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

Hello again and welcome back to the blog, I hope your day mirrored mine in that you occasionally see something (a concert, a sunset, a pretty girl) that you know wasn’t exclusively for you but you realise you’ll remember it for years and maybe decades to come. In my years of going to concerts there are a few dozen that I’ll never forget in fairly explicit detail, while hundreds of others were great, good, fair or awful it’s the occasional brilliant moments we cherish.  I had one such moment today, I’ve been following Arsenal since I was a tiny kid and regularly attended games throughout my time living in London. Since leaving England I can’t say my commitment to the team has changed (it might be stronger than ever) and I probably watch 98% of their games even when it involves getting up at 430am to see them as it sometimes does. Over those 35+ years I’ve seen a few thousand goals and although you enjoy them all, once in a while you see one that you know will stick with you for many years to come. So it was a few hours ago when Samir Nasri scored a goal of pure grace today it makes you appreciate the beauty of the sport. I’ll enjoy that for a long, long time.

So this got me thinking about the first time I heard The Clash and the first time I saw them. It made me remember being introduced to songs and bands that become almost a part of who you are as they become embedded in your character. If you’re anything like me you’ll defend the music you love as much you might your own family (or perhaps more). If someone tries to convince me that The Clash don’t belong in a list of the 5 most important bands of all time we’ll have a long debate in store. If a legitimate fan of music tries to say that The Clash weren’t the single most influential English band to emerge from the punk/post punk era we’re going to have to disagree. I also looked at what The Clash and my football club have in common and it’s my big brother, who really introduced me to both.

My older brother turns 50 tomorrow, which I can’t quite fathom. Yes, he has always been 7 1/2 years older than me and the aging process was inevitable but surely he can’t be turning 50 years old. I remember the first post I ever wrote for this blog and reflecting on how my brother’s room was always the home of everything I felt guided by. In 1973 I’d take his Arsenal programs from his wardrobe to read while looking at the sleeves of albums by T-Rex, David Bowie and Roxy Music. The music that came from his  room was a constant soundtrack to being an adolescent and building expectations of what being a teen might be. By 1977/8 I understood that music was more than a hobby for him as it dictated his clothes, his girlfriends and the concerts he attended. I must have been ten when I noticed there was more passion and fire in the singles and albums he was playing, as Elvis Costello, The Clash had begun to dominate his turntable, replacing Queen and Wings. Later that summer of ‘78 when I just turned eleven was when it all made sense to me. He took me to record shops, I started my own collection of vinyl. He started taking me to concerts, I began my own journey of determining what live music represents. I was already obsessed with football and suddenly I had to find time read the NME, Melody Maker and find the extra cash for the next single that he recommended.

I’ve no idea if I would have found The Clash and so much brilliant music without my brother, I’d like to think so but I can’t be sure. I’ve no idea if I may have instead found love for cricket or rugby if it wasn’t for him, probably not as we lived to play football when I was five…but I might not have attached myself to Arsenal. I’m so lucky my big brother left his bedroom door ajar for me to listen and I can simply say ‘Thank You’.

Happy 50th David.

Bloody Hell….where does the time go? I had the best intentions of getting to this last night but it wasn’t to be, however I’m a believer that good things are worth waiting for and what could be better on a Monday than the latest installment of The Clash Cup. You can find out all about the premise on many earlier posts (It’s a knock-out cup competition with democracy mixed in and you help vote for the best Clash songs of all time). It’s a fun and simple process but as we’re now in round two I’m seeing decisions that are far more difficult and the voting reflects that. How do you oust a song when you love both? That’s a problem we need to overcome I fear.

Before we find out the next two random songs to ponder I do have results from our last pairing.

Round 2 – Match 3:

Clash City Rockers defeated The Card Cheat    35-23   (60.3% vs 39.7%)

So that’s twice that The Card Cheat has lost in the popular vote and the 39.7% share probably won’t be enough to keep it floating into round three. The timing on Clash City Rockers is funny as I just read in the Strummer biography about how Mickey Foote sped up the original master tapes ‘by about 1.5%’ at the insistence of Bernard Rhodes but without the knowledge of Strummer/Jones. Needless to say it was the last time he produced a Clash record. Still a great single if just a bit too fast….

So the random number machines has been wheeled out for our next two songs and the dynamic duo are:

Round 2 – Match 4:

The Leader    versus   Every Little Bit Hurts

Blimey!! Well if this was the FA Cup the equivalent would be Gillingham pulling Chesterfield out of the magic bag and avoiding Liverpool or Manchester United wouldn’t it? Still all songs got to round two on merit and one of these is guaranteed a place in round three, so are you loyal enough to back the same horse. Let’s see how they progressed to this stage.

Form:

Round 1 – The Leader defeated Junkie Slip  19-5 (79% of the vote)

Round 1 – Every Little Bit Hurts defeated Cool Confusion 20-14 (59% of the vote)

Odds:

Well at least we can see how both songs got through round one can’t we? I wouldn’t make a good bookmaker as I’ve missed 2 of 3 predictions so far, but I’d bet my Clash coins on The Leader for this pairing. It’s a good song, good support in the first round and is taking on a track that never got an official release. How can you not back The Leader? (prove me wrong).

Lyrics:

So the girl let the thin man touch her
Mixing questions, drunken laughter
The ministry car was waiting there
A minister knows his own affair

Come back to me
Darling you’ll see
I can give you all the things
That you wanted before

As ever you can spend some time listening before voting (always encouraged) by clicking the respective links The Leader (live!!) or Every Little Bit Hurts.

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Thanks for voting and for visiting the blog, polls close Saturday evening. Til next time…and don’t forget to submit your questions for Strummerville.