The past few posts are dedicated to Joe Strummer, RIP, who died too soon and who was one of those magical voices in the world, a passionate pacifist and a truly original thinker as well as a humanitarian.
On this day when Paul Newman has passed away, it reminds me of the same spirit of Joe and a handful of other completely selfless individuals. I've chosen to reproduce here the lyrics of just a couple of his songs (The Clash's songs, to be precise, though he always wrote the words) concerning the Vietnam war, though that was from one album (the same LP that spawned their big hit "Rock The Casbah" as it happens), and his subject matter - usually political - covered the whole gamut from the Spanish Civil War, the English Civil War, America, Cuba, Nicaragua, Chile, and anywhere else freedom fighters fought for freedom or poets strove to be heard above the clakk! of rifle-fire.
Joe Strummer, Bob Marley, and John Lennon would be a few of the finalists in my "all-time humanitarian award" category for an entertainer. There wasn't a pretentious bone in his body. Go rent "Rude Boy" if you have any doubts or watch the recent documentary reviewing his life and impact on both music and social awareness entitled "The Future Is Unwritten." To his untimely end due to a heart arrhythmia, he was the champion of the common man, the enemy of irresponsible power, and like his pirate radio station's name, The Voice of the People, He never stopped being that til the day he died.
If you'd like more information on The Clash or Joe Strummer, feel free to email me or comment. I find it difficult to include in these posts adequate footnotes and reference material, though I of course always have it handy for those who wish to dig deeper.
I personally find the song below, "The Call Up," one of the most persuasively disaffected, strangely non-confrontation protest songs ever. You'd have to hear it to know, and maybe let it grow on you, for it's not aggressive or insistent, just thoughtful and almost wistful. I'm sure you can find a listen on ProjectPlaylist or YouTube, though the studio version is what I'm referring to.
3 comments:
i listened to a few YouTubes - not my era or type really, but another sad story of a talented and caring person dying too soon.
Yeah, you're definitely from the wrong generation to 'get' punk or post-punk, just like with rap. It's nothing to do with you, it's just that your generation when through the adolescent ritual cleansing of the 60s cultural revolution, extending into the 70s, then you mellowed out and settled into a new reality and lifestyle than what your parents had gone through. My generation (and Sheila's) grew up with the awful tackiness of the 70s, the velour v-necks and chest hair, the awful color schemes, the overproduced music like disco and an era of some really cheesy movies. So punk and reggae and funk and all the combinations thereof (like The Clash) were OUR 60s... but I wouldn't expect them to have any meaning for older people, just like the rap and R&B and fusion rock/rap/dance stuff today does nothing for me. But in every generation and every musical genre there are some good bands in amongst a bunch of bad ones, and The Clash were a good one, and Joe on his own was much more mellow and had a rockabilly/island/funk/reggae/folk style that was pretty unique, and he was always political. At least he had a lot to say, unlike people from the same musical wave like Johnny Rotten who still has nothing to say, or Billy Idol, Adam Ant, and so on.
Like they say, it's easier to like stuff before your time than after it. I think that's pretty true. I like some of the stuff today but very little. Most of the bands I like cluster around the 80s, reaching into the 90s and getting thin in the 2000s, and going the other direction reaching into the 70s and 60s, then fizzing out in the 50s. Get too far away from the time when you grew up, and the sounds and words have no relevance to YOUR life anymore.
Like wise old Mozzer says,
"Burn down the disco,
Hang the blessed DJ
Because the music they constantly play,
It says nothing to ME about MY life!
Hang the DJ, hang the DJ, hang the DJ
Hang the DJ, hang the DJ, hang the DJ"
That poor guy, always wanting to harm people or rail against something. Why can't he just shut up and be happy? ;-)
haha, you bashing Morrisey! You're two of a kind.
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