A rock-y love song. Shane in good voice - maybe the last time he has been in such good voice, I dunno. The voices go together brilliantly.
Its a nice contrast with 'Fairytale of New York'. Sample lyric 'you were so cool you could have put out Vietnam'
It was originally recorded with original Pogues bass player Cait O'Riordan (forgive the spelling - I'm crap at Irish names) which I heard at the time but not since - it was on the soundtrack to Sid and Nancy
from Not on an album
03 Mar 05 ·tonyharte: How right you are Matt - tis a mighty fine nugget from 10 years ago. Should've been top 5 - instead of the lower reaches of the chart (if anybody cares these days). The voice of an angel meets devilish genius in a smokey tap room near Wardour St.
Sunlight and pathos in equal measures. 03 Mar 05 ·mattypenny: Many Thanks for the comment Tony.
I dunno how many people would feel the same way, but I really love some of the songs that Sinead O'Connor has been involved with, although I'm not as keen on all of her own stuff.
The collaborations I've paticularly enjoyed:
Marxman - Ship Ahoy
Damien dempsey - Negative Vibes
Something by Jah Wobble I forget the name of
Terry Hall and Sinead - All Kinds of Everything
I'll type some of these up as recommendations when I get the chance
You could see this as typical of late period Clash or solo Joe Strummer. It's got a vaguely world music type vibe with Far Eastern sounding keyboards and interesting drumming.
It was a double A-side with 'Should I Stay or Should I Go', (which was later re-released (without Straight to Hell) and was a big hit in the UK, following a Levis advert.) Straight to Hell is a lot less 'rock-y' than Should I stay.
If you were going to buy a Clash compilation then I would check whether this is included if you like there more mellow stuff - its on some of the compilations but not others.
I'm lucky enough to have seen this done by both the Clash and Joe Strummer when he was in the Pogues. Both very memorable.
This is partly a recommendation, partly a request for information if anybody has it. (hope thats not an abuse of the website)
I recorded this by accident off of a John Peel show in the late 70s/early 80s. Its a dance-y dub-by version of a old American square dance song I believe. Its not unlike Malcolm Maclarens stuff of the same time in concept, but its al lot more taste.
So does anybody else know it?
03 Mar 05 ·n-jeff: Hmmm, Sounds like the sort of thing the Suns of Arqa were up to at that time, the early stuff tended to mix uptempo dubby backings with guitar and or fiddle, and then do something daft like phase the hell out of it. I should say it would be worth eliminating, I'll try and find te hname of the LP I have thats like that.
Suns of Arqa - Sounds like thunder ? could be... 04 Mar 05 ·mattypenny: Jeff - judging by the website, that's a really good call. I shall investigate...Thanks, Matt 19 Dec 05 ·n-jeff: Glad to be of assistance.
Suns of Arqa are well worth checking out anyway, I saw them live a couple of times in their Indian phase, Tabla's, Sitar, drums and Wadada on deep bass. At the time there was no-one like it. Nice.
I love the Clash. I love the way they were four disparate individuals each bringing their own stuff to the mix. Topper's excellent drumming, Simonon's cool, Mick Jones musicality and street smarts, and Joe Strummer's....umm...Strummer-ness.
I love the fact they didn't play Top of the Pops. I love the fact that Strummer admitted that this was mainly 'cos he was crap at miming rather than out of any significant political stance or anything.
I love how gooood they were live. And I love the fact that I was lucky enough to see them.
I love the fact that Strummer picked 'Crawfish' as his favourite Elvis song. I also love the fact that sometimes, to my mind, they got things badly wrong, sounded a bit gauche or wrongheaded or worse. I'm thinking of Red Brigade t-shirts, using Belfast as a photo opportunity, and maybe singing about ghettos and Brixton, for the 'romance' of it when they weren't necessarily the closest to either. I dunno. That side makes me feel uneasy at times, but that's fine - makes me think.
This song is great. Reggae influenced rock, Strummer belting out 'one more time in the ghetto...'.
Its been so sad losing Joe, Johnny (Cash) and John (Peel) over the last couple of years. Good men, you feel.
A sad situation but a fine, positive song. Joe Strummer recorded this as a demo for Johnny Cash, I guess with a view to it being recorded for one of the 'American' records.
Within a couple of years both had passed on.
The song is classic Strummer though - upbeat, with vivid words (as usually laying it on with a trowel), the chorus being 'You cast a long shadow' - I hear it as a tribute to Johnny Cash. It finishes off with the words 'there's always rock and ROLL!', which is kind of fitting.
I've only got this on a freebie with Uncut magazine - I dunno if its commercially available or not.
