If you have read the posts for day 1 and day 2 you will know that this years 12 Days of Christmas showcases a collection of songs that communicate hope. This kicked off with the Bill Withers classic, “Lean On Me” and yesterday followed with “Here Comes The Sun” by the Beatles. We have all been through some very dark times in the past couple of years, some far more than others. But I hope and believe that there is a light at the end of all this. That is why I have chosen todays song. It is by a man who is probably my favourite vocalist of all time, Johnny Nash. The song is “I Can See Clearly Now”. Once again let me say, stay strong people and if you are feeling particularly low talk to someone. I am happy to be here for you if you need me!
If you have enjoyed this article feel free to follow the blog, or follow us on;
I am proud to say that the With Just A Hint Of mayhem blog has now been around for twelve years, yes on February 9th back in 2009 is where it all started. In that time there have been more than 1,500 posts, nearly 1.7 million views and we now have over 2,500 followers. I can’t let this post go without a very special thank you to my great friend and wonderful human being Nick Horslen who suggested that I should start blogging all those years ago! After a very brief introductory post the first proper post was one about Bob Marley, click here to read that. I just read it again and despite expecting it to be a bit crap, I think I am quite proud of it. You have to start somewhere, right? The mention and the link to MySpace certainly dates it though. Given these awful times we are living in rather than suggest huge celebratory party songs in honour of WJAHOM’s 12th birthday I have chosen a couple of songs that always make me feel good which I hope will help you through these dark days. One of them is, in my opinion, the finest Bob Marley recording ever and the other is by my favourite vocalist of all time, Johnny Nash who we sadly lost this year! On top of that I have added a Bowie classic, well you knew I’d do that didn’t you. Stay safe people and thank you to everyone of you who has read, followed, commented, liked or dissed WJAHOM over the years. A huge thank you to all the bands and artists that have been a part of this journey. Here’s to the next 12 years, by which time I’ll be 74, so things might slow down by then, but who knows?
If only the Dame was still around to help celebrate the 12th Birthday of With Just A Hint Of Mayhem! Especially as the blog title was stolen from one of his lyrics!
If you have enjoyed this article feel free to follow the blog, or follow us on;
I don’t often post about music birthdays on this blog, well certainly not too often anyway. But I will make an exception for one of my favourite singers of all time, Johnny Nash. He turned 77 on 19th August. He has a voice like no other and along with hits that span genres using blues, reggae and soul to name but a few, he was also influential in bringing Bob Marley to the fore. Johnny was the first person to have a hit internationally with a Bob Marley song; “Stir It Up” in 1972. Most people will know Johnny Nash for “I Can See Clearly Now” but he has recorded plenty of other great songs in a career that began back in the 1950s. Enjoy a few of those to celebrate his birthday now!
I bought a couple of tickets for this gig on a whim a few weeks ago. I have always liked Jimmy Cliff and I still have a ‘best of’ and the soundtrack for ‘The Harder They Come’ in my collection. Back in the olden days I owned maybe half a dozen Jimmy Cliff 7 inch vinyl 45 rpm records. My lovely wife Catherine (a.k.a. Catwoman) came with me. But I had warned her that the Academy was not a seated venue.
Anyway the lack of seats was not a problem at all as this quickly became one of the best gigs either of us had ever been to. Jimmy is a true entertainer; magnificent stage presence, fabulous rapport with his audience, an amazing band and, even after all these years a wonderful voice. It’s so hard to believe that he has been recording and playing live for more than 50 years! He opened with the sparse but supreme “Bongo Man A Come” which he seamlessly blended into a cover of the classic Ethiopians song “Rivers Of Babylon”. The proper one that includes the Far-I references, not the bland and sanitised rubbish that Boney M had a hit with in the late 70s. from the off Mr Cliff had the whole audience eating out of his hands. When he said sing, we did. When he said shout, we did. When he said wave your hands, we did. When he said jump, we did. When he said clap, yes you guessed it, we did!
All the hits were there “You Can Get It If You Really Want”, “Miss Jamaica”, “Wonderful World, Beautiful People”, “Many Rivers To Cross”, “The Harder They Come”, “Sitting In Limbo”, “The World Is Upside Down”, “Hard Road To Travel” and an excellent “Vietnam” which he used as a chance to plead for world peace by replacing the chorus with references to other world conflicts and trouble spots; Afghanistan, Pakistan, Israel and more.
The cover versions that Jimmy has done over the years always seemed carefully selected and he performed them magnificently tonight. These included Cat Stevens’ “Wild World”, Johnny Nash’s “I Can see Clearly Now” and a rather excellent song from the Lion King, “Hakuna Matata”. Catwoman and I had sore feet by the end of the evening from all the fancy footwork we attempted. We danced the Ska, rocksteady, reggae and others like nobody was watching. There was some really mental dancing going on around us too. In fact the audience may have been more worn out than Jimmy Cliff at the end. He still looked fresh after remaining on stage for nearly two hours including three encores. When he comes back to dear old Blighty I will definitely be in the queue for tickets and I urge you to do the same. You will not be disappointed! And finally, please note that none of the pictures or the videos on this post were filmed by me. I was too busy enjoying the show! None f them are actually from this show either.
This will be quite a short post, but one I simply had to post. Regular readers will know that I am a big Johnny Nash fan and also not a small fan of Bob Marley. I have a Google Alert set up for Johnny Nash and today it pointed me towards a real gem of a blog post from the Transpontine Blog. It is a South East London Blogzine and todays post was about a story that appeared in the Southwark News from early November. If you thought Peckham was only famous for Del Boy and Rodney then prepare to think again, for it may have reignited the career of Johnny Nash and sparked the career of Bob Marley in 1972.
Keith Baugh, the Art Teacher at Peckham Manor School in the early 70s met Johnny and Bob in a London club in 1972 where they bemoaned the fact that they simply couldn’t get their songs played on the radio. So Keith suggested that they do a bit more promo work, perhaps with a gig at his school. So they took him at his word and played two sets, they also found time to play a bit of football with some of the pupils.
I really loved the Transpontine post, so thanks to them, the Southwark News and Keith Baugh for providing the photos and the story. Transpontine has also been added to my Blogroll. Obviously this also gives me a chance to indulge in a few songs from a couple of my most favourite artists. Did I ever tell you that Johnny Nash was the first person to have a UK chart hit with a Bob Marley song? Well he was and that song was “Stir It Up”
With Just A Hint Of Mayhem 