Good Morning, The Clash Cup is back! I know it’s a long time coming like someone you just assumed had lost your number who suddenly calls. Ever done that? Assumed you wouldn’t hear from someone you liked and moved on with your life and met someone else fairly quickly only to have the one you’d given up on suddenly contact you? Life can be so cruel when you’re a teenager!!

Right then – The Clash Cup – Round One is nearly over so lets get back to it. The rules are simple but if you’re new to the blog – I list pairings of Clash songs and you dear reader have to weigh them up and cast your informed vote. The most votes sees the song through to round two (starting in a few days) and so on. Polls remain open for about 2.5 days and your participation is both encouraged but also warmly appreciated. Round 2 is going to be tasty as its safe to say the vast majority of the match ups for that stage will be difficult at best – and then we have today’s tracks to vote for.

Match 52 -              Jail Guitar Doors versus One Emotion

Match 53 -              Know Your Rights versus Midnight Log

Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment. Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.

Before you click away I’ll do my usual link so you can refresh (in case) or just enjoy my meanderings about the songs in question – but don’t forget to click afterwards!

Jail Guitar Doors – This song has taken on a life of it’s own the last couple of years hasn’t it and the blog has mentioned it many times due to the Billy Bragg / Mick Jones backed project to provide guitars as a rehabilitation tool for prison inmates. Can’t let that distract from one of the more enjoyable (I know – shite adjective) Clash singalongs. When I first heard this as 13 year old I played it loud and in the intervening years that remains the only way to listen to it. Originally just a b-side (Clash City Rockers) it’s also one of the rare holdovers from the 101′ers – well the chorus was anyway as Mick Jones rebuilt the verses. Great fun and fairly sure it will defeat:

One Emotion - In the early Summer of ’78 The Clash spent a lot of time in Basing Street Studios (just 100 yards from the location of today’s photograph from the Westway) and recorded primal versions of much of what to become Give ‘em Enough Rope. From those sessions came the track One Emotion and while its a song I’ve always had a soft spot for a cleaner recording of it would have been welcome. The song itself has a bit of a traditional feel and is apparently the band’s take on wooden actor Roger Moore and his ‘one emotion’ portrayed throughout Bond films. Based on my research the inspiration was probably The Spy Who Loved Me or The Man With Golden Gun. Clash trivia…which band that supported The Clash mentioned both of those films in one of their songs? (easy one for you!)

Know Your Rights – I loved this when I first heard it, I still love it now. At the time it was as a ‘return to form’ by the music press who wanted a punchier Clash than they’d been chewing the prior 18 months. In truth it was a rockabilly riff and Strummer barking out a call to action aimed at anyone who’d listen. It has aged well (in my opinion) and demonstrates that much of what the band were doing in their dying days was still vital, angry and worthwhile. Funnily enough (until I remind myself of the status Combat Rock afforded the band in the States) it is still a song I’ll hear on the radio and jukeboxes alike. It also opened my ears to a whole rockabilly/psychobilly scene I’d previously ignored in London. (ahhh…the Klubfoot!)

Midnight Log – Off we go to another amazing example of the dexterity that was abundant throughout Sandinista! For some reason this was one of the few songs my sister approved off by The Clash. Let me see that was 1981 or 1982 so she was enthused with Antmusic or Dexy’s so I suppose it all adds up. Topper just could play anything eh?

Get voting, polls will close Thursday PM.

Tim

Hello….yes I know it’s been a while. I started the Clash Cup as a fun and interactive way for the visitors to The Clash Blog to ultimately select the best 32,16,8 and finally the top 4 Clash songs of all time. If you’re a newer visitor to the blog we basically ‘seeded’ a number of songs so that they’d protected until the later rounds. If you check back on the blog you can find that list (I’ll also get a page added for next week). Even though you’ve perhaps missed the earlier 51 match ups don’t worry as the important votes lay ahead.

Right then – to get it back on track – we’ve got a series of results to review – I’ll get back to the head-to-head match ups this weekend and guarantee a new Clash Cup entry every day or two. Round one is nearly complete and by next weekend we’ll be all set for round two. The system is simple – no registration is required and one vote per IP. I track all votes and leave polls open for about 72 hours. Thanks for being so patient with this, I fully realise it’s been on hold about six weeks (best laid plans and all that…).

Here are the results for the pending battles that we left pending!

Match 46 – The Equaliser tops      Ivan Meets G.I. Joe         32-11                                                              Not a big shock there in this ‘All Sandinista! battle’

Match 47 – City of The Dead smacks    Freedom Train            45-1                                                              The most one sided result so far in Round One

Match 48 - 48 Hours defeats         Three Card Trick             36-10                                                          Thank goodness for that (10 votes for Three Card Trick?)

Match 49 – Time is Tight edges         Lose This Skin                27-17                                                          Pretty close end result sees another cover version into round 2

Match 50 -  Groovy Times slips by          The Call Up                 31-28                                                      Bloody close and more than enough votes for The Call Up to get to the next round as high vote runner up

Match 51 – The Guns of Brixton sneaks past     Train in Vain           34-27                                             Another close one and both songs will make it to round 2

Right there you have it, we’ve got 4 pairing left in Round one to sort the last 8. Then by next Saturday we’ll launch into round 2. Sorry it took so long and I look forward to all of your voting in the days ahead.

Hello everyone and I hope your Monday wasn’t the sort of Monday that Bob Geldof sang about. It was a good day here as I finally have normal internet service and was able to get some work done (though I know the blog is backed up). I also realised that The Clash Cup is very overdue a match so I just got the data back and also plugged in the random number machine. You’ll be glad (or mad) that you visited. About ten days ago I noticed there were a lot of ‘big’ songs still remaining and wondered when they would be picked. No lie – 4 of them tonight…I’d day these are the toughest votes of the cup so far, you won’t need to be introduced to any of the songs but you will struggle to vote. I’m dreading it. Before that some results for you:

Sean Flynn defeats Mensforth Hill 46  -  6

London’s Burning defeats English Civil War 41  -  20

First result was a decisive win as you’d expect but the second match up was intriguing. English Civil War actually lost but a rough amount but still picked up 20 votes which may still see it go through. I’ll let you know. Next on to the four for today and I promise you it’s horribly difficult.

Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment. Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.

Groovy Times - Wondered when this going to pop up. Never on a Clash album but appeared on the single with Gates of The West. Sadly not the best known Clash song but a classic in it’s own right. It was recorded during the GTER sessions and never made it to the final list for London Calling so got caught in the middle.

The Call Up - This might be one of my most overplayed songs of my youth. I really loved the lyrics and it was one of the first things I ever recorded onto a VHS player also. What a great track and sadly not the ‘hit’ single it deserved to be. I think radio airplay in the States was stifled due to the subject matter which you can’t say about the next song.

Train In Vain - Perhaps the most known Clash song in the USA before Combat Rock. This made the US top 30 in 1980 and became the song that broke the band as a chart act in the world’s biggest record market. Many Clash fans disown this as it was such a straight out pop song – I’m not one of them, despite having heard it thousands of times it’s close to perfection. Easy to sing along to, possible to dance to and not hard for even the most basic guitar player. Though when people call it Stand By Me I get a little knot in my stomach.

The Guns of Brixton - Paul’s biggest Clash moment as far as vocals but what a bloody smashing bass line. The lyrics are simply ideal and the song has such menace that it’s a vital part of London Calling. I can’t imagine the album without this song nor can I image the Clash without Paul.

I told you it was some rotten decisions. So please think these through and cast your selections by Thursday at noon. Thanks in advance…and next time out we have the final songs from round one! (I think). The only way all four songs can remain is lots of votes…so tell your mates.

“You don’t get paid for designing posters or doing the clothes”

Paul Simonon