"I Can See Clearly Now" is a song written and recorded by American singer-songwriter Johnny Nash. It was the lead single from his twelfth album, ''I Can See Clearly Now'' (1972), and achieved success in the United States and the United Kingdom when it was released in 1972, reaching No. 1 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', is an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' charts. It also reached No. 1 in Canada and South Africa. The song has been covered by many artists throughout the years, including a hit version by Lee Towers that reached No. 19 in the

Dutch Top 40 The Dutch Top 40 () is a weekly music chart compiled by ''Stichting Nederlandse Top 40''. It started as a radio program titled "Veronica Top 40", on the offshore radio, offshore station Radio Veronica in 1965. It remained "The Veronica Top 40" ...

in 1982, and another recorded by

Jimmy Cliff James Chambers, Jamaican Order of Merit, OM (born 30 July 1944), known professionally as Jimmy Cliff, is a Jamaican ska, rocksteady, reggae and soul musician, multi-instrumentalist, singer, and actor. He is the only living reggae musician to hol ...

for the motion picture soundtrack of '' Cool Runnings'' that peaked at No. 18 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in 1993.

Writing and recording

After Nash wrote and composed the original version, he recorded it in London with members of the Fabulous Five Inc., and produced it himself. The song's arrangements and style are both heavily laced with

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...

influences, as Nash had earlier collaborated with

Bob Marley Robert Nesta Marley (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981) was a Jamaican singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, he fused elements of reggae, ska and rocksteady and was renowned for his distinctive voca ...

and his approach drew strongly from Marley's reggae style. The instrumental break was played by Francis Monkman on a

Moog synthesizer The Moog synthesizer ( ) is a modular synthesizer invented by the American engineer Robert Moog in 1964. Moog's company, R. A. Moog Co., produced numerous models from 1965 to 1981, and again from 2014. It was the first commercial synthesizer ...

Chart performance

After making modest chart advances for a month, the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

-certified gold single unexpectedly took only two weeks to vault from No. 20 to No. 5 to No. 1 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 on November 4, 1972, remaining atop this chart for four weeks, and also spent the same four weeks atop the

adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...

chart.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Jimmy Cliff version

Jamaican

singer

recorded a cover of the song for the 1993 movie '' Cool Runnings.'' It was released as a single in October 1993 by Chaos label, reaching No. 18 and 14 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and ''Cash Box'' Top 100. Internationally, the song reached No. 1 in France, Iceland, and New Zealand. In 2005, after the song was used as the opening theme for the

Japanese television drama , also called or J-drama, are television programs that are a staple of Television in Japan, Japanese television and are broadcast daily. Format All major Television networks, TV networks in Japan produce a variety of Drama (genre), drama serie ...

series ''

Engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ge ...

'', it was released in Japan and peaked at No. 45 on the

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that ...

chart. The music video for this version was directed by

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

nominated film director Scott Hamilton Kennedy.

Critical reception

Larry Flick from ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' magazine wrote, "Cliff manages to breathe freshness into this oft-covered pop nugget. His laid-back vocal is matched by a relatively faithful arrangement (except for the delicate reggae flavors). Already amassing praise at adult formats, track is a good bet for eventual top 40 success."

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Sales and certifications

Other notable covers

*Ray Charles covered this song in his 1977 album True to Life, and his version is considered "stellar" by AllMusic. *Irish band Hothouse Flowers released their version as the second single from their album ''

Home A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or more human occupants, and sometimes various companion animals. Homes provide sheltered spaces, for instance rooms, where domestic activity can be p ...

'' in 1990. It reached No. 5 in Ireland, No. 22 in Australia and No. 23 in the UK. Much later, in 2016, it featured on the first episode of the

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming television service owned by Amazon. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced or co-produced by ...

series, ''

The Grand Tour ''The Grand Tour'' is a British motoring television series, created by Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, James May, and Andy Wilman, for Amazon Prime Video, and premiered on 18 November 2016. The programme was devised in the wake of the depar ...

'', where the band themselves made an appearance on stage. * Buffalo Rose and R&B singer INEZ released their cover version as a single in 2021, later named one of the best songs of the year by WYEP-FM. *A version by Lee Towers reached the Dutch top 40, charting at No. 19, and was recorded on his 1982 album ''New York''. *The French singer Claude François also recorded a version of this song called "Toi et le soleil" that reached No. 15 in Belgium.

References

External links

Lyrics of this song
* {{authority control 1972 songs 1972 singles 1993 singles Johnny Nash songs Jimmy Cliff songs Hothouse Flowers songs Songs written by Johnny Nash RPM Top Singles number-one singles Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Cashbox number-one singles Number-one singles in Iceland Number-one singles in South Africa SNEP Top Singles number-one singles Number-one singles in New Zealand Epic Records singles Columbia Records singles