A Conversation with Jimmy Cliff – HuffPost 7.16.12

Mike Ragogna: Jimmy Cliff, I love you!

Jimmy Cliff: Thank you!

MR: (laughs) You have contributed to the culture in ways that some people, I think, are unaware of, and I want to get to that story. But first, for your new album Rebirth, you took a different approach. Can you describe it?

JC: Absolutely. It’s produced by Tim Armstrong, and I’ve written some of the songs with Tim Armstrong. That’s a completely different avenue from what I’ve done in the past.

MR: Rancid’s Tim Armstrong.

JC: Right, Rancid, yes.

MR: Jimmy, was this album recorded as just a band playing together in the studio, everyone together?

JC: Yes. Back in the day, that’s the way the recording business went. You’d go into the studio with four, five or six people and you all feel each other’s energy and kick it off and record it. That’s the way we did it.

MR: Let’s talk about the players for a second.

JC: Well, the players are all from L.A., and that’s a departure from me recording in Jamaica. They all have knowledge of all the former instruments and studios and all of the things that we recorded former reggae music in. They wanted to capture that same sound of that period in this time period.

MR: In the song “World Upside Down,” you again look at not only the politics of Jamaica but the state of the world. “Too much injustice…religious hipocracy, political tyranny…” How do you look at the world now versus back when you first took the message to the people through vehicles like The Harder They Come?

JC: Well, we are in a technological age, and technology has changed a whole lot of things, but at the same time, ecological things are changing, political things are changing, spiritual things are changing. I just think that we’re coming into a new age or new time. They had a play called Hair, which had a song called “The Age of Aquarius.” We’re past the stage of dawning now; we’re coming into the actual Age of Aquarius, which is the age of air, so people will be more sensitive to things. People want fact, not fiction.

MR: Jimmy, when you create, where is it coming from?

JC: Most of the time, it’s from my own soul, but what comes from my own soul a lot of times is kind of echoing the people. I’m like sensitive to what’s going on in the world with people and things and places, and I kind of echo that. But I am always at the center of it.

MR: So you’re taking it from the perspective of you being connected with the big Self.

JC: That’s right, exactly.

MR: And I believe I saw that when I watched you sing some of your standards and new material at South by Southwest.

JC: Oh, great! You were there? I had fun at that, yes!

MR: I was in many a sweaty room to watch you.

JC: (laughs) Oh, great, wonderful. Good, good! I had fun there, so yeah. I did standards, and I did some of the new stuff.

MR: I guess this is a good time to ask you because it’s relative to the South by Southwest performances. When you were performing those older songs, I was amazed at the kids knew your music and were singing along, like to “You Can Get it if You Really Want it” and “Wonderful World,” “Sitting in Limbo”…

JC: Yes, well I think that’s way it works. As far as I saw from a lot of my concerts all over the world is that the people who grew up with my music at the time passed it on to their children, and it has become a part of their children’s lives. They grew up with it, so they come to the concerts to see the performer of these songs and really make the connection between the music and the performer.

MR: That must be fulfilling for you.

JC: Absolutely, very fulfilling, because I’ve lived from the generation of heroes to the generation of the rebels, and now I’m in the generation of the brains.

MR: Jimmy, the name of the album is Rebirth, as in the concept of a rebirth beyond your career with these songs.

JC: Well, the concept of rebirth is, first of all, the rebirth of myself musically and spiritually and all that, but beyond that, it’s a rebirth of the planet. A lot of things are going on like I said earlier about the new age that we’re coming into, and individually, we’re able to rebirth ourselves again, to give new life to ourselves to really relinquish the parts of our lives that we don’t want and then bud and start anew. So this is the concept.

MR: But I have to ask you, using one of your own song titles, that it always seems like there are still many rivers to cross.

JC: There are always many rivers to cross for me because we are always growing in life. You know, once you stop growing, that’s it. So there are always many rivers to cross, and sometimes you say to yourself, “If I knew now what I knew then, I wouldn’t have done that” but that’s how life goes. There are always many rivers to cross, so that song is like a timeless song.

MR: On the other hand, like another of your anthems, “You Can Get it if You Really Want,” that’s true as well. That’s still such a positive message.

JC: Oh, absolutely! And it’s a message that is necessary again in the timeless mode of things. It’s a message that is always necessary, and we just need to be reminded of that because if you notice, whether consciously or subconsciously, “If I really want that, I can go for it, and I can get it.” We all know that, but we just need to be reminded all the time.

MR: Yes, and I think you’re coming up on the fortieth anniversary for The Harder They Come, the movie that you starred in whose songs basically introduced the world to reggae, in many ways.

JC: Oh yes, and that would be a starting point that introduced the world to reggae visually and also aurally. People had little understanding of reggae, but when they saw the movie, they actually saw where it was coming from, so in that song (“The Harder They Come), reggae music, I kind of stated that.

MR: So getting back to Rebirth, you covered The Clash’s “Guns of Brixton.”

JC: Yes, “Guns of Brixton” because The Clash was another group that were inspired by Jimmy Cliff, and Joe Strummer and I had the opportunity before he went on to higher planes to record a song together, so doing “Guns of Brixton” is like one respect to him. And also, the song “Reggae Music” was talking about The Harder They Come, and is still quite relevant today.

MR: Jimmy, you also inspired, Paul Simon with your song “Vietnam.” I believe the story goes that your recording of “Vietnam” inspired “Mother and Child Reunion.”

JC: Yes, and I met Paul sometime earlier this year, and he was telling me the story. It was quite gratifying to hear it from a brilliant songwriter such as Paul Simon.

MR: Well let me ask you this also. You’ve only talked in a very modest way, but with your contribution to reggae music and your movie The Harder They Come, you woke everybody up to the politics of Jamaica.

JC: Oh yes, to the politics of Jamaica, to the deep part of the culture of Jamaica, which is Rastafari, and to the social living of Jamaica, which has impacted the world in a very big way. So yeah, I got to be the one who was in the place to do that at the right time.

MR: Yes, and Bob Marley gets a lot of the credit, but as far as the US, you were the first.

JC: Well absolutely. I took Bob to record his first songs. I saw his talent before anybody else, and he never let me down. Whoever opens the gate has to close the gate, and I’m still here doing my thing.

MR: Nice. I also wanted to throw out there your cover of Cat Stevens’ “Wild World.” You absolutely helped Cat Stevens’ career as well.

JC: Oh yeah, because it was one of the songs that he wrote and probably didn’t recognize how great the song was. I recognized it and recorded it with him producing it, and then he recorded it for himself and put it on his own album.

MR: Jimmy, since we’re on the subject of discovering artists, let me ask you this question. What advice do you have for new artists?

JC: I think we all should recognize that we have something of ourselves, just like how our fingerprint is different from everyone else’s, we also have something different inside from everyone else. Try to recognize what that is and bring it out, and you’ll be the best.

MR: Is there anything else about Rebirth that we need to know that we might not have covered?

JC: Well, we’ve put it in a nutshell without going into a lot of details, but yeah, it’s a rebirth, and you can also rebirth yourself at any point in time because you’re living.

MR: Are you constantly rebirthing yourself?

JC: Absolutely, absolutely. I’m alive! I’m a living man.

MR: When you listen to this album, and then you look back at the amazing body of work that you’ve done, what are your thoughts about yourself having gone from there to here?

JC: Well, I set high goals for myself. I’ve accomplished a lot of them, but there are still a lot of goals to be accomplished, so Rebirth now is another stepping stone to a higher level.

MR: And you’ll be touring for this album.

JC: Yes, I’m touring the U.S., I’m touring Europe, all of North America and South America as well and maybe Africa. The whole world!

MR: Well, the world is your audience.

JC: Absolutely, and I just want to extend them that.

MR: Jimmy, I appreciate very, very much that you had time to talk about the new album and more today.

JC: I appreciate it too! I appreciate talking with you, and I appreciate all your audience. Thank you all very much for encouraging me in the past and for all the energy that you’re giving me now. The soul energy to be going on in the future. Thank you all!

Transcribed by Kyle Pongan