Walshy Fire On Remixing Jimmy Cliff: ‘One Of The Most Fun Things I’ve Ever Done’

Jimmy Cliff is a titan of Jamaican music. The singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist was one of the key figures in bringing the island’s music – reggae, ska, rocksteady – to the attention of the world in the 1970s with a run of global hit singles including “Wonderful World, Beautiful People”, “You Can Get It If You Really Want,” and “Many Rivers To Cross”. In 1972, he starred in the classic Jamaican film The Harder They Come, as well as providing several songs for its soundtrack, which played a massive part in reggae reaching a global audience.

To celebrate Cliff’s 80th birthday, Major Lazer’s Walshy Fire has remixed Cliff’s songs from the soundtrack. Reggae was in Walshy’s blood from an early age. Born in Florida to a Jamaican family, his childhood was spent between the US and Kingston, Jamaica, where he developed a love for the soundclash battles of the city’s lively Half Way Tree neighborhood. He later became a member of the innovative Miami DJ crew Black Chiney, blending reggae and dancehall with R&B and hip-hop, catching the attention of Diplo, who asked him to join Major Lazer on MC duties in 2012. Along with massive success with Major Lazer, Walshy has launched a record label, Walshy Fire Presents, to showcase the Jamaican sound system scene as well as producing some of the island’s hottest acts. We spoke to Walshy about his role in bringing Cliff’s beloved songs up to date.

Listen to Jimmy Cliff & Walshy Fire – The Harder They Come: The Remixes now.

When did you first hear Jimmy Cliff’s music?

I’d hear it growing up, when my mom was cleaning the house, you know. But most importantly, when I first discovered The Harder They Come the movie, that really had a big impact. That version of Jamaica was before my time, so the film was a time capsule of a place that would have been a little bit known, because my mom would have had pictures and everything like that, but also very unknown to me.

The movie theater scene, that was an important scene to me, because going to Carib [the iconic Kingston cinema where The Harder They Come had its premiere] was an experience, it’s not like any movie theater in the world. You start to realize, the people who experienced that time have so many stories to tell. And there are so many scenes like that in the movie, where you’re like, this was part of real life in Jamaica. And people have told the story of it forever.

Obviously, Jimmy was the star of The Harder They Come, but the film features cameos from Jamaican music royalty like Duke Reed and Prince Buster. How does it feel to become part of the film’s story with these new remixes?

It’s absolutely amazing. It’s one of the best requests I’ve ever received in my life and I was extremely happy to participate. When they said, “Do you want to remix Jimmy Cliff?” I was like, “Whaaaat?! Of course.” I think anyone out there who understands how great he was as a musician and as an actor would understand why I would feel so extremely privileged and honored to be asked to be a part of this project.

Were you keen to keep the vibe of the originals, but do your own thing with these remixes?

Yeah, keeping the feeling and the energy right? Because at the end of the day you know that there’s a thing in each song that you can’t replace, you can’t substitute it. So the best job is to just work around that thing and make a good, updated sounding song, don’t rinse the soul out of it. It was very important for me to do that. Man. I’m glad you asked that question, because that’s probably something that people will be wondering as well. A lot of people, they don’t like to hear new versions of songs that they love. But one thing’s for sure, I understood that the soul of the songs was what made them and I do my very best to make sure that stays in there.

And the songs cover so much ground, from the steely optimism of “You Can Get It If You Really Want” to the spirituality of “Many Rivers To Cross”…

Yeah, in “You Can Get It If You Really Want,” there’s that feeling of Genesis, that fresh beginning in what that song says, which is why it’s so important. I wanted to make sure I kept that feeling to it, that optimism.

And working on “Many Rivers To Cross”? Man, that’s daunting, haunting… anything that rhymes with that word! Most importantly, I always heard that song in soundclashes – people would constantly play that song and I would always just be like, man, this just killed. So, to me, these songs are many things – from my mom playing the soundtrack to me seeing the film and then hearing them being played at a soundclash with 5,000 people mashing up the place. It’s like, if you know you know – if you’ve been to these competitive DJ competitions, you’ll understand that third side to it as well. These songs have that impact on so many people in all these different places.

Has working on these remixes given you a taste for similar projects in terms of reinvigorating classic Jamaican music for new audiences?

If I could make a whole career out of it, I would, if everybody was like, Yo, here’s access to my whole catalogue, I would love to do it. This was one of the most fun things I’ve ever done. I would love to work with music by Toots & The Maytals, Burning Spear, Culture… can you imagine working on The Wailers?! Or Barrington Levy or John Holt – if you ask me this kind of a question, man, it’s never gonna end [laughs].

Listen to Jimmy Cliff & Walshy Fire – The Harder They Come: The Remixes now.