I was helping a client of mine with their website content today and we got to the page titled career opportunities. Needless to say the combination of those two words aren’t something I can simply utter but am forced to sing, followed typically by ‘the ones that never knock’. I’ve been afflicted by that phrase as a musical statement of intent for over 30 years now and it made me realise just how much a band with great lyrics get into your subconscious or better still your vocabulary. Fortunately the person I work with is also a serious fan of The Clash and we laughed and considered that page of the website kicking in with the MP3 of Strummer bellowing about endless dead end jobs. After a brief discussion we determined it might not be the best message to send to prospective candidates for employment (even if we were helping their musical pedigree).

I can think of dozens of examples of Clash lyrics that I’ll drop as part of my daily lexicon and I’m sure you may well suffer with the same affliction if you’re a long standing fan of the band. Can you see the word Casbah in print without wanting to rock it? Do you occasionally mutter ‘who’s barmy now?’ as a way of closing a conversation. I struggle to get on a lift that’s about to climb without hearing “Elevator….goinnng up”. It’s constant and not just The Clash who fill my head. I often brush my teeth in the morning after hearing our bloody awful alarm and the funky bass of ‘Ring Ring 7am, move yourself to go again’ gives me a silent rhythm in my head to tackle another day. Tell me these things happen to you too?

Right I’ve got a few quick links to share with you as I don’t think I’ve the energy to chatter away for very long tonight. If the blog has only appeared on your radar in the last 3-4 months you might want to pop over to my facebook page as I’ve been posting some of the Mick Jones videos from his solo performance at the R+R Public Gallery last Summer, they seem to be ‘new’ to a lot of kind people so if you’ve not seen them go and take a peek. Stay Free and Train in Vain are both posted and seeing Mick perform them alone is rather lovely.

This is an interesting piece and worth taking the time to read. The short version is that the author of the piece suggests Joe Strummer’s lyrics present a strong case for his capacity to have been a law professor. It’s written from (essentially) a serious point of view and better still the author certainly knows his Clash history and Joe’s situational lyric writing. He sets it out as a potential curriculum, little did I know I guess we attended that class in gradual stages as we explored the lyrics of The Clash which rarely strayed into the realm of being too trivial. The whole article makes me a bit tense as from the age of about 13 until 18,19 Strummer’s lyrics formed the basis of much of my idealism or at the very least stirred an interest to want to explore more. It’s a smartly observed piece and brings couplets into the cold morning light of legal interpretation and yet the author manages to keep it informative and funny too. Also, as he points out many of Joe’s lyrics did involve the police or the justice system – quite an investment in the topic for someone who (generally) avoided sentencing and jail (fights in Glasgow notwithstanding). Here’s a snippet below and best of all the US based website serves a business need – helping the visitor to find a qualified lawyer. So if I ever get nicked he can be my barrister so the Judge will know ‘What’s my Name’.

In the logic of this world, the police are at best corrupt (“The Crooked Beat”) or ineffectual (“Red Angel Dragnet”). At worst, they are simply another armed and dangerous gang. The point is made explicitly in an early cover of “Police and Thieves”, a reggae classic that remained a touchstone for The Clash. “Police and thieves in the street,” the song evenhandedly observes, “Fighting the nation/With their guns and ammunition.”

Such equivalencies, of course, are no longer fashionable. Nor is the tendency to view crime as a phenomenon primarily affecting the perpetrator. But Professor Strummer would have made his students remember that the criminal justice system can render judgments about the powerlessness of the accused more reliably than on his guilt, and that sympathy need not be reserved solely for the innocent.

Much more soon and thank you for dropping in, also RIP Corey Haim…38 is no age at all, can simply wish you peace.

Tim