I don’t know where life will lead me, but I know where I’ve been. I can’t say what life will show me, but I know what I’ve seen. Tried my hand at love and friendship, but all that is passed and gone. This little boy is moving on.
–Jimmy Cliff, (July 1944-November 2025)
Reggae music had a significant impact on me as I grew into a young adult during the apartheid years in South Africa. The music and lyrics were strongly influenced by political class struggle, which, in turn, shaped the movement and emboldened a culture of activism and protest.
It was in high school that I got my first taste of protest action, boycotts and unsurprisingly became entranced by the music of Jimmy Cliff, Bob Marley and Peter Tosh. I won’t forget how, as reggae thumped in the background, I discovered weed for the first time, which was as illicit as protesting against the apartheid state. Fortunately, the habit didn’t stick, but I must confess to the occasional drag when opportunity presents.
My favourite Jimmy Cliff album was Follow My Mind, and it contained many songs that inspired protest and indulgence in the Devil’s lettuce. That particular vinyl used to compete with Rare Earth and Pink Floyd for airtime.
Jimmy Cliff sadly passed away earlier this week on 24 November. Together with Bob Marley & The Wailers, he is credited with introducing and popularising the Jamaican-style music in the West. He may not be as celebrated as Bob Marley, but his mastery and influence are indisputable.
During his music career, Cliff managed to pull off a feat many other artists failed to achieve in South Africa at the height of apartheid. How the apartheid government approved his request to stage a concert in Soweto, I don’t know. They probably did not understand his music, nor his popularity. The concert went ahead despite threats of a riot from the eager crowd, who objected to the strong presence of the South African Defence Force. Amazingly, it was performed in front of a 60,000-strong mixed-race audience, openly flouting the laws of segregation in the heart of a racially-segregated Black township. It was unheard of at the time.
The apartheid security apparatus had the band followed around Johannesburg during their tour to ensure that they didn’t incite an uprising. The tour was so successful and inspired Cliff so much that, six months later, he and some band members tried to return to South Africa. This time, however, the apartheid government refused to issue them visas.
At some point in his career, during an interview, Cliff revealed why music has such an unparalleled unifying effect:
Music has always played an integral part in changing the world. Why? Because music is the universal language. So music does it better than religion or politics.
During that Soweto concert, Richard Siluma, an audience member and music producer, was so impressed by the music and its socio-political messaging that he convinced his 16-year-old cousin, whom he was managing at the time, to abandon the popular style he was singing in and adopt reggae. That young talent was none other than Lucky Dube. Dube went on to become South Africa’s most prominent reggae artist and was internationally renowned. Sadly, Dube was killed by armed robbers in 2008.
While Cliff received two Grammy Awards for later albums, Follow My Mind, for me at least, is his best, most inspirational work. Unfortunately, it is not given more credit. Decent recordings of the songs are unfortunately not available on YouTube, but this will have to suffice:
While every song on the album is exceptional, one of my personal favourites is Remake The World. It can be found at timestamp 19:42 in the description box. Here are the lyrics:
Too many people are suffering
Too many people are sad
Too little people got everything
While too many people got nothing
Remake the world
With love and happiness
Remake the world
Put your conscience to the test
Remake the world
North, south, east and west
Remake the world
Gotta prove that you’re the best, yeah
Remake the world
Full of human dignity
Remake the world
Wipe out strife and poverty
Remake the world
Get racism from your sight
Remake the world
Be you black, be you white, yeah
We will remake the world
With love and happiness
Remake the world
People, put your conscience to the test
Remake the world
And this is no jest, Sir
Remake the world
Come on, come on, Mister
Remake the world
Come on, come on, brother
Remake the world
I said this is no jest, Sir
Remake the world
So, come on, brother
Remake the world
So, come on, sister
Remake the world
Come on, come on, Mister
Remake the world
And don’t think you are too small
Remake the world
I said, this is no joke, Sir
Remake the world
*Featured image: Thesupermat, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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