Roots Archives Forum

Does anyone have a list of songs written by Joe Higgs?

I searched the Internet yesterday and found a lot of discographies, but had no luck finding a list of his song credits.

Thanks

Joe Higgs was a prolific songwriter and very rarely did he do covers. All five of his LP/CD's and his massive 45's output are largely made up of his own compositions. one of the greatest songwriter sof any musical genre in my humble opinion. It's a crime that there hasn't been a legitimate retrospective of his work released on CD. Let's not forget how important he was in the development of such greats as Marley, Jimmy Cliff and so many others. here's just a few of his original compositions:

There Is A Reward
The Song My Enemies Sing
It's Goodbye
Creation
Life Of Contradiction
Hurt My Soul
Unity Is Power
Vineyard
Steppin' Razor
Change Of Plan
Cool Fool
Who Brought Down The Curtains?
Hit Me Back baby
and on and on and on............

Thanks for the list.

I had read that he gave "Steppin'Razor" to Peter Tosh, and then had to fight a legal battle to win ownership.
I was wondering if there were any other songs that he gave to other artists-- songs that he hadn't recorded himself. Just wondering.

And I agree, he's an incredible lyricist (regardless of genre). It's rare IMO that you find a great songwriter that is also a great singer. A rare package indeed.

Unity is Power is my favorite song of all time. It should be required listening for every human being.
I've heard the song at least 100 times and it still is as great as the first time.
I fortunately scored Triumph on vinyl but wish someone would re-issue his 1960s to 1980s catalogue with a quality transfer. My CD copy of Life of Contradiction sounds terrible (even though the songs shine through). I've written both Blood and Fire and Trojan about re-issuing but don't think they are interested due to the nature of Joe's style (which is very soulful and only Toots seems to get appreciated for that sort of thing).
Also wish someone would put his acoustic rendering of "There's a Reward" from the roots, rock, reggae documentary onto some sort of compilation. To me that was a highlight of that essential film.

Jason Allen wrote:Also wish someone would put his acoustic rendering of "There's a Reward" from the roots, rock, reggae documentary onto some sort of compilation. To me that was a highlight of that essential film.

Hi Jason

I totally agree with. Absolutely brilliant. I play that part of the DVD every day! Wonderful.

Yes, I always thought the acoustic solo version of "There's A Reward" in the documentary was wicked! I wished somebody had the insight to record a whole record of Joe in that context! Yeah, I also heard that Joe did get the rights back to "Steppin' Razor" down the line! Hail The Great Joe Higgs1 The Father Of Reggae!

Glad to hear that 6anbette and blessup also love that tune. It really does deserve to be heard. Nice to know that others like Joe's work so much.

Does anyone know what company owns the rights to Triumph (used to be alligator but I think they are defunct) or "Unity is Power"? Would anyone else be interested in sending an e-mail or five to let the labels know people are interested?

The original post asked for a complete songlist esp. self-penned stuff.
here is a great website for that:
http://www.iration.com/joehiggs/discography.html

Alligator just leased the project. The original masters are in the possesion of the producer, Chinna Smith!

yes, that performance of 'there's a reward is wicked, and in vinyl my fave joe higgs is still, even though he's got so many goodies, vineyard' off the 'unity is power' lp

still gives me shivers

such a complete composition

"Vineyard" is a great song. I asked Joe's daughter, Marcia what that song was about and she told me she was sure that "the vineyard" was a woman. Check out that song again! Joe was a wicked writer for sure!