jimmy cliff, the new album as "sacred fire."hank you for the great conversation. >> thank you, sir, for having me. tavis: that is our show for tonight. good night from l.a., and as always, keep the faith. ♪ ♪ willso as sure as the sun shine i will get mine the harder they come the harder they fall one and all the harder they come the harder they fall one and all yeah, harder they come the harder they fall one and all ♪ >> for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org. tavis: hi, i'm tavis smiley. join me next time for our conversation with the author's love boat "vincent van gogh -- join me for our conversation with the authors of "vincent van gogh." that is next time. we will see you then. >> every community has a martin luther king boulevard. it's the cornerstone we all know. it's not just a street or boulevard, but a place where walmart stands together with your community to make every day better. >> nationwide insurance supports tavis smiley. with every question and every answer, nationwide insurance is

up next, jimmy cliff performs with the roots. of the rock and roll hall of fame. his new ep, "sacred fire," will be released tomorrow. performing his classic, "the harder they come," with a little help from the roots, please welcome jimmy cliff! [ cheers and applause ] ♪ ♪ oh yeah all right ♪ ♪ well they tell me of a pie up in the sky waiting for i when i die but between the day ♪ ♪ you're born and when you die they never seem to hear even your cry ♪ ♪ so as sure as the sun does shine i'm gonna get my share of what's mine ♪ ♪ and then the harder they come the harder they fall one and all ♪ ♪ the harder they come the harder they fall one and all ♪ ♪ and the oppressors are trying to keep me down they're trying to make me feel like a clown ♪ ♪ and they think that they have got the battle won i say forgive them lord ♪ ♪ they know not what they've done ♪ ♪ 'cause as sure as the sun does shine i'm gonna get my share now what's mine ♪ ♪ and then the harder they come the harder they fall one and all ♪ ♪ the harder they come the harder the

[ cheers and applause ] jimmy cliff's got a new ep, "sacred fire," out tomorrow. he roots a little bit later on the show. it's an honor to have you here, mr. cliff. thank you so much. jimmy cliff. oh, my gosh. [ cheers and applause ] he's going to do a classic later on. it's going to be really good. we got a big show tonight. we love it when she comes by. the one, the only betty white is here! [ cheers and applause ] she's a superstar. he's a break-out star from the hbo hit "boardwalk empire." jack huston is stopping by. [ cheers and applause ] he's a good man. also tonight, from the internet sensation diggnation, which is ending soon, kevin rose and alex albrecht are in the house! [ cheers and applause ] plus, music from jimmy cliff! i cannot wait tonight. this is what i'm talking about. [ cheers and applause ] it's a great show. our show is lucky to have the greatest band in late night. the roots over there, everybody. we love them. [ cheers and applause ] we love them so much. [ applause ] but it isn't all -- it isn't all fun and games. from time to time, we put

it was called just "jimmy cliff." it was fresh music at that point and time. he loved it so much, he said, " get the same studio, the same musicians in jamaica. i want to use the same band that jimmy cliff used for this record." and that is what we did. we recorded "modern showery union." "vietnam" was one of the songs that was very inspirational to him. tavis: what do you make of the fact that we are in a moment now where there are literally protesters in the street in this country, but around the world, the middle east and beyond, protesters doing everything they can to have their voices heard, leaders toppled in certain countries around the world? is now the time for new protest music? do we need more of that? >> we need that expression, whether we want to call at protest or not, we need to echo the people. artists need to do that. this is an e.p., then the album is coming. i think the people are in a mood, ready for that. certain artists have a role to echo the people, and that is what i will do on my next album. tavis: have you ever felt uncomfortable in

tonight, our conversation with the legendary reggae artist jimmy cliff. he helped push reggae on to the world stage generation ago. next week, he has a new six-song e.p. called "sacred fire." we are glad that you have joined us. the conversation with reggae legend jimmy cliff, coming up right now. >> every community has a martin luther king boulevard. it's the cornerstone we all know. it's not just a street or boulevard, but a place where walmart stands together with your community to make every day better. >> nationwide insurance supports tavis smiley. with every question and every answer, nationwide insurance is proud to join tavis in working to improve financial literacy and remove obstacles to economic empowerment one co. . >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. [captioning made possible by kcet public tavis: pleased to welcome jimmy cliff to the program. he has been an influential force in the music business nearly 50 years. next year marks his 40th anniversary of the seminal album and companion movie, "the hard

join me next time for a conversation with jimmy cliff on his forthcoming cd. that is next time.ll see you then. >> every community has a martin luther king boulevard. it's the cornerstone we all know. it's not just a street or boulevard, but a place where walmart stands together with your community to make every da better. >> nationwide insurance supports tavis smiley. with every question and every answer, nationwide insurance is proud to join tavis in working to improve financial lit an bsvereta and remove obstacles to economic empowerment one conversation at a time. nationwide is on your side. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. [captioning made possible by kcet public television] >> be more. pbs.

jimmy: yeah. it's really good. i want to show everyone a cliffould do her hair. >> really? >> please. i'm not offended by your choice of groom. >> just my blatant lack of respect for mortality? >> essentially. >> weddings. they bring everyone together. [ cheers and applause ] >> jimmy: there you go. the new "twilight" movie is in theaters now. our thanks to the number one person in sweeden, ashley greene! dierks bentley performs next. come on back, everybody! [ cheers and applause ] ♪ ♪ [ female announcer ] we know you've got a lot on your plate at thanksgiving. which is why safeway has everything you need to get it all done. right now, get a safeway frozen turkey 8 to 24 lbs, for just 58 cents a pound. cook your thanksgiving turkey perfectly with our free chef assistant app. it's foolproof. safeway. ingredients for life. ♪ [ cheers and applause ] >> jimmy: our next guest is a country superstar who is here tonight to debut the title track from his upcoming album, "home," which will be released in february. please welcome back to the show dierks b

jimmy: yeah. it's really good. i want to show everyone a cliffld do her hair. >> really? >> please. i'm not offended by your choice of groom. >> just my blatant lack of respect for mortality? >> essentially. >> weddings. they bring everyone together. [ cheers and applause ] >> jimmy: there you go. the new "twilight" movie is in theaters now. our thanks to the number one person in sweeden, ashley greene! dierks bentley performs next. come on back, everybody! [ cheers and applause ] ♪ [ man ] i got this citi thank you card and started earning loads of points. you got a weather balloon with points? yes, i did. [ man ] points i could use for just about anything. ♪ keep on going in this direction. take this bridge over here. there it is. [ man ] so i used mine to get a whole new perspective. ♪ [ male announcer ] write your story with the citi thankyou premier card, with no point caps, and points that don't expire. get started at thankyoucard.citi.com. ♪ [ cheers and applause ] >> jimmy: our next guest is a country superstar who is here tonight to debu

jimmy: yeah. it's really good. i want to show everyone a cliffld do her hair. >> really? >> please. i'm not offended by your choice of groom. >> just my blatant lack of respect for mortality? >> essentially. >> weddings. they bring everyone together. [ cheers and applause ] >> jimmy: there you go. the new "twilight" movie is in theaters now. our thanks to the number one person in sweeden, ashley greene! dierks bentley performs next. come on back, everybody! [ cheers and applause ] ♪ [ jennifer ] here... this is my world. ♪ this place inspires me to be tougher... to stay sharper... to think faster. they may be just streets to you. but to me... they're a playground. ♪ ...loving you ♪ 'cause i'm alive, i can breathe, i can feel ♪ ♪ i believe ♪ and there ain't no doubt about it ♪ hey, jessica, jerry neumann with a policy question. jerry, how are you doing? fine, i just got a little fender bender. oh, jerry, i'm so sorry. i would love to help but remember, you dropped us last month. yeah, you know it's funny. it only took 15 minutes to sign up for tha

point that we're about to go off off a cliff relative to spending and this nation is borrow bankrupt but they haven't been honest and tell the people about it. >> jimmythink so. you think the nation is bankrupt. >> we are bankrupt. >> jimmy: who is going to come close us down, you know? china? i dare them to come close us down. >> here is when you know we are being closed down. when foreigners don't show up to buy our debt, which they are not showing up to buy our debt as much as they used to. >> jimmy: can i say guillermo has offered to buy a lot of our debt. right, guillermo. >> yes, jimmy. >> jimmy . >> when you don't have any takers you are bankrupt and the problem is -- see, back in the '90s when i was on the board of the federal reserve in kansas city we didn't have this problem. people would stand in line to buy u.s. debt. the reason that the fed is doing some of the things that it's doing to prop up the treasury department is because many of them are saying your rating has been downgraded, you got $14 trillion in debt and they're saying hmm, i don't know if you're going to remain solvent. what you got to do like i said is grow in economy whic

cliff, down. >> this is the critical point. >> so why aren't we forcing them to do refinancing of mortgages? >> you're asking -- i know, behind that innocent question, right. >> these are very complex things, jimmy, where we -- >> i'm a redneck from south carolina, i'm just the -- >> a country lawyer. i've heard that before. you're asking the question that goes to the heart of my grievance with tim geithner from the very first moment. it was that night we needed to solve the institutions and the solvency of our nights, it was that we got nothing back. he never once said, we will save you if you agree to reform the system, solve the mortgage crisis, lend to small and medium-sized businesses that will create jobs. there was never any of the conditionality that we do. the imf has done it for 30 years with every other country in the world. tim knows that. he was there. i don't get this. >> karen, go ahead. >> so just quickly, speaking about the imf, and it makes me think of europe, and we know that, i guess my question would be, can you talk a little bit about what you see happening on the horizon with europe? and what is the exposure of the american banks and should we expect that all over again, w