They both celebrate a birthday this month – and they’re both responsible for hits with extremely positive messages. Jimmy Cliff, with his “I Can See Clearly Now” cover from Cool Runnings (originally by Johnny Nash), and Pharrell Williams, with “Happy”. And maybe there are other parallels you can draw as you listen to this episode, when you hear their music broken down, stripped bare, and turned into covers.

Jimmy Cliff turned 70 art the beginning of this month, and is responsible for one of the most landmark movie soundtracks both in and out of the reggae world, “The Harder They Come”. You’ll hear covers of a few of the songs form that album on today’s episode, (and if you want more, you should check out this episode).

Pharrell Williams is a dynamo in pop music right now. Aside from his solo stuff, he’s a major contributor for recent hits from Daft Punk, Gwen Stefani and Robin Thicke (yeah, that song has faced a lot of controversy, both from plagiarism allegations and from its content, but that said, I’ve got a crackin’ Vampire Weekend cover of it in this episode).

(50 minutes 50 seconds)

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Featuring

Title Artist Length Artwork Album Original Artist Versions Buy
The Harder They Come Guster 4:02 Pasty Tapes Jimmy Cliff 9
Many Rivers To Cross Sharleen Spiteri 3:54 The Movie Songbook Jimmy Cliff 7
Sitting In Limbo Willie Nelson 2:41 Countryman Jimmy Cliff 3
Trapped (Live) Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band 5:08 The Essential Bruce Springsteen Jimmy Cliff
Wild World Jimmy Cliff 3:54 Reggae Spectacular Cat Stevens 10
I Can See Clearly Now Neil Finn 2:51 I Can See Clearly Now Johnny Nash 7
Happy (Acoustic Cover) Olivia Thai & Daniel Wolfe 3:04 Happy (Acoustic Cover) Pharrell Williams
Frontin’ Jamie Cullum 5:34 Cosmosonica Pharrell Williams 3
Get Lucky Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox 3:48 Twist is the New Twerk Daft Punk/Pharrell Williams 3
Blurred Lines Vampire Weekend 4:16 BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge 2013 Robin Thicke/T.I./Pharrell Williams 2