Elvis Ate Dynamite

I woke up this morning to the news that reggae legend Jimmy Cliff passed away at age 81. What a tremendous loss for the music world in general. I posted this quick video on Instagram on my YouTube channel, so I thought I would share it here, too. I first came to reggae through the soundtrack to the 1972 film The Harder They Come, which starred Jimmy Cliff and featured much of his music, along with other reggae giants like Desmond Dekker and Toots & the Maytals. 

Jimmy’s influence spread well beyond Jamaica and well beyond reggae. He had a major impact on Joe Strummer and the Clash, inspiring these great lines from the song “Guns of Brixton” off the London Calling LP:

You see, he feels like Ivan

Born under the Brixton sun

His game is called survivin’

At the end of the harder they come

Rest in power, legend.