Political Song with no illusions

I can’t get away from all this political bullshit – yeah, “both” “sides”  – so might as well join in. I represent the Reverb Party. I might have posted this before but I love it because it rocks LAMF AND it’s pop. And the words that I can understand are great. I don’t want to understand all the words at first, it’s better when you discover them gradually. It took me 25 years to figure out that Jagger was saying “burns like a red coal carpet” in the 2nd verse of Gimme Shelter. I never looked at a lyric sheet, which are often wrong anyway, especially with the Stones and others who are hard to decipher.

 

8 thoughts on “Political Song with no illusions

  1. This is Donald Trump’s favorite song. He loves The Ruffles.

    I hear Clash (of course) and something else. Best I can do for now is The Ruts, but there’s a better comparison.

    In John Lydon’s latest bio he goes on at length about how phony The Clash were with their politics. Says it was far more, “Hey, here’s a schtick we can grasp onto for popularity” than sincerity.

    Refreshing and fun to read from someone who was there. Especially since The Clash are such untouchable sacred cows.

  2. I hate to say it because I couldn’t stand them but the other ingredient I hear is Duran Duran, or 80’s synth pop in general. Which just goes to show that anything can sound good when rocked this hard. The rhythm section just smokes.

    I suspected the Clash of political insincerity right from the start, not that I much cared. At first I quite liked the ambiguity in their politics, because that is usually closer to the truth than straight up propaganda. White Riot and Safe European Home have far more to say than anything on Sandanista! – because they try to deal with the world as it is rather than force reality into a political or “moral” formula. Which, in case anyone hasn’t noticed, always results in mounds of dead bodies.

    Unfortunately, rocknroll doesn’t lend itself to analysis. Works great for slogans though.

  3. This is all about the grinding rock. Great drums and sturming guitars are always going to win. Plus this is a fine song.

    Do they have other tunes? Maybe a romantic ballad? A disco hype?

  4. I believe Joe S had the intense political bend, and that the band was sort of pushed in that direction. I think that never left him. still, if sandanista was supposed to be the revolutionary album, but then the band was mainstream, imho. and, i do love the band. it is just…

  5. I think Lydon’s main complaint is that Joe Strummer was nothing but a pub band slogger. Then he artificially hijacked a political agenda and became “The Clash.”

  6. One thing for sure: the whole “we don’t want to be stars” thing was horseshit from Day 1. But another thing for sure: they meant business with their music. Both the Pistols and the Clash. That’s all that matters.

  7. It wasn’t the politics that made Strummer something more than a slogger, it was Jones, Headon and Simenon. And the Clash’s politics was always somewhat oblique. Down with the downtrodden but more infatuated with the exotic. My favorite song on Sandinista is the kids singing Career Opportunities. For a band trying to get out of their recording contract, it is the next thing!

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