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Tuesday, Feb 7 2017, 6AM
Governor Jay Inslee declaring Feb 7th International Clash Day, adding Washington to the list of places celebrating. Check the list out here and if your city/state/wherever isn't on it, start working on next year! blog.kexp.org
Joe Strummer loved to listen to music on the radio. Even as he toured the world with "the only band that matters," he still had a dream to one day spin records for the BBC World Service, where he heard the latest UK hits over the shortwave band as a teenager in Africa. He finally got his wish in 1999, when BBC World Service premiered Joe Strummer's London Calling. Between then and 2002, Strummer hosted a series of programs with a simple format - one man and his eclectic record collection. His globe spanning playlists included many of the rock, reggae and folk artists that inspired the Clash, plus many surprises. www.prx.org
Two sets of lyrics exist for "This Is Radio Clash" - the original, featuring references to the Bill of Rights, Napalm and the American Armed Forces Network, and a separate set that was recorded onto another take, later named just "Radio Clash." Confusingly they are both identical tracks bar the lyrics, and even feature as A and B sides on the single, which led to some mistakes in later re-releases - on the Story of the Clash Volume 1 compilation, the tracklisting lists "This Is Radio Clash," but it is in fact the "Radio Clash" version on the CD.
Strummer described his show as the following: ‘My pick of music for the show reflects the music that I listen to all year round. I am constantly trawling through music and I pick out the best for the show.’ You can download 8 shows as a podcast in iTunes itunes.apple.com The songs in this set are: Jullandar Shere by Cornershop, Colours by Donovan, and To Love Somebody by Nina Simone
The title comes from the actual name of a controversial cabaret singer/vice queen from the 1950s and '60s who attracted controversy from being involved in the payola Radio One scandal in the 1960s in a "sex for airplay" scenario. Her other scandals included attending the premiere of a film in 1964 in a topless dress, and being arrested and jailed in 1973 for not just the Payola scandal but also for running a brothel and perverting the course of justice by threatening witnesses. She also had a partial pop career in the 1960s, including a single "Witches' Brew" which peaked at #46 in the UK Singles Chart. According to the band, they used her name because someone like her would seem impossibly glamorous to someone working in a dull office job.
These radio broadcasts inspired many listeners around the world, including film director Julien Temple, who prominently features these programs in his new documentary, Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten.
"Joe was the ultimate communicator," says Temple. "He made his global audience feel they knew him on a uniquely personal level...intimate, irreverent and inspirational at the same time." This set includes Domino by Van Morrison, Try A Little Tenderness by Otis Redding, and Boy In The Bubble by Paul Simon.
The lyrics to "Know Your Rights" are a very sarcastic look at oppression of the poor and working classes via limiting their human rights. Joe Strummer likely wrote them as a sarcastic response to a series of public service announcements in poor areas reminding the civilians of their basic human rights. The speaker in the song, presumably a villainous civil servant (whose identity is assumed in the song by vocalist Joe Strummer), names the three actual rights. At the end, the notion that more rights should be granted is rebuffed by the speaker.
The instrumental first part served as a tribute to the late T Rex frontman Marc Bolan, with whom The Damned toured in 1977. Captain Sensible recalled to Uncut magazine May 2014: "I was in a deck chair in my parents garden catching up on some sleep. When I was awoken by my mum saying, 'Your mate, what's his name, Roley, Boley? He's died in a car crash.'" He told Uncut: " Part 1 is the calm before the storm. It creates a dreamy, vibe that would be shattered by Part 2's mania. Part 1 is written for him. Part 2 wasn't, but with a title like 'Smash it Up' it seems incredible that it wasn't intended to be about his car crash. I only realized this a few years ago. It was subliminal songwriting."
An anti-drugs song, he words contain an emotional reference to Joe Strummer's good friend Sid Vicious, who had recently died from a heroin overdose ("this year I've lost some friends"), and indeed if the entire song is discussing heroin addiction, it could be said that the whole song was inspired by Vicious' sorry demise.
Aside from the expected punk and reggae, there was no telling what he might cue up next; from the Balkan Folk of Emir Kusturica and The No Smoking Orchestra to the new wave rhumba of Zaire’s Thu-Zahina, Strummer had one hell of an eclectic collection, which should surprise no one who knows his work, but it’s still a joy to hear him spin his rollercoaster playlists. This one starts with The Killer by Big Youth followed by Hang On Sloopy by The McCoys.
In this song, Joe Strummer is expressing his view that young white people should be outraged over their oppressive government just as blacks were, and should demonstrate through direct action and protest. He made it clear that the song - and the group - in no way advocated violence, and that it was certainly not racist.
Strummer explained to NME: "The only thing we're saying about the blacks is that they've got their problems and they're prepared to deal with them. But white men, they just ain't prepared to deal with them - everything's too cozy. They've got stereos, drugs, hi-fis, cars. The poor blacks and the poor whites are in the same boat."
The Wedding Present recorded this version of White Riot exclusively for KEXP & International Clash Day!
Police on My Back is an example of the Clash tackling a reggae tune stripping the tune to its bones and tackling it as straight rock & roll. It was written by Eddy Grant when he was leader of the Equals, a British group who fused rock, reggae, and soul rhythms.
In an 2012 interview with Joe Ely, he explained: "I'm singing all the Spanish verses on that, and I even helped translate them. I translated them into Tex-Mex and Strummer kind of knew Castilian Spanish, because he grew up in Spain in his early life. And a Puerto Rican engineer (Eddie Garcia) kind of added a little flavor to it. So it's taking the verse and then repeating it in Spanish. … My Spanish was pretty much Tex-Mex, so it was not an accurate translation. But I guess it was meant to be sort of whimsical, because we didn't really translate verbatim."
According to Strummer, Eddie Garcia, the sound engineer, called his mother in Brooklyn Heights and got her to translate some of the lyrics over the phone. Eddie's mother is Ecuadorian, so Joe Strummer and Joe Ely ended up singing in Ecuadorian Spanish.
@jimmyfallon Go straight to hell Jimmy Fallon! Thank you for the love of the Clash. #internationalClashDay twitter.com twitter.com
Another excerpt of the London Calling Radio Show and Joe Strummer's eclectic record collection. This set: Cool Breeze by Big Youth, Stairway to the Stars by Ella Fitzgerald, Not Fade Away by The Rolling Stones, I Got Life (Ain't Got No) by Nina Simone and Crawfish by Elvis Presley. You can find the playlists for all his shows here www.prx.org
Another KEXP exclusive for International Clash Day! Kids request The Clash all the time, Casper is taking it to the next level. Maybe someone can talk him into an entire album of Clash covers? #RaisingThemRight
Joe Strummer is the "white man" in this song. His lyrics were inspired by a visit to a reggae "All Niter" in which he wasn't very impressed by the performances of Dillinger, Leroy Smart and Delroy Wilson, and also received some aggro over being the only white guy in a room. He had called for white people to protest in the same way he had seen black people protest at Notting Hill in the lyrics of "White Riot," but this night was proving to him that the cultural mix he longed for was a long way off on both sides. The night ended with him attempting to stop several guys stealing some white girls' handbags.
You'd think a big hit like "Rock the Casbah" or "Should I Stay or Should I Go" would be the most covered Clash song, but it's actually this track. Cover versions exist by Third Eye Blind, Ill Rapture, Dr. Haze/DJ X-Cel, The Sabrejets, Dwight Yoakam, Annie Lennox, The Manic Street Preachers, Jones Crusher and Kirsty MacColl. Probably some more as well!
Strummer’s radio philosophy centered on the “liberating force of global radio bringing the planet together: motivated by the same mood that had driven the anti-globalization demonstrations.” London Calling was Strummer’s attempt to use radio as a tool of radical politics and a chance to play his beloved scratchy vinyl for a wider audience. Here we have Castles Made of Sand by Jimi Hendrix and Shoba by A Sambe Site E Goli (Let's Go To Johannesburg)
Even in 1979, musicians were bemoaning the increased commercialization and information overload that was pervading society. That's apparent on this song. "Lost In The Supermarket" was first conceived and written in an actual supermarket under the block of flats Joe Strummer was living in at the time with his girlfriend Gaby Salter. Strummer noted in a 1999 interview that the song "occurred to me as I stumbled around dazed by the color and the lights."
In mid-1978, the Clash were working on their second album, Give 'Em Enough Rope. Singer Joe Strummer and guitarist Mick Jones flew out to San Francisco to record overdubs in September–October at the Automatt studio. The owner of The Automatt kept his collection of classic jukeboxes distributed around the various rooms of the studio complex. Strummer and Jones listened to the Bobby Fuller version of "I Fought the Law" for the first time on one of the jukeboxes, and by the time they returned to England they could perform the song.
When this became a hit, Joe Strummer considered leaving The Clash. He couldn't justify singing rebellious songs when the band was rich and successful. In their early years, when they were struggling, their music was sincere, but he felt they were becoming a joke.
When the band broke up in 1985, it was speculated that their plan all along was to break up once they had conquered America, a feat that was achieved by "Rock the Casbah" becoming such a huge hit along with "Should I Stay or Should I Go?."
Blitzkrieg Bop by The Ramones, The Freedom Fighters by The Upsetters, Tous Les Garcons et Les Filles by Francoise Hardy, Baby, What You Want Me To Do by Jimmy Reed, and Syncopate by The Astronauts. Remember, you can find more Joe Strummer's London Calling radio show on iTunes... itunes.apple.com
Want to see that smashed up bass? www.feelnumb.com As for the song London Calling, Joe Strummer was a news junkie, and many of the images of doom in the lyrics came from news reports he read. The initial inspiration came in a conversation Strummer had with his then-fiancee Gaby Salter in a taxi ride home to their flat in World's End (appropriately). "There was a lot of Cold War nonsense going on, and we knew that London was susceptible to flooding. She told me to write something about that," noted Strummer in an interview with Uncut magazine.
Every one of Strummer's sets are surprising....starting with Not Fade Away by The Rolling Stones, then Unza Unza Time by Emir Kusturica, Raise The Alarm by Big Dog, and finishing with Check Your Bucket by Eddie Bo
Brixton was the site of race riots in 1981 and again in 1985. This song captures the alienation many citizens of Brixton felt leading up to the riots. The central plot has Ivan, the anti-hero character from the popular film The Harder They Come in urban South London and on the wrong side of the law.
If you haven't been listening since 6am, listen later to the whole show on the KEXP streaming archive and hear all these eclectic sets from Joe Strummer's radio show, London Calling. This one is Nervous Breakdown - Eddie Cochran, Tell It Like It Is - Nina Simone, Cinderella - Eddie Monty Morris, & Long Hot Summer Night - Jimi Hendrix
Joe Strummer - “If I had five million pounds I'd start a radio station because something needs to be done. It would be nice to turn on the radio and hear something that didn't make you feel like smashing up the kitchen and strangling the cat.”
The last London Calling… Global A Go - Go - Joe Strummer and The Mescaleros, Good To Be On The Road Back Home Again - Cornershop, & finally Beat On The Brat - The Ramones
The initial idea for "This Is Radio Clash" apparently came from a conversation between singer Joe Strummer, aide Kosmo Vinyl, and manager Bernie Rhodes about the band setting up their own radio station. Joe Strummer admitted in an interview with Melody Maker in 1988 that he had nicked the bassline from the Queen hit "Another One Bites The Dust" (which in itself shares many similarities with another Disco classic, Chic's "Good Times").