Althouse: "Well, they tell me of a pie up in the sky/Waiting for me when I die/But between the day you're born and when you die/They never seem to hear even your cry..."

November 24, 2025

"Well, they tell me of a pie up in the sky/Waiting for me when I die/But between the day you're born and when you die/They never seem to hear even your cry..."

Goodbye to Jimmy Cliff, who was 81.

ADDED: "I can see all obstacles in my way...."

13 comments:

Beasts of England said...: Thanks for that video! And RIP, Jimmy…; 11/24/25, 8:37 AM
rhhardin said...: 1
Among twenty snowy mountains
the only moving thing
was the pieman coming.

2
I was of three minds,
like Simple Simon
looking at three pies.

Victor Contoski ``Simple Simon in American Literature''; 11/24/25, 8:55 AM
Amexpat said...: I owned one of his albums, at a time when buying an album was a major purchase for me.; 11/24/25, 9:00 AM
Narr said...: I made it about halfway through. Strangulated crooning.; 11/24/25, 9:31 AM
Narr said...: I had forgotten that other song--which we sang as "all lobstacles* in my way" while making claw-hands.

*Lobstacle = frustratin' crustacean.; 11/24/25, 10:31 AM
RCOCEAN II said...: Nice up beat music. 81 is good for a musican of his time and place.; 11/24/25, 10:35 AM
Peachy said...: Love Jimmy Cliff.
Like jack Johnson. Very much. He is chill'; 11/24/25, 10:49 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: From hair dye, to here lies a pie in the sky.; 11/24/25, 11:14 AM
BG said...: His song (which I always liked) reminds me of this joke:

There once was a guy named David who was dating this gal named Lorraine. The two dated for a couple months, but as time went on he slowly lost his feelings for Lorraine. David begrudgingly continued the relationship with Lorraine, but he started seeing this girl named Clearly and quickly fell for her.

Now David had to make a choice between Lorraine and Clearly so he decided that he would take Lorraine to the park and explain what was going on.

The next day David and Lorraine went to the park and were walking along the river making small talk. David was nervous about Lorraine’s possible reaction to his story and kept quiet until he finally got the nerve to tell her. David told Lorraine they had to break up. Lorraine was shocked and stepped to the side of the sidewalk to glare at him. But in doing so, she lost her footing and fell off the path and into the river! The river carried her away and she drowned.

David thought, “I can see Clearly now, Lorraine is gone!”; 11/24/25, 11:18 AM
Iman said...: Good time music and memories. I remember back in ‘73/‘74 timeframe, one of the rock stations in SoCal (KMET, I think) put out a compilation of reggae music as an introduction to the genre. Jimmy Cliff, Toots and the Maytals and many others… great songs… have always loved this music… Many Rivers… Johnny Too Bad… RIP Jimmy Cliff!; 11/24/25, 11:19 AM
PerthJim said...: Saw Jimmy and his band in 2013 at a festival in Fremantle Australia. What an amazing show, all his best songs, tight band, Jimmy sounded great, especially at 69 years old. All the bandmembers, and there were probably 15 of them, were wearing identical tshirts with "Jimmycliff.com" in big letters on the front. RIP Jimmy,; 11/24/25, 11:31 AM
Peachy said...: Jimmy Cliff - RIP.; 11/24/25, 11:48 AM
KellyM said...: Guess I'll drag out my copy of "Club Paradise" tonight and watch a dopey, but funny 80s movie. RIP Jimmy Cliff.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090856/?ref_=fn_t_1; 11/24/25, 1:04 PM