliff again, so all that’s left to do is remember him for the exceptional artist he was, and revel in the songs that reflect his musical genius.
The songs that prove Jimmy Cliff was a musical genius
‘Vietnam’
Writing a protest song about war is incredibly difficult; sometimes, the picture is too big to look at, and just writing a track with the sentiment “war is bad” isn’t enough to truly resonate with the listener. Cliff overcame this issue with the track ‘Vietnam’, where he drew on harrowing personal experiences and the experiences of one of his friends who was drafted to try and paint an honest picture about the war.
“I felt I could make a change through music,” said when discussing the track, “maybe that stems back to church and Sam Cooke, but I was socially conscious and sensitive to things going in that war. A friend I went to school with, he was a great artist, he went to live with his family in America, he got drafted, went to Vietnam, and it blew his mind. He came back, he didn’t recognise me; it was as if he was dead.”
‘You Can Get It If You Really Want’
Sometimes, you don’t need to justify why a song is great; you can appreciate it as much just by understanding its legacy. In the case of Cliff, when you look at what ‘You Can Get It If You Really Want’ did for the breakthrough of reggae in the US and the UK, no more words are needed, for this is as classic as a classic can possibly be.
The song has since been covered by plenty of artists and used as a soundtrack for different people and businesses, with even the conservative party once using the song to close a David Cameron speech in 2007, something which Cliff took particular issue with. Speaking out about the use of the song, Cliff showed that he wasn’t just a creative genius, but he was also a man with integrity.
“I’m from the lower class of society,” he said, “And I tend to support them rather than the upper class”.
‘Harder They Come’
This is another one of those songs where you don’t need a whole lot of justifying why it’s considered a piece of musical genius. When it came to introducing reggae to the UK and the US, the two songs that helped cement this beautiful genre as one to keep your eye on were ‘You Can Get It If You Really Want’ and ‘Harder They Come’.
Every single aspect of the genre that helps that style of music stand out is present on this track, which speaks of hope, unity, and tells you that no matter how bad things get, you can always look for positives; never has a song inspired so many in such a short amount of time, but here we are.
‘I Can See Clearly Now’
Being a musical genius doesn’t just mean you’re a good songwriter, but it also means that you have a deep understanding of music, which is difficult to deny. Cliff showed clearly that he had this understanding, as he didn’t just cover songs, he tapped into the heart of what made certain songs special and showed those features in a new light.
People loved Johnny Nash’s original version of ‘I Can See Clearly Now’, to the extent that not many people would have thought it was something that necessarily needed a cover. A couple decades later, though, Cliff decided to perform his own rendition of the song, and in doing so, gave the listener something which stayed true to the original but also showed things in a new light, making for a great representation of his ornate understanding of what makes a song good.
‘Many Rivers To Cross’
When Cliff wrote ‘Many Rivers to Cross’, he was writing from an incredibly personal place: coming over to the UK hadn’t been as rewarding as he originally thought it might be, as his career hadn’t taken off in the way that he expected it might. As such, he wrote this song about the ordeals of being a creative.
You know you’re teetering on the edge of being a musical genius when these personal numbers resonate on a much broader level. Despite it being about Cliff’s career, it picked up traction from all those listeners because it appealed to people who were somewhat lost in life. “Everyone at some point asks, ‘Who am I? Why am I here? What am I going to do?’” said Cliff when discussing the universal appeal of the song, showing that his understanding of the human psyche, as well as music, was truly spellbinding.
