Once Upon a Time in Jamaica
30 July 1944 – 24 November 2025
Shepard Sherbell / Corbis Saba / Getty Images
“So, who better? Bob Marley or Jimmy Cliff?”
This was a taxi driver in Jamaica in 1985 or 1986.
I didn’t want to go there, there wasn’t any right answer.
And I knew Cliff was a Muslim and Marley a Rastaman (of sorts), so I didn’t want to get caught…
“What do you think, Sir?” I asked.
That seemed safe.
He chuckled.
“Ok, ok. The truth? Jimmy Cliff not just on the radio, he in the movies. Not just hear him. You see him. You know?”
“I know.”
“Not just that. Though that’s enough, but…”
Three skinny boys on the side of the road waved to us.
They were selling herb.
“But…?”
“I get there. I get there.”
“But…?”
“Not just that but Jimmy Cliff, he’s alive. Marley dead. You know?”
“I know…”
“Marley dead. Jimmy Cliff still here. Still eat lunch. Still drink tea. Still see the sun. See the moon.
“The trick,” he said, “…the trick is not to die!”
— Brian Cullman
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Editor’s note: Brian Cullman’s book How to Prepare for the Past: Travels in Music & Time will be published later this month by Ze Books (www.zebooks.com/books). For more information, see our News section.
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