Jimmy Cliff - The Harder They Come

[LeftyFingerPop]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXCIgYtnrj8&feature=more_related

[Flaxbee]

1. did you ever see the movie, LFP?

I took a Caribbean literature class in college and it was fantastic. The professor showed "The Harder They Come" one day ... fun class.

[LeftyFingerPop]

2. I have never seen it, Flaxbee...

I would like to sometime.

Your class sounds interesting!



:hi:

[Curmudgeoness]

3. Oh, I love reggae. And this is a great song. Or how about this one?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIbH37YnWV8

[LeftyFingerPop]

4. Very nice! Listening now...

Thanks for posting this! :hi:

[LeftyFingerPop]

5. A cover of a Bob Marley classic that brings tears to my eyes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhHWHGfL5nA

[Curmudgeoness]

7. Yeah, everything's gonna be alright.

[Curmudgeoness]

6. How about Ernie Smith....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duaG3pmaLDU

I had a Jamaican friend who lent me all these old albums at one time. He explained this song to me but I forget so much---need a translation again, but this song is hilarious. Out getting really wasted, they hear something and think it's a ghost (duppy?) or the cops (gun man). At least I think that is what I remember.

[dendrobium]

9. Here's the translation

"It must be a duppy or a gunman" He is out with a girl and he is startled by a noise. He thinks it must be either a ghost or an armed robber (gunman is definitely a criminal not a cop).
"I man no stop fi check" I am not stopping to check if it is a duppy or a gunman.
"Quarrie was a boy to me last night.." This is a reference to Jamaican sprinter Donald Quarrie who was the 200m Olympic Gold medal winner at the 1976 Montreal Olympics. He is saying he was so scared that he was faster than Quarrie as he ran away.

[Curmudgeoness]

10. Thanks for the help. I never knew what the Quarrie part meant,

and that makes sense now that I hear it. There are still things I don't understand, but nothing else that matters. How do you know he is out with a girl? "Just went I come down to movement, someone says "Don't Move"---I thought that they were getting high.

I just love that song---catchy little beat, and I can picture the whole scene.

[dendrobium]

11. From memory

I don't remember all of the song but I am sure there is a line about being out with a "dawta" or daughter which is now outdated Jamaican slang for girl.

[Kat45]

8. Love that song. I remember seeing the movie back around '72-'73

It was playing at the Orson Welles Cinema in Cambridge.