Song of the Day 11/25: Jimmy Cliff, “Many Rivers to Cross”

Jimmy Cliff, who died last week at 81, did more than anyone outside Bob Marley to popularize the music of Jamaica, and not just with his songs. His fame came in large part from his cinematic star turn in “The Harder They Come,” a 1972 crime drama about a musician-turned-drug runner whose song becomes a hit while he’s on the run from the law.

The hit in the movie is the title tune that Cliff wrote to order. It’s arguably his best-known composition and a highlight of the film’s soundtrack, which introduced reggae to audiences around the world.

Cliff wrote several other hits, among them “Wonderful World, Beautiful People” and “You Can Get It If You Really Want,” but his most-covered song was a hit only in France. “Many Rivers to Cross,” released in 1969, was autobiographical. Cliff escaped a hardscrabble beginning and had emigrated to Britain hoping to conquer the entertainment world, but found it tough sledding. “When I came to the UK, I was still in my teens,” he told the Daily Telegraph a few years ago.

“I came full of vigor: I’m going to make it, I’m going to be up there with the Beatles and the Stones. And it wasn’t really going like that. I was touring clubs, not breaking through. I was struggling, with work, life, my identity, I couldn’t find my place. Frustration fueled the song.”

That’s why a reggae legend is singing about the white cliffs of Dover – he was weary of traveling back and forth to the continent for nothing bigger than nightclub gigs.

The song’s gospel-inspired organ and message of resilience in the face of hardship made it catnip for singers who wanted a ballad that wasn’t about lost love. Cher, Nilsson, Linda Ronstadt, Joe Cocker and dozens of others tackled it. None topped the first cover, by Percy Sledge, who listed the title in 1970 as “Too Many Rivers to Cross.”

The song became a hit in 1983, when UB40 took it to No. 16 on the UK singles chart.