I’ve been on a Clash kick this week.
The sharp immediacy adds the missing impact to my day.
I got really into Joe Strummer in university. I had a prof who used to be buddies with the legendary punk himself back in the day. We read Clash lyrics and talked about the re-appropriation of Doc Martens and slam dancing and were allowed to stage protests for course credits.
Strummer grew up all over the world – his worldly influences are what make songs like “Rock the Casbah” timeless – he wasn’t just a 3 chord angry kid from Brixton who wanted to scream for the attention of it all – he wanted to see reactions in the injustice he saw around him like he had seen in Mexico City and Calcutta. Hence, “White Riot”….
I saw his posthumous documentary a million moons ago, but I can still remember how I felt when I heard his famous BBC ‘the meaning of it all’ spiel… it shook me up . And I know it seems simplistic or naively optimistic, but the core is there: if you don’t do something about it, then you’re the culprit too.
People can change anything they want to and that means anything in the world.
People are running about following their little tracks and I am one of them.
But we've all got to stop just following our own little mouse trail.
People can do anything, this is something I am beginning to learn.
People are out there doing bad things to each other, it's because they are being de-humanised.
It's time to take the humanity back into the centre of the ring and follow that for a time.
Greed really ain't going anywhere, they should have that in a big billboard across Times Square.
Without people you are nothing,
…that's my spiel.”
- Joe Strummer, aka. The Shit.
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