Cliff, Nelson do different takes on 'The Harder They Come'

Mel Cooke, Sunday Gleaner Writer

Since appearing as the title song of the soundtrack to the outstanding 1972 movie The Harder They Come, in which Jimmy Cliff starred as Ivanhoe Martin, the uptempo Cliff song of the same name is a testament to resolve and a determination not to wait for the afterlife to "get what's mine".

Other songs on the soundtrack, unparalleled in sheer quality in Jamaican-movie history and on par with cultural products from any country, are You Can Get it if You Really Want (Jimmy Cliff), Draw Your Brakes (Scotty), Rivers of Babylon (The Melodians), Many Rivers to Cross (Cliff) and Sweet and Dandy (Toots and The Maytals).

On Side Two of the album are Johnny Too Bad (The Slickers), 007 (Shanty Town) (Desmond Dekker), Pressure Drop (Toots and the Maytals), Sitting in Limbo (Cliff) and versions of You Can Get it if You Really Want and The Harder They Come.

Signature song

Inevitably, The Harder They Come has become a signature Cliff song, but the numerous remakes have helped to make it larger than life. Among the performers who have done over The Harder They Come are Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, Desmond Dekker and Cher.

One of the more recent versions has been done by Willie Nelson, a country-music legend who is no stranger to Jamaica and recorded Still is Still Moving with Toots Hibbert on his Grammy winning True Love album.

But while Cliff goes uptempo, Nelson is all acoustic.

The accompanying video is directed by Ras Kassa 'The Guru' and shows Nelson sitting at a bus stop playing a guitar and singing, with various scenes showing embattled persons dealing with their situations - a schoolboy harassed by the police, a waitress fondled by a customer. There are brief shots of The Harder They Come movie director, the late Perry Henzell, and legendary guitarist Ernie Ranglin.

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Since its inception two years ago, 'Story of the Song' has concentrated on interviewing the original performers of popular songs in Jamaica's stellar music history. In today's instalment, The Sunday Gleaner examines a landmark song - Jimmy Cliff's The Harder They Come"

"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 even your cry

So as sure as the sun will shine

I'm gonna get my share now of what's mine

And then the harder they come the harder they'll fall, one and all

The harder they come the harder they'll fall, one and all

Well the oppressors are trying to keep me down

Trying to drive me underground

And they think that they have got the battle won

I say forgive them Lord, they know not what they've done

And I keep on fighting for the things I want

Though I know that when you're dead you can't

But I'd rather be a free man in my grave

Than living as a puppet or a slave"

Jimmy Cliff