You’ll swear up and down this is lifted right off of the soundtrack of The Harder They Come. And when Jimmy says: “Where black is the color, where none is the number,” he means it much more passionately than even its original lyricist. Whoever would’ve thought Bob Dylan’s iconic anthem, A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall, could be pumped-up into a humorous, bouncy, bubbly, reggae sing-a-long? Jimmy switches ‘blue-eyed son’ to ‘brown-eyed son’ to make it for real Jamaican, with thumpin’ bass and a cacophony of gyrating carnival organ. A forty-eight year-old folk song about an imminent nuclear holocaust (Bobby wrote it just after the conclusion of The Cuban Missile Crisis) is rendered with enough immediacy, enough spontaneity, that we would expect it to be a timely comment on the condition of the world today. As good as this one is, the next one is the EP Keeper. Cliff’s vocal performance is up to par with his characteristic falsetto outbursts, that would have you believe he’s a man of a mere twenty-five years. Ship Is Sailing is a new original of Jimmy’s that is an uplifting, spritely reggae ditty that gets you dancing a jig! A pick up organ lick kicks off each verse as a Jimmy Buffet-like nautical melody against a traditional springy Reggae rhythm.
Or maybe that’s just a very fast reggae rhythm – I know it’s 4/4, but at what point does it become Ska? Ska/Reggae scholars, come at once on out of your closet! Their version is fairly more edgy and punky (than Cliff’s), but still has some charming harmonies, which Cliff continues in his signature falsetto (overdubbing on his own lead vocal), against a very bright, almost Ska-esque rhythm. Listen for a clanking cow bell, phasing guitar drenched in reverb, a power-driven drum kit, with undulating trombones accenting a lyric smitten of the Storming of the Bastille – instrumental counter-point bounces back and forth between your cheapo speakers.įor Ruby Soho, I watched Rancid’s original rendition on YouTube earlier today, since I’m not that familiar with the band Rancid. A cover of the Clash’s The Guns of Brixton speaks of rebellion where the violence of the police may be answered by an equal dose of violence. If you don’t get this Sacred Fire EP you’re going to hate yourself. I’ll let go of the nostalgia for now, and instead let’s vacation in Jimmy Cliff’s sunny Jamaica!
Jimmy cliff sacred fire ep mac#
And Mac would bring in at least two six packs of Shiner Bock for the grueling night shift and reefer made the rounds perpetually as we sang along with the Reggae classics, ‘You can get it if you really want.’ Repeat.
What kept us happy really (along with the many gorgeous hippie chicks who worked at the Garden), was repeatedly rolling the soundtrack to the Harder They Come.
And come to think of it, this worked rather well, since we never rebelled or rioted, or never went on strike like these Occupy Wall Street bunch do now days. Things were considerably looser in those days but the pay was unbelievably beaucoup low so the management figured they could appease us by keeping us messed up out of our heads all the time. (Mac had the first smoothie bar in Austin too, The Octopus Garden.)Īnyway, we drank a lotta of beer and smoked lots of reefer while we were working. Rick handled the tempura fried vegetables, veggie tacos, and Guacamole/Bean Sprout Mountains, while Mac took charge of the fruit smoothies, which was a completely new phenomenon in those days (1972 & 1973). I needed to think back on my days when I worked at the first vegetarian restaurant that came to Austin, The Garden Cafe, with Rick and Mac as the owners. Jimmy Cliff is back on top with his newest record, Sacred Fire EP, with five exceptionally energized Reggae songs, that sound like the Real Deal dating from the early 1970s era, that emerged from the streets of Kingston, Jamaica (I’m no authority on this movement, but my curiosity might propel me to do some grassroots Reggae research sometime.) To get myself ready for Cliff’s freshest offering, I rented The Harder They Come on ITunes, in order to recreate the inspiring moment when Reggae gave birth.
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