Jimmy Cliff
‘Reggae Porch Thoughts’
With a legacy stretching back nearly 50 years, Jimmy Cliff is the only living musician honoured with Jamaica’s Order of Merit. He is a celebrated two-time Grammy Award Winner, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductee and a talented actor. Whether you’re a reggae fan or not, his songs such as Wonderful World, Beautiful People, Vietnam, Wild World and I Can See Clearly Now, have been part of our lives, at some point.
Jimmy continues travelling the world performing, and in February stopped in at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards (Los Angeles) to accept his second Grammy for Best Reggae Album, Rebirth, which was listed at #12 on Rolling Stone's list of the top 50 albums of 2012.
Along with many of his worldwide hits, Jimmy will be performing Rebirth at the Corner Hotel in Richmond on March 27 as part of ‘Bluesfest Touring’. With his 2013 Grammy Award still hot in his hands, Jimmy was enjoying some ‘downtime’ before answering my call on his mobile phone on his sunny Porch in Miami, Florida.
I can imagine your Grammy Award is within arms-reach. What does winning this second Grammy mean to you after receiving your first one 30 years ago?
The Grammy Award is an acknowledgement of my work and it’s always good to be recognised in whatever field of work one does; it encourages and motivates one to continue to higher heights that one might have in mind or in sight.
What prompted you to keep reaching higher and reviving your music career?
It was a conscious decision to revive myself in the music industry. Having made that decision, a lot of things just started falling in place like being inducted into the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame. I started writing new songs, and from there writing two new albums. Rebirth is just some of the songs from one of the albums with some new songs added to it with new direction and sound.
Rebirth was a successful collaboration with producer Tim Armstrong, front man of American punk-rock band Rancid. You seemed to be an unlikely pair, how did the collaboration come about?
My manager suggested a few people knowing I had to make a new album, and Tim’s name came up. When we met in the studio for the first time, it just felt really good. Reggae music influenced pop music so the communication between Tim and myself was easy. We both understood the social and political situations of what was going on. Tim is a Reggae connoisseur so it made it the whole process quite round.
Are we expecting another album soon?
The new album has already been started but people shouldn’t expect it to be like the last album. I always endeavour to make something new on every new album. We expect to release it in 2014.
Turning back the hands of time, you were 14 years-of-age when you had you first hit song Hurricane Hattie, what inspired you to write as such a young age?
Writing was everything that I could see and feel that I wanted to express and I discovered I had the gift to write. I wrote my expressions down in melody and words. I continued to live my life and being sensitive of what was going on.
In addition to providing the music for the classic film The Harder They Come in 1972, you also landed the lead role as the struggling reggae singer, Ivanhoe ‘Ivan’ Martin. You furthered your acting career in a number of films in the USA. Will we see you in more films?
When I first started out my career I wanted to be an actor. I have just skimmed the surface of that area in my career. I want to make more movies and even though one of them did become a classic, I want to be holding up an Oscar one day.
Your musical and acting journey has returned you with string of awards and accolades including the Jamaican government awarding you in 2003 with The Order of Merit for your contributions to the film and music of Jamaica. What other career highlights spring to mind?
There are so many including the Grammy Awards that are all encouragement, but when you are honoured in your own country it’s an amazing feeling (especially being alive to receive it). Other memorable highlights were performing in South Africa during the Apartheid era and also in Brazil in front of 50,000 people who were great Reggae fans.
What does it mean being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (2010)?
It means that I am one individual that has created and established a music form that is not European or North American but from a small island called Jamaica. To be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame which is a very prestigious institution in the United States, feels really good and pleasing.
With a string of musical collaborations with the likes of The Rolling Stones, Elvis Costello and Annie Lennox and having many of your songs covered by Willie Nelson, Bruce Springsteen and Cher (to name a few), how do you feel when artists adds one of your songs to their international tours and albums?
The thing that I like, each of the artists, particularly Bruce Springsteen’s version of Trapped, is that they made the songs their own. If you listen to his version and my version, they are completely different. The song became Bruce’s song. I think that is what I did with Cat Stevens song Wild World and my cover of The Clash’s Guns of Brixton song on Rebirth; I made them mine.
We are about to welcome you back to Melbourne. Apart from lifting the roof of the Corner Hotel in Richmond, what else do you plan to do here during your brief visit?
I am hoping to get some downtime and visit some interesting places and I’m looking forward to enjoying your restaurants that Melbourne is famous for. Melbourne is one of those parts of Australia that I love to visit and Australia is such a great geographical country. When I am in Melbourne I hope to also visit areas outside of the city also.
What is your Porch Thought of the Day?
“Keep on reaching for the higher heights. There are always higher heights to go.”