Many Rivers to Cross

The first time Jimmy Cliff sat down to compose Many Rivers to Cross, back in 1969, he was 25 years old and felt deep frustration. He had arrived in the United Kingdom with great hopes, imagining a future on par with the Beatles or the Rolling Stones, but reality was harsh: tours through small venues, the struggle to make his way, the difficulty of finding his place. That sense of fading hope and the search for identity were reflected in the lyrics. The image of “wandering lost along the cliffs of Dover” came from his constant crossings of the channel to continental Europe, often feeling his aspirations dissolving. Originally, Cliff hesitated to include this ballad on his second album for Island Records, thinking it wouldn’t fit. It was in New York, as he walked toward the studio, that the song took its final shape in his mind. On the last day of recording, with the musicians about to leave, Cliff asked them to play it. The band came in, performed the piece once, and that was it. The production by Leslie Kong added an organ that, along with the backing vocals, gave it that distinctive gospel feel. The track appeared on his 1969 album, Jimmy Cliff, and also in the soundtrack of the film The Harder They Come, where Cliff starred.

Years later, in 1983, the English reggae band UB40 decided to include their own interpretation of Many Rivers to Cross on their cover album Labour of Love. This record, which also featured the major hit Red Red Wine, became a milestone for UB40, reaching number one in the United Kingdom and New Zealand. In their version, UB40, with Ray “Pablo” Falconer and the band itself as producers, and Howard Gray as recording engineer, gave the song its distinctive mark, making it one of the standout singles from that album and climbing to position 16 on the UK Singles Chart. The song, written by Jimmy Cliff, has been covered by many artists, but UB40’s interpretation is undoubtedly one of the most recognized.