You Can Get It If You Really Want | |
Type: | single |
Artist: | Desmond Dekker |
Album: | You Can Get It If You Really Want |
B-Side: | "Perseverance" |
Genre: | Reggae |
Label: | Trojan |
Prev Title: | Pickney Gal |
Prev Year: | 1969 |
Next Title: | The Song We Used to Sing |
Next Year: | 1970 |
"You Can Get It If You Really Want" is a reggae song written and originally recorded by Jamaican singer songwriter Jimmy Cliff and released as a single in July 1970. Another version, recorded by Jamaican singer Desmond Dekker and released within a few weeks of Cliff's version, became a hit single in a number of markets, reaching number 2 on the UK Singles Chart.
Chart (1970–71) | Peak position |
---|---|
Australia (Go-Set)[1] | 12 |
Australia (Kent Music Report)[2] | 17 |
South Africa (Springbok Radio)[3] | 4 |
The Jimmy Cliff song was famously used in the 1972 film The Harder They Come.
In 1990, the song was used on the album Sebastian from The Little Mermaid as most of the songs were performed by Samuel E. Wright as Sebastian the crab. Wright also performed this version in Sebastian's Caribbean Jambore.
The Jimmy Cliff version was used in the soundtrack of the 1997 film ; the 2005 Will Smith film Hitch[5] and the 2012 Aardman Animation film The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!.
Cliff’s version was used as a musical number in the inaugural episode of the British television musical comedy drama serial Blackpool, whereas Dekker's version was also used in the soundtrack of the 2010 British film Made in Dagenham.
The Jimmy Cliff version was featured in the Marvel Studios I Am Groot short "Magnum Opus".
Jimmy Cliff included his own version of the song on his 2004 compilation album Reggae Night. The Dekker version on the other hand was included in the triple-disc compilation album released Now That's What I Call Reggae in June 2012.