The Clash's "London Calling" with Fred Armisen
00:00On board, train leaving a station at One Song, Two, three, four.This is One Song. We're a music podcast, and today is One Song. We're sung by The Clash.This is One Song, and we're not alone, because joining us today is Fred on his own.The soundstage is ready. The cam's zooming in, the booth is recording.Kevin Hart, you can come in, a scheduling error. Oh, hey, we're so.still friends, because one song is startingand we're talking Joe's drummer.Oh! Tapper and Paul and McJow!
01:09Yeah, like that.Luxury, today's song comes from a legendary British bandthat, for many of us coming up at the time,defined punk and punk music, even as they expanded the genre.That's right, Tiala. Today's song combines punk aestheticsand Jamaican rhythms to create an apocalyptic anthemthat Rolling Stone ranked the 15th-created songof all time.
01:34All right, all you listeners in faraway townsand all you zombies of death,who's calling?It's one song,and that song is London Calling by the Clash.London Calling to the Faraway Towns,now war is declared.I'm actor, writer, director,
02:01and sometimes DJ Diallo Riddle.And I'm producer, DJ, songwriter,and musicologist luxury,aka the guy who whispers,Interpolation.And this is one song.The show where we deconstructand celebrate your favorite songs
02:14from the past 60 years in music historyand tell you why they deserve one more listen.That's right. You will hear these songs like you've neverheard them before. And if you want towatch one song, please go to our YouTubechannel and watch this full episode.And while you're there, please like and subscribe.All right, Diel. So today, to help us break down London
02:30Calling by The Clash, we have a special guest.He's an award-winning comedian,actor, musician, and writer extraordinaire.His classic 11-year run as a cast memberour Saturday Live, his two,two-celebrated Sketch Comedy Series,Portlandia and documentary now, I have to ask you about that one.These in his many roles on TV and film have made him extremely wealthy.
02:51And I think a unique, unforgettable voice throughout comedy and entertainment.Please give it up for Fred Armisen, everybody.Thank you.Thank you.Good to see you guys.How much money, yeah, Fred?A couple of bones.It's endless.
03:06Like the bank told me, they were just like, you know what, whatever you think it is, it's great.We're good.We're all good.How many yachts can you water ski behind?How much is enough?I've lost track of all the yachts.I just want to say on a personal level, thank you because, and I don't know if you know this,but my show with my writing partner Bashir, Sherman Showcase, probably would not exist
03:29in the way that it does without you in the sense that I was watching the documentarynow episode that was pretty much based on Stop Making Sense.Oh, yeah, yeah.talking his documentary.And I watched that and I was just like,I didn't know that you could do this.I didn't know that you could do such a deep diveon something so that I know inside and out.
03:52I didn't know you could do this.So I called up to share that night.And I was like, dude, just saw this episode documentary now.And I think we should go to IFCand pitch them a show that is essentially,you know, somewhat similar, but it's all about black music.And I was like,we can put it on the set of like a Soul Train type show.
04:11so that the, you know, music performances are all baked in.Such a great premise.And just like every, you know, comedian or all comedians want to be musicians,all musicians want to be committed.Bashar and I had all these, you know, songs that we had written for Jimmy Fallon,that were not appropriate for Jimmy Fallon.They were not appropriate for NBC.We were like, I think if they were dumb enough to say yes to that, we could do that show.
04:32And that's how Sherman Showcase got pitched ILC.Well, great work.And I'm so glad.Well, thank you.We were almost going to do a song with you.The schedules didn't quite line up.Do you remember the name?Was it like Ritchie Baton or something like that?
04:43Yep.Sort of like a, like a boogaloo music.Right.Yeah.Tell us what,tell us a little bit about what that is.So there's just like this like, there was this scene in New York of music.It was like sort of like Latin-based music.
04:59Sort of salsa, but a little funky a little bit.And when is this like the 50s?This is the 70s.No, no, 70s.But yes, I just wanted to bring that up because I was just like, if you can do comedy formusic, there's a special.There's a special fun and exhilaration when you can say, hey, here's something that's not about Prince or Madonna.Yeah.
05:18But people who love music, who recognize this, will be like, holy shit, you guys did what?Well, especially because when you're able to, like, get the nuance of musicianship, right?Like, my pet peeve is when there's a music show or a documentary and you hear drums, but the snare is being played by the kick and vice versa, when they just cut it to the opposite.How do you even make that mistake?And how is that not in our laws?And I'm like, I'm like, that's a crime.How is an editor?I don't know.
05:45You don't hear it.It makes your one job.It's your majorly.And they're doing it for you.It's so easy.You can see it.You can see it.And hear it.
05:54Two senses are being used here.Incredible.It's really not okay.Sometimes it's opposite too.I'm like, wow, you just really flip.Now you're trying to make me mad.Yeah.Goong, gunk, gack, got, gu.
06:07Whatever.They're just trolling us.Yeah.Today, as we mentioned, we're talking about The Clash.Luxury for the uninitiated.Can you tell folks a little bit about The Clash?The Clash, one of the greatest punk bands of all time,but actually one of the greatest band bands of all time.
06:21The quick and dirty version of how they come together.There's a young gentleman called John Woody Miller.That's right.Mr. Strummer used to go by Woody until he changed the sameand then he would get pissed if you called him that.He was in a band called the 101ers in London in the mid-70s.Actually early 70s.It's a whole squat pre-punk thing.
06:39They're kind of hippie-ish, in fact, until they play a gig with the Sex Pistols.And iconically meet the Sex Pistols manager, and they meet their soon-to-be manager, Bernie Rhodes.And it's at this other squat with Bernie Rhodes that they meet the unfortunately named London SS,which is another band in London in the mid-70s consisting of at the time some soon-to-be legends like Mick Jones,who, by the way, was Jewish like myself.So London SS, we're not so sure about that.And also apparently living at this house was Paul Simonin,Terry Chimes, the original drummer for The Clash,
07:12and Keith Levine, who would go on to form PIL with Johnny Rotten,Tony James from Generation X, Brian James from the Dan.This is like all the superstars of the rock.It's incredible.Incredible.Well, squat.And squad.Yeah.
07:25Broken into how, sorry, we should clarify.The 101ers and the London SS basically merge to form the clash,to oversimplify a more complicated tale.Their first couple records make them legends on the punk scene.We'll get into a little more of that a little later on.But then we get to their third record, London Calling, which is where we get the song we're talking about today.Before we get fully into this album and this incredible song, Fred, do you remember the first time you heard the clash?Yes, I do.
07:53I grew up in Long Island, a suburb of New York City.Which suburb?Valley Stream.Okay.And I wish I had a cool story of like, you know, I was rifling through the record store, you know, bins and, you know, but, like,Like pretty much FM rock radio played The Clash.And there was a-Which song were they playing?
08:14They were playing London Calling.So a little bit of train in vain.So that's when I first heard them.But then I had a friend in high school who like also played me their first couple of records.And then I got lost in it completely.Lost in it completely.What grabbed you about them?What was it?
08:31Was it a song?Was it an album?Was it like a drive where one song was playing on the radio on the cassette player or something that just like hooked you in?It was for me the sound of their voices.Okay.That's my honest answer.Because I'm trying to go back to that time.And obviously, the drumming was great.
08:47But I wonder if that's something that, like, over the years I've sort of come to, like,adopt is like, hey, the drumming was great.I think it's that, like, rock radio at the time had a lot of, like, yeah, singing.Like that, like, you know, this kind of singing that, like, didn't reflect what country the people were from.And I was like, oh, listen to those British accents.They sounded like.It made me, like, fantasize about being in England.Yeah.
09:12What's London like?What must that be like?And to hear them sing like that.And also those melodies were beautiful.Yeah.Because they'd play, oh, I know, Lost in the Supermarket.I was like this pretty melody, train and vein.So pretty.
09:24You love that song.I love that song.I think you might have told us while we're preparing this episode that might be your single.Favorite Clash song.That's my favorite class song.Lost in the Supermarket.What is it about that song?There is something about the melody that gets to be.
09:45right away. It's like so likeit's actually one of the softerI don't want to say soft because that'syeah yeah no no but you're like it's not a softit's not a punk rock songit's like whenever mixingsthere's like a sort of melody that happensyeah well the song starts with it on guitar
10:00yeah immediately get this which is a pop radio thing to dolike da da da da da da da da da da datotally and then the vocals come in and it mimicswhat you just heard and you're like I really like this melodyyeah yeah it's interesting when you're saying it toobecause like London calling and lost in the supermarketand should I stay or should I go likeThey all have this thing.
10:16We use the word anthemic, this musically anthemic, but also there's something bumpersticker-like about like having these song titles.For my entire life, if I'm in the supermarket, I'm thinking about the song.Yeah, yeah.I'm lost in the supermarket.Yeah.But also when I'm having some confusion about deciding, which is sort of the category of, you know,that I also think about lost in the supermarket.
10:35Yeah.And part of their genius is that lyrically, they insert these ideas that just stay with youyour whole life.Absolutely.Own them in your mind.Totally.Is it true that you got to see the class perform when you were teenagers?Yep. I saw them on their Combat Rock Tour, Pier 48, I think it's called in New York.
10:52And one of my first concerts, Mick, Joe, and Paul were in the band. They were back to theiroriginal drummer Terry Chimes. It was incredible because there was some chaos to it, which I reallyliked. It was raining. And on that same tour, I went to go see them at S&L. I went to go seethe dress rehearsal of them performing at S&L. And I really idolized them. And I really idolized them.And as a kid, or whatever I was, 16 or something, 15, they arrived in taxi cabs.Sort of like, that was my first look into like.They're just regular Joe's, in other words.Yeah, yeah, not linezines.
11:29Yeah.And just the way that they were sort of like walking in and everyone was cheering for them was really nice.And at the end of the show to the Cosmovinyl, their roadie or tour manager, let everyone in backstage.So like, we waited by the fence and he was like, oh, you, you know, come on in.And I got to talk.That had to be insane.It was insane.And really nice.
11:49Like, they were so kind to their fans.And I got to talk to Joe Strummer and Paul Simmonon.That's insane.You got to talk to Joe.Yep.And I don't even know what I was saying to him.I think I was talking as a teenager does where you're not really saying anything.And he looked at me just nodding in a way.
12:05It's like, I'm just going to wait until he's done.You know.That's really sweet.That's something about punk rock too.That's important to mention.It's like the egalitarianness of punk rock, the ethos of like, this anyone can do this.the DIY, which we maybe take for granted now, it was new in the late 70s.Like musicians were like gods.
12:20They were in this limousine thing like we were alluding to.It's like, so for people to be normal and like kind of at your level, especially when you were ateenager, it must have been amazing.Real impression.Like that's immediate.And it's also like that I remember it so clearly.Right.Whereas if they just disappeared into their limo, it's funny how limousines really are symbolic of
12:39something, but they are.Can I ask you a quick question about that?Because in parallel at some point, you're becoming a musician, right?Yes.Are you starting with drums?Are you playing in high school bands?Starting with drums and the band I was in, we were called the KGB.That same friend of mine who introduced me to those records.
12:54Love that.The London SS, the KGB.Of course.So, like, of the times.We would try Clash songs.We would try Magnificent Seven.We tried Straight to Hell.Stried because we're in high school.
13:07So we're just like.Straight to Hill, famously sampled by a MIA, right, for paper planes.Magnificent Seven is my number one favorite.clash song. Really? Yeah, it's just my favorite. Because that bass line is so sick. Although it'stechnically, it's kind of not really a clash song because it's the Ian Dury and the Blockhead guys on bass,right? What is it about British bands? Every time I find out about a record I love, it's always all theseother people. Yeah. And I'm like, wasn't that your drummer? Yeah. No, he's not around.There's so much of that. Yeah. I just love that there is Ian Dury and the Blockheads going on within,
13:41because I think they also play on Rock the Casbah, according to later.and life, Topper, He'd and said, actually, it was them all along as well.It was him and them.I have a feeling that that's the month lost in the supermarket.Really?Just the, like, musicality of it.I'm like, just a little better.There's no proof of it, but I'm just a little bit like there's something in there that's a little smooth.
14:03Above their pay grade.Yeah.Smooth.Yeah.Well, we'll probably find out in the comments.Yeah.It was actually.But just quick.
14:10Let's listen.Let's watch for them now.So comments, go crazy.Let us have.Well, wait.What?You don't know my mom.I wanted to connect to something else just in your career
14:22because the punk rock ethos has an idea.There's actually kind of like an orthodoxy,which you kind of play on in a lot of your sketches in Portlandia.And there's a little bit of this idea of like,there's actually rules that are like hard and fast, right?I wanted to know if that was something consciousthat came out of your years playing punk rockor playing in trench mouth, your band.
14:42I think like the, it's more about,when we finally write a sketch or put something out,we don't look for the perfection.We're like, this is how it is right now.There's no ending to the sketch.Leave it.There's no joke to the sketch.That was a lesson of punk rock.
15:03It's like, it can be a little messy.It's fine.It's, this is immediate.This will be great.And even the way we started Portlandia was like,what, you know, there's no point to the, you know,like, are we, it's more like.At the end, they cross the border to Washington.
15:18Yeah, yeah.That was not going to be the case.Let's just let these sketches live as they are.So I would say that.That's most of it.Just because there's that famous,the great footage of you at Southbyand then interviewing Steve Albini,
15:28who's kind of famously at the timewould have been like the standard setterfor like what is rockand what is punk and what isn't.Yeah.And I love that you're sort of tweakingthat a little bit by one of your sketches.Oh, yes, yeah.
15:40We did a, I mean, I did a bunch of stuff with him.And he was so nice to let me do that.We became friends right away.That's so, I mean, he obviously got the jokeand it was sort of pointing,it was sort of ribbing at this idea.But the fact that punk rock simultaneously hasthese ideas of freedom and a little messiness.
15:54Yeah. But then it kind of got concretized into like,it's not punk unless. It sure did. And I think that realpunks kind of also fight against that as well. And when you listento punk too, like there's so many different styles within it.I even think that London Calling is not quite a punk song.The case can be bait. Because of that rhythm,whatever that, is that a shuffle beat?Yeah, it's a shuffle. It's got kind of like that Teutonic March.
16:19Yeah. We'll definitely get into it. I'm glad you broughtthat up to because there are simultaneously several things happening in there.When we get into the stems, we'll talk more about it, but you're absolutely picking up onsomething that I hear too.Yeah, as opposed to those eighth notes.Yeah.Yeah.It's a little groovy.
16:33It's a little jazzy.A little jazzy.Literally a jazz groove.Yeah.I love that you would make the case that Lennon Collin may not be a punk song by a lot of definitions.What do you think makes the clash different from other punk bands?Well, so much has been written about them.And I'm going to try not to sound like all the stuff I've read.
16:52But it is the truth that, like, the fact that they went so deeply into dub music,not just a couple of songs, deeply into it.To me, the fact that they wanted to experiment that much made them to me.But that said, I think that's what punk is all about in my book.I mean, it is interesting that this is one of those groups that, you know, as iconic as they are,it is very easy.They can be divisive, you know, like, it can definitely be one of those things.like when I was really young, like the clash were cool.
17:23And then at some point I looked up in the 90s and it was like the least cool thing.Everybody's just like, oh, that's like, you know, that's not real punk, you know.And then I feel like that we all got older.That's the punk orthodoxy thing that I was telling you about because by the strictest definition,once they started adding things that weren't just guitars and the fast tempos and the dub,we're going to talk a lot about that a little bit later, especially when we get to the stems,the reggae connection and the dub influences all the Jamaica stuff because they also do ska androck steady.
17:47So they're sort of like everything from the Jamaican island is like part of the,their music in a really interesting way. But you're right, the orthodoxy of punk, even on theirfirst record, they're doing the dub songs, they're doing the reggae songs. And, you know, I just thoughtof, as we're talking about it, like, not a lot of bands do that, but like bad brains, anotherDC band, one of my favorite. Are you a bad band's in. Oh, I love that. Yeah. They might be one of thegreatest bands ever. They might be one of the greatest bands ever. Or like, are in a way, like,maybe the best punk band as far as like, when you hear them play, that's, it's over. They're one of thegreatest bands of all time, and they are Rastafarians, or at least HR, the lead singer-wise,
18:24and they're doing fast punk rock, and then they'll just have a dub song.Real slow, slow the tempo down, roots reggae in the middle of it.I mean, my nephew, anybody who knows me, my nephew, there's an age difference between meand my brother, so we're the same age. My nephew is sort of like my brother, like, you know,in terms of like our relationship, you know what I mean? And he was into punk, like, at a time when,like to be black and on the punk scene, like everybody in the family was concerned about him.Like everybody was just like, you know, does he worship Satan?It's like, no, that's not.
19:12That's not what punk music is really about.Does he beat up skinheads?Probably does that part.But what it was interesting was that, like, you know, like, you didn't grow.I would be like, well, do you like the clash?And of course he was like reflexively like, no, I don't really.But now, like, when we talk about it, you know, he's, we're older now.So it's just like there's a certain maturity that comes along.
19:30We're like, no, you know, I think it's just one of those things we're like,was so, the clash were so famous and so known that like, you couldn't be like admitting thatyou liked the clash at the time. You know, I think that's some of what. Yeah, because they had a hitrecord too. Right, right. Yes. People know them for Rock the Casbah. They know them for should Isay or should I go. That whole combat rock album broke them so big. And once again, it's thatMTV effect that we've talked a lot about on the show where, you know, in the 70s, like youcould be almost anonymous. But like by the time MTV is out there, like you had to have a look. Youhad to have so many other things going on.
20:03And for so many people, especially those not living in New York or California, theclash was punk for us.So Fred, you famously did a sketch on Funny or Die where your very good friend, Ian Rubbish,interviewed the clash.How did that come about?The clash put out this box set of all their, like their whole discography.And it was like a box that looked like a boom box.And everything was in there.
20:29But they didn't want to do.the traditional promotion for it.They wanted to do something simpleand they just wanted to do one thing, basically.So they approached Frony or Die to do something comedicand they got a hold of Ian Rubbishwho was like a sort of a version,a made up version of...
20:49He's modeled up for a couple of people, right?Yeah.He seems like a composite of like,is he Mick plus Ian Duryplus maybe Johnny Rotten?Yes, a little...Yeah, little Johnny Rotten.There's some Joe Strummer
21:00in there too. There was enough of a mix of people in there that he, it made sense to them.So they, uh, this was recorded at, uh, Electric Lady Studios. Electric Lady Studios. New York Citywhere are the class recorded. We're gonna talk to them and about them and maybe play a bit ofmusic. Who knows? That's what punk's all about, isn't it? Not planning nothing.Which is huge. I love the story about you visiting Electric Lady and just point and be like, that's where San Anista wasrecording. That's me and my friend Kenny. The same guywho introduced me to those early clash albums.We would go to the village to look at the studio. Just the doors.
21:38The door. Whoa.A door.And it just worked out. I had already done, oh, that sketchhad already existed on SNL and they saw it andthere we were all hanging out.Before we move on, Ian Robbish, you're still in touch with him.Yes.he's really gone right wing hasn't he in the last?
22:02He was very pro-Brexit, I heard.It's more that anyone who interviews him, he'll do the opposite of whatever they'reso.So if someone says, hey, you're really right-wing.Classic.He'll go.He's a hippie.That is so punk, yeah.
22:14That is so punk, man.No interview goes well.Defiance. Just the defiance.Always.Always.I won't do what you tell me.Yeah.Yeah.
22:22Anything.Anything.It will be on the opposite side so that the poor journalist is like, oh, my God,get me out of here.So we're going to talk about London calling the songBut I wanted us to talk a little bitAbout this album as a whole, Fred.Where does this album stack up
22:37In terms of your favorite clash album?It's my second favorite.There you go.And I love all their albums deeply.What's number one?San Anista.Okay.Wow, nice.
22:47Sanonista is, you know, because it's so long.It's two hours of music.Yep.It's insane.I have not gotten through the entirety of itbecause I bought it on vinyl.Side one.is amazing. Side six is amazing because it's got all the dubs on it, but I don't think I've ever heard side four, for example. But that's kind of, that's what music, oh my God, now I'm like lecturing. But that should be like where like one day you get to do it. It's a lifelong discovery. Yeah, I like things like that. Like, why does everything have to be like, you know, I don't need it to be immediate? So it unfolds over your lifetime. One day I'll listen to Side 4 of San Dena, your favorite record. What song is your favorite song on San Dena? Or what are your favorite songs? There's a song called Up in Heaven.
23:27not only here is just, that's really pretty.What's interesting about that song is that there's a line taken from a Phil Oaks,a poem, so he gets a co-writing credit on that.The line, the Alianza dollars are spent, that's from a poem by Phil Oaks.I hope I'm saying the same.I had no idea.No, I knew that all along.That's great.
23:56But what is that first word?Alianza?It sounds like an Italian corporation.I have no idea.Oh, because every time I listen to it, I'm like, you know when you hear lyrics and you don't eventhink about what they are.This sounds like nonsense words to me, but whatever.Never did I know that it was a...
24:11We're going to talk about that because that is a big thingwith me and London Calling. You could nottell me that I didn't know all these lyrics,but when I looked up the lyrics, when Ihad the lyrics in front of me this week...I was like, oh, that's what he said?Just forever, I just thought I knewsome of these lyrics. And I'm not mad
24:28at some of the lyrics that came up. We're also going to talk aboutthe Joe Strumber's tendency to somehow throw inlyrics from other songs, which makes itsway into London Calling.Oh.If you've ever wondered about the mystery of how that song ends, it will be revealed soon.What's your favorite clash album?I love Sandinista, but as I just disclosed, like, I haven't heard the entirety of it.
24:46But Magnificent Seven, my favorite song opens the record.But my favorite record that's like internalized, like is London calling.I know the record so well from just having listened linearly in my life.But it's one of those things that like I kind of, I think my interest, so why it's like an hour or whatever, my interest does wane around song 17 or 18.so I don't know what's going on.And then train in vain comes in.And we end on a strong note.Yeah, I mean, I love Four Horsemen.
25:12We love.I'm not sure I know the song, I'm Not Down.I'm Not Down is really good.Is it good?Okay.I think I'm always fast forwarding from Four Horsemen,which I love, to train in vain,which is amazing.
25:21Great way to end the record.But you're saying it's worth sticking around?It's one of those optimistic songs.It's very McJones.Okay.But I can see that like it's well covered in working for the clampdown,the feel of it and everything.Okay.
25:34You're okay missing it.And Four Horseman, I don't know that well.Four Horseman.Yeah, I mean, I know it.But I don't.I am petering out by there.Yeah.Maybe I've only gone.
25:44I don't linger on it.I'm not like.No one's lingering on that.Yeah.Everyone in the back of their head is going, train and vein is coming out.Yeah, exactly.Let's get there.Yeah.
25:51Let's get there.Yeah.That's not the word.The Four Horseman band?I'm kidding me?No disrespect to that song.No.It's a incredible, terrible, terrible song.
26:02Right.But it's a terrible, terrible song.It's a little bit of diserston.But you're not saying it I am.So I'll take that. Oh my God. Now it's in the edit.Get it out of this edit.It's going into the trailer for this episode.No. No. Out!
26:15Please.The viewer. As a viewer, fast forward.Okay, wait. What are your top three? You have to name them.On the album? Yeah.Lost in the supermarket. Number one. We knew that.Train in vain.Okay. We can only pick one for number three.And I got to tell you, I'm always moved by London calling.
26:33I love that.I'm always, it's one of those songs, you know, like, you know, take a walk on the wildsidewhere you leave it on. You're just like, come on, I got to listen.It doesn't matter how I heard it a million times, or whatever.One of the things we try to accomplish with the shows, we try to place you in the studio.Yeah.And we try to help you like imagine like, did the people, because I always wonder this,did the people when they were recording it, did they know they were recording the classic?
26:59So often they didn't.So often the song that we know and remember was.is like, oh, yeah, we worked really hard day and night on these 11 songs.And then that last song, we just crank that out in two hours.And then that's the song that put all our great kids through college.You know what I mean?Like, it's insane.Everybody wants to rule the world.
27:16I think that was a, like, I think they almost didn't put that on the album.He hated it.Roland hated the song.He had no interest in.That was garbage.And the rest of them are like, no, no, no.Please keep working on this one.Hit over heels, by the way, was, you know, broken.
27:27It was just the instrumental broken.And people liked it so much.They're like, hey, we should probably write some lyrics.Let's turn this little interlude into an,an actual song. Yeah. So wild.I'll go real quick and justsay that, you know, I'm an outlierbut I'm happy that we've named three different
27:41Clash albums. For me,give them enough rope. What?Believe it or not. The second record. Yes,it is a fine record. And I thinkit is because it is the first albumof theirs that I actually purchased.Okay. It's the first out for whatever reason. I don't knowif it was on display at Amoeba Records or whatever.
27:58I'm in my 20s by now.You know, like I was a casuallistener to the Clash.But I'll never forget the first time I put, you know, the needle on the record, I heard Safe European Home,which I always interpreted as him being sarcastic.You know, like the album's called Give Them Enough Rope.I always loved the gallows humor of the clash lyrics.That was always their big draw for me.
28:30Yeah.So just the title, Give them Enough Rope.I'm like, ah, yeah, that's pretty cool.That's great.You know, Safe European Home.I thought it was, apparently it was controversial at the time.I didn't know all the lyrics.but I still stand by it.
28:41I mean, like, it's about when they went down to Jamaica to record an album,and he had a really tough time.Really?And he felt like there was a target on him because he said they were robbing the tourists.But, you know, I always took it as...I don't know that story.So, say, if European home is like, get me back on that airplane.He's like, get me back to London.
28:58But believe it or not, one of my absolute favorite songs of all time is on there.And it's, Julie's been working for the drug squad.Oh, you love that song.I truly do.I think that song is so hilariousI didn't know that it was based onlike some real arrest that had taken place in the newsSo like he's really just doing
29:15He's almost like your character for S&Lwho like reads in the paperHe's like blah-da-b-b-movoh, come onLike that thingHe's kind of doing thatThat is so Ramones in lyricsBut then the music is like this sort of loungyYeah kind of jazz
29:41It's a little rockabillyBut you know what the thing I love about it is the humor of it allIt's like there's a running themeKids Clos your earsmy kids listen to the podcast. There's a running theme ofyou're fucked.You know, so many of my favoriteclash moments and this one is
29:55dripping in them. Yeah. It's just like, you're havinga great time, but your friend over there beingquiet is working for the DEA.That's so interesting. And it'sgoing to come into play as to whyLending Calling is one of my favoritesongs of all time. I can't wait to getinto it. Folks, we're going to take a quick
30:12break. But when we get back, we're going to hearthe stems. We are going to debatethe lyrics of the song and their meaningand also we're going to get inside Fred's headand find out what song changed his life when we get back.Visit BetMGM Casino and check out the newest exclusive.The Price is Right Fortune Pick.BetMDM and Game Sense remind you to play responsibly.
30:3919 plus to wager.Ontario only.Please play responsibly.If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you,please contact Connects Ontario at 1-866-531-2-600 to speak to an advisor.Free of charge.MGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming, Ontario.Welcome back to one song, luxury. Before we jump into the stems, let's talk about how this song was made and how did the clash handle internally the publishing space.
31:11Okay, so this was originally, according to a bunch of notebooks, which have been publicly displayed at art exhibitions.And it's a really incredible thing to see the early lyrics to Joe Strummer's earliest ideas for this song.So it was technically, quote, unquote, his song originally.but Mick also had some lyrical input.We'll get into that a little bit later.One thing we also know is that the title comes from the BBC World Services,radio station identifications.Because Stramer heard it.
31:37He was born in Turkey and lived outside of the country.So they moved to England when he was at an early age,but there was traveling.His parents were diplomats.And so young Joe Stremmer would hear this,and it inspired him in his later years.This is London calling in the overseas serviceof the British Broadcasting Corporation
31:55Before I read the news, we're broadcasting important messagesfor the masters of Norwegian and Danish ships from the British government.The way the posh people talk is so fucking irritating.But also, there's literally broadcasting to faraway land.I didn't even think about that.You're absolutely right.Yeah.Yeah.
32:14There's a faraway land.There's even a theory, do with it as you will, comment section,that they did sometimes talk about the underworld,but they were talking not to criminals.But they were talking to, that was their way of talking to, like, the French underground and people who were literally hiding out from bombardment.Good time to mention that, by the way, all four band members, and they are all included in the publishing split.So we have, we have Michael Jeffrey Jones, which is Mick's full real name, John Miller, Joe Strummer, Paul Gustav Sinnell, and Topper Heeden.That's how he pronounces his name.
32:49So all four of them, these young British men, are growing up in England after World War II, where the shadow of the bomb.And like literally you walk down the street and there's entire areas like buildings that don't exist anymore.So it's very clearly still in their blood as young men writing this song, even into the mid-70s, the shadow of the war, the shadow of destruction, the shadow of nuclear terror.We're going to talk about how the record got made.There's a gentleman named Guy Stevens who's credited as the producer, but there's some kind of crazy stories about him.Do you know about Guy Stevens?Only a little.Yeah.
33:20I've read that like he would like throw chairs around and really try to get everyone.like going. He's the old school tradition, and he literally calls himself more Phil Specter thanPhil Spector, of like just trying to like almost intimidate the band into feeling the energy.And it's not a musical producer approach. It's not like helping, he's not like doing anyengineering or on the boards. He's just like standing in front of Joe or throwing chairs. Let me backup and just mention who this person is. This is a gentleman who in the 60s was one of these like60s British scenesters that you hear about. He's like he's a DJ in 1963. When he's aAnd that's like a new thing to even be.
33:57He's an R&B disc night at the scene club in Sohowhere he's playing stacks, chess, and Motown for mods.Wow.He sounds so freaking cool.I would love to have been there.Because members of the Who and the Yardbirdsand the Stones and the Beatles famously all go to this in 1963.So he's like that guy.
34:13So long story short, this guy has this crazy reputation.Nobody wants to work with him anymore.But the clash are like, in part maybe to tweak their record label, we think.The clash know about the rest of.reputation of Guy Stevens. And they want that energy. They feel some connection with him. And evenwith all of his like piano smashing ways. And apparently he pours wine, a wine bottle on Joe Strummers. He'splaying piano, ruining this Bosendorfer piano that Freddie Mercury had famously used. Every story abouthim is that he's insane, but the clash adore him. And they bring him in to produce the record,
34:48but the production is all throwing chairs, pouring wine and doing crazy stuff. Like violent attacks.Now, are these stories true? Do you believe them?No, actually, Topper Heedon says, London Calling was a joy to do because Guy Stevens was a lunatic.He added the fire of magic.Look, when someone's swinging a ladder around you, you have to keep ducking, and the music is definitely alive.I just, with stories like that, I believe it.Yeah, sure.But there's a legend that kind of comes, right?
35:16Yeah, because, like, you've been in a recording studio.It's so tedious.When is that time?Like, it's so, you know, you're just going through it.Like, when does it come in with chair?It's incredible that we have video footage of the band recording London calling.And we have video footage of Guy Stevens with some of these insane chair stacking, attacking band member, you know, stories that we've been hearing about.Wow.
35:38All right.Let's get into the stems.Okay.Well, this record was recorded in a former church in North London and the actual recording engineer because Guy Stevens did nothing useful in terms of actual recording of music.He brought the wine.He threw things at people.Bill Price is an unsung hero of this episode,the actual engineer and studio manager
36:05who made sure we can hear the songsthat they composed and recorded.So let's start with the drums.I've never heard stems from this song, by the way.I just want to say,there are so many ways to find stems of other songs,and this one has never come up.So I've never heard these tracks separated.
36:22You will never hear this song in the same way.Topper Heiden, start the song, my friend.Notice, right now we don't know.This could be straight eights.We get little Tom overdubs.You can hear he's still playing that.So those Tom's overdubs.That's a Tom Overdub, right?
36:42And one more, and then we get the fill.And then he changes.You hear the 12-8 come in.Because prior to that, it wasn't 12-8.It could have just been a strict straight-a-ths the entire way through.I thought this whole time that it was, I thought he was doing a shuffle beat with his right hand.Now he's doing like,That high hat.
37:10You are right.He does that a little bit later.And he goes back and forth between those two.I see.Okay.1979.Boy,they had it dialed in.
37:18Yes.They took all the 60s and 70s to get it right.Now that's like that's what a drum set.That's what rock drums should sound like.Yeah.I just feel like that's a sweet spot of like, we figured it out.Leave it.Leave it.
37:28Yeah.But it's not so mechanical and, you know, computerized yet.Like it's like,yes.It's as good as it's going to get in the analog.period. Nice microphonesthat are set up by a competent engineerBill Price in this case, dialing it in
37:44with your ears, the drummer's choiceof, you know, drums and how he plays.That's how you get a good drum sound in 1979.Yeah. Like it's almost like a farewellto the great drums. Nothing, you know,no offense to the 90s. I'm just sayingor the 80s. Then they figured out, well, somethinggets sound bigger. Yeah. And let's add.
38:00Right, reverbing snare, like the classic80s. Yes. That's what I mean. Like, you know, it's great for its timebut I'm saying that is such a beautiful spot of drumming.And knowing that this is taking place in an old church,I kind of hear that too.It's a big room sounds.They might have added some reaver,but it's probably also room sound that was very much ambiance.
38:18He does indeed switch to what you were asking about.I'll play for you where that happens,and then I'll show you where it is by adding the vocals back.And then he does that a little bit of us.And then he does that a little bit.And when we get to the Ice Age line right now, it gets a little jazzy swing.The ice age.Yeah.
38:42That's so jazzy.Yeah.A little hi-hat.But he's apparently a jazz drummer.He's, Topper Heiden is, so here's a quote from Paul Simonon, quote, the glue that held it all together.Topper Heedon's capabilities, especially with Joe and Paul Simon and the bass player,were probably the least instrumentally, musically gifted, shall we say.Like the most punk is maybe the way to put it.
39:10Mick Jones is incredible.When we get into his parts, I learned.I didn't realize how much is happening in the guitar of the song.And Topper Heiden, to this quote from Paul Simonin,because he had the background in jazz, like you said,the ability to switch genres.I'll show you how that plays into this song, actually, right after this.But he was able to make decisions that were really subtle.
39:32Let's go from Marshall to let's make it a little swingy.That's really his choice that's doing it.In fact, here's an alternative universe where he doesn't do that.Here is, if the song just had straight eighths, what would it sound like?What is this?It was like KISS.Totally different band.I just put in this, I just replaced for the sake of it being awful.
40:01I replaced Topper Heaton with this beat.Look, if you want it to be even worse,If you want it's even worse, do you want to hear it with a house beat?It's even worse.Or is it awesome.I mean, if you put a...I mean, Melissa's really happy.I mean, Melissa's really happy.
40:18I don't know.That may not be horrible.Or I feel like Nick Jones would probably like it.In a way, he'd be like...Yeah.He embraced all the technology in the dance and big audio dynamite with the aforementioned Don Leds.They got sampling in the mix.You're right.
40:33They might have liked that.Okay, so that's what it would have sounded like.Yeah.Thank God it didn't.Yeah.We have top.Heaton to thank for making those subtle choices that give it that swing feel, that 12-8 feel.So quote from Topper Heedon, he goes, when Mick started playing the chord, so his decision-making
40:49process is great. Some really cool quotes I found where he like heard what Mick had written.It's in the rehearsal space and he's deciding what to do in that moment, freeze frame on that.He goes, when Mick started playing the chords, I played straight. You heard that.Dun, dun, dun, done. When Joe started singing, I added 16th notes with my right hand for somequote, shimmer. And then in the Ice Age chorus, he quote, added the swing thing. I love that becauseit really puts you in the drummer's throne of like, what should I play? Yeah. Right? Yep. And it really doesdrive everything. Oh, it's a good. The choices are incredibly the right ones. How could the songnot have a 12-8 time signature? But it's not built into any of the other instrumental. No.
41:31We got to talk about the bass. Let's talk about it. Let's talk about Paul Simonin. Arguably, one of thehandsomest bass players ever to walk the earth.I'm just going to go out there and say it.Good looking dude. But he is. He is absolutelyHe's a stunning man.Gorgeous. Gorgeous. Poster.Dress style.The Ryan Gosling of punk rock. And even his hair
41:50back then was like a movie star.It's not irrelevant because that's part of whatyou look for when you're starting a punk bandbecause you don't have instrumental skillis secondary. Do you have the look?Do you have the part? Are you a good hang?What is it? Three chords and an attitude?Three chords and the truth. And the truth.
42:06Also that he's on the album cover.I mean, he is gorgeous and it's also, it's his whole...He's the one smashing.He's the bass.He tells the story that that was done out of frustration at the New York Palladiumbecause he didn't feel like the audience was reacting enough.Oh, wow.Oh, I thought it was a technical problem with the actual bass.
42:21The story that I heard, maybe in the retelling there's been some very much on it.But his frustration led to that moment, after which he immediately regretted no longer havinga bass to play the show.But there's, according to the NME photographer Penny Smith,who photographed it.He broke his watch also in the doing, in the smashing,and handed it to her so we know that he smashed his baseat exactly 10.50 p.m.
42:46Oh, end of the show.All right, Paul Simonin on bass.In the intro, he just does this really simple thing,mirroring what Diallo was doing at the beginning of the episodewith his voice.Then he goes down.So he does that during the Dant-D-D-D-D-D-D-Ro.We don't know what time signature we're in yet.
43:12And then what?Once we get to the verse, and I'll play just the bass and then I'll add Toppers' drums,he launches into this now iconic baseline that sounds like this.You hear the bounce, too.So one thing I want to say about this baseline, we were talking earlier about the, you know,the Reagan, the Jamaican music influence on this band.Paul Simon says, quote, I wanted my baseline to be a big declaration.Here we are.
43:46So right out of the gate, one way he does that in a way that's really unique,but connected to Jamaica is he talks about how his favorite.bass player, my influence was, as he puts it, Leroy Sybilz, who is a legendary studio onebass player and singer. He was in the Heptones. He was in the Studio One band. So many of thoseclassic Studio One Jamaican rhythms are Leroy Sybil's playing now iconic bass lines thatfor 50 years have been reused, have turned into like rhythms that get new, you know,songs recorded on top. Leroy Sybils is one of the greats. And one thing that struck my ear isthe use of space and syncopation.
44:32He waits to play some of the notes.There's this noticeable gap.So he plays on the downbeat.I'll play it again.Space.The mixture of space and then directly into those 16th notesis so Jamaican reggae.It's so dub.
44:53It didn't occur to me that there are those breaksbecause like any bass player would just play all the way through.Keep that bass going.Make sure that that hum is underneath.Glenn Matlock, Steve Jones, sex pistol, Sidvish,as it be dund, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, da, da, da, da, da.Yeah.But this one, it's almost like little breaks.
45:14Let's hear what happens when we replace Topper Heaton's 12-8 drumswith a one-drop beat,the same bass line that Paul Simonin was inspired by Jamaican dub.And you could even add in the guitar is as-is,because they're already skanking.They're already skanking.Totally works.A little Andy Scymoner.
45:43Summers. I'm so glad you said that. It is so Andy Summers. That is the police's formula.Yeah. That is exactly the police's formula. That's so funny. Isn't that crazy? Yeah, that worked.It's everything on top of the drums. Yeah.Is a clash song, a punk song, a punk, you know, whatever you want to call it a post-punk song.Yeah. But the second you drop those drums into what Stuart Copeland would do, the one drop from Jamaica.Yeah. We just made the clash into the police. Yeah, we did.So we apologize. We apologize. Because now Sting gets a split.We know this thing.
46:15We know this thing. It's 80%.We got to hear the guitars.I've been waiting for this.Mick Jones, strummer.What are you got?It's mostly Mick Jones, but not exclusively.Mick says he wrote the music to fit Joe's lyrics.And he wanted his guitar riff to have, quote,
46:30the urgency of a news alert.We'll get into the lyrics a little bit when we hear the vocals.But clearly so much of what's happening,this is a song about bad things in the news.And with the BBC inspired introduction of it all.So that guitar riff,especially at the beginning is like this is coming at you like a news alert let's listen to thatMick Jones guitar line with that in mind wow I have not heard that before that two chords at the
47:07same time we were talking about this because we had to decide what to play for the parody songnow only now there's two different chords that are rubbing against each other it's an e minorand an f major nine maybe yeah and it sounds crazy isolated like oh that'ssounds wrong, but it works?Clearly works. Wow.But the lead chord,I guess we'd call it, is still at E minor.Yeah, I mean, I think what's going on, and I'm not a music
47:34theoretician.Yeah. But part of the beauty of this moment is,you know, Mick is bringing a little moremusicality than the rest of them and maybe Topper is, butlike they're also bringing the ethos, like you said, of like,hey, this works, let's go with it. Yeah. This technically shouldn'twork on paper. No Bach would never necessarily composeEat it, Bach.
47:54Yeah, eat it, Mozart.Yeah, because they sucked.But Mick is overdubbing a bunch of guitars,and obviously the tension that's buildingthat's coming from this is heightened by the factthat you have four E-miners in a row,and then four more coming from one guitar,but the other guitar is moving to this F-M...
48:14Yeah.It's bizarre.It's still musical, though.There's the tension.It's the tension.Exactly right.You're listening to it even now.I feel tense hearing it.
48:22extremely tense.It feels like,ooh,something's wrong.Resolve me,please, resolve mesoon.It's urgent.
48:27Yeah.By the way,I want to add,it's also not,they also didn't go into,it's just noise guitar.Because like,sometimes there's this other
48:34almost category of like just,you know,jagged noise,which is great for its own thing.No,this isn't that.It's still sort ofin this other middle ground.
48:45Right.Let's talk about the solo.Yeah,this I want to know about.Yeah.Because anytime any band has triedthis song,This is an impossible solo to play.
48:54Literally, you can't play it.Can't play it.No, because what he's done is he's recorded two solos separately, left and right, paned hard,and they're both reversed.So they're different reversals.It creates a sort of psychedelic sound collage,which we will now hear broken down and isolated.You can hear how happened.
49:12Here is Mick Jones soloing, one of the two solos that get mixed.It's almost like what the solo feels like it is.Yeah.And since we have the power to do it, do you want to hear that forwards?I would expect that, by the way.Who knew that was in there?Honestly, I've heard this song how many times?Yeah.
49:44I never knew that it was a guitar playing backwards.This is what he played.Okay.And then this got reversed.That's much simpler than I actually expected it to be based on what was backwards.Yeah.By the way, how 60s of them?No, I was going to say for a song that mentions phony Beatlemania.
50:08Yeah, I'm like, all right.Well, the song didn't sing itself.I consider myselfI'm just a fan of strummerI mean like I never obviously met the manYou were fortunate enough toBut like there's something in his voiceAnd his attitude
50:22And just the quotes that I've readWhere I'm just likeDamn that dude like that's the real guySo I want to talk about the vocals on this songI want to talk about the lyricsAnd we're gonna play you his isolated vocalsLet's jump into itCan you just start us off with verse one
50:35London callingNow don't look to usPony BeetlemaniaThere's bitten the timeLondon calling.See, we ain't got no swingexcept for the ringof the truncheon thing.
50:50There's so much to unpack here,and unfortunately this is not a two-part episode.But I just want to say that there's some people,I remember a quote from your mom talking about Chevy Chaseand how, like, you could just look at Chevy Chaseand he was, his face was funny.He was spending time with your mom?What's happening?
51:05Oh, yeah.They're old friends.That's a three-part episode.Yeah, yeah.But here's the thing.I think that it's so, like, I can't,hear strummer without sort of like laughing a little bit like there's so much comedy yeah to me in this likeyou know now don't look to us you know like yeah yeah yeah funny about just even he sounds he sounds like
51:24he sounds like the wonderful uh drunk at the bar who's sitting next to who has everybody cracking up you knowwhat I mean like and the fact he's like don't look to because it's like it's a nice line it's a nicelyric that could stand in for any situation like hey don't come for me to help but also like he'ssinging about the clash.Like, this is their third album.And after give him some rope, like, there is some talk about like, oh, you know, has punkalready dead?It's like, only 1979, but like, there's talk like that.
51:50Yeah.And he's like, hey, don't look to us because that phony Beatlemania stuff.You know, all you guys who were coming to the early punk show saying this is the next bigthing.Yeah.Like, you know, we're almost going.There's so much Jamaican influence on this album.He's almost like, hey, we're not even necessarily a punk group by your narrow definition
52:08of what is wrong.Yeah.That's right.That phony Beatlemania stuff, you can kick it.But then he also follows that up by saying, hey, we ain't got no swing, except for the truncheon thing.He's saying, hey, that swing in 60s, London, like, you guys are crazy if you think that's what's going on.We have riots in the streets.The truncheon thing being like the Bobby baton.
52:28Yeah, exactly.He's like, we've got pure chaos.This is London calling.There's a news report.There's pure chaos in the streets.We're going to sing to that.Like I said, there's almost too much to unpack.That's a great analysis, yeah.
52:40But I didn't know that about the, what is it trunch in?It's the short stick carried by the British police.And there were all these riots, you know, happening in the streets at that time.Look, the economy is collapsing.I mean, honestly, when I hear London calling today, like, I kind of feel like America's.Yeah.Feels a little bit like where the Brits were in the 70s because like the economy sucks.Way too real right now.
53:01People are angry.Yeah.If you're going to try and sell punk, it's like this new Beatlemania thing.Well, guess what?We're not living in the time of like an expanding economy like.Like we were in the swinging 60s, you know, that London is famous for.No, this is London, 1978, 79.And that's just not where we're at.
53:18And I feel like they are speaking to the times that they live in in ways that are like immediate.And like, you know, like the guitars are tense and they are tense.That's why I love this song.And it's one of my favorite songs because it carbonates something in me because I'm like,oh, there's something going on outside.Like look at your windows.Get on, you know, like look on your phones.They're good with like, there's stuff happening.
53:36And I want artists nowadays to put.more of that you don't have to get out there into a diatribe. But if it's done well and done withhumor because I do hear the humor in these lyrics, it can be compelling and fun. Yeah, it's true.We don't have a, I mean, we sort of take for granted, like there was an era where politicalmusic or music was political or it was a common thing that you just took for granted, whether it wasthe 60s and the Bob Dylan and the Joan Baez or. I used to love public enemy. Yeah.Yeah, yeah. Totally. It's sort of like, you know, we sort of, I can't think of anything superpolitical right now. No, in fact, we'll get mad. Yeah. If someone,
54:09It comes out as like being political, lyrically.And they'll find something that is considered political on a dime.Yeah, yeah.Anything there to speak of.Yeah.But this song also comes out of, you know,basically the story that Joe tells is,quote,
54:21I read about 10 news reports of one day,all calling down all these plagues upon us.So they're coming from a place of paranoiabecause the news, the flood of the news.Right.But then the specific line that I thought was interesting,London is drowning and I live by the river.Okay.
54:33This is my lyric.This is my freaking lyric.This is the one that snagged me for the time I heard it.And I love it.I love it. I love a gallows humor.Yeah. Gallus humor. He lays us, the ice is coming.Yeah. The sun's zooming in. Meltdown, expected. Think about nuclear meltdown.The weed is growing thin. Engine in, engine stopped running. There was the gas crisis.
54:51But I have no fear. Oh, is he going to give us some, some something that make us feel better about all this.He says, because London is drowning and I live by the river. Meena, I'm going to be the first to go.Yes. I'm truly fucked. I am doing. I love it.Because Mick Jones had literally read an article that said, the North Sea might rise up and push up the Thamesflooding the city, and Joe Strummer lived near the Thames.It was very literal.His line is extremely literal.Because I thought it was a perfect analogy as was.
55:18Can we hear that?No analogy.Absolutely literal.Let's hear the chorus real quick.It's both.It's both.Engines stop running, but I have no fear because London is drowned and I live by the river.It's so musically perfect, the line, live by the river.
55:36The way it drifts off live by, I wish for,for that luck. Imagine writing a song.With that perfect of a line. It just falls, yeah.Dude, it doesn't write. It doesn't rhyme. Yeah, there's no rhyme. It's perfectly.And apparently, part of what made this song. So, interesting fact about this song is it's one of thefirst ones they recorded, but it was perhaps the only one they recorded without the vocalscomplete. So because Joe was, he had those notebooks I alluded to, he was working throughthese lyrics for a long time to get them right. And he couldn't find a rhyme. Among other
56:03other things, he couldn't find a rhyme for I live by the river. He knew that he wanted that line inthere. But he couldn't find a rhyme.for it, so he left it as is. It never rhymes.But it's perfect that it sort ofhas an ellipses dot, dot, dot. Yes.Perfect. Perfect. We shall be so lucky.When we were writing our little parody for the topof the show, I tried to write something that rhymed
56:21a river, and I also could not come overone goddamn thing. It's the orange.The liver came up, but there was literally nothingelse that would work. That's pretty good, actually.That's nice. It didn't make a whole not sense.I have to say, at the very end ofthis song, he sings the lyricthat I always thought I knew.
56:36It's the very last line of the song.He sings, I never felt so much alike.Now, the entire time I've been alive until this week,I just knew that he said, America's so much alike.Like, I thought that was brilliant.What did you think it was?He sang a whole song.I never felt so much like a, and I thought he left it blank.
56:56Yeah.Oh, that's great, too.Should we listen?Yeah.Let's hear it.I never felt so much alike, like, like, like, like.And it's interesting because he's singing those delays.He's, like, moving away from the microphone.
57:07Yeah.It sounded late.You can tell because at the last one, you can tell he was singing.Yeah, yeah, yeah.What is the lyric?So the lyric is a reference to another song called Singing the Blues.Apparently a song that Joe Strummer liked and was a big hit song in his youth.There were two versions of the song that I'm about to play for you called Singing the Blues that went to number one in the UK.
57:29This is one of those versions.This one's by Guy Mitchell.And so this is Joe Strummer without line is alluding to this line.this line from this song from1956.Singing in the blues, Guy Mitchell.So he tweaks the line, obviously.He tweaked the line, but in concert,
57:54he would sometimes use that original lineand go into parts of that song.I had no idea.And that's what he's singing at the end of the song.Yeah.I had no idea.That's amazing because now that sounds like a clash song.Yeah, I mean, the clash being so eclectic.
58:08Yeah, yeah.I have a fair so much while I sing in the blues.You could have told me that was on side four ofAnd then he'd be like, oh, yeah, okay, you know that, sure.I can't believe it.That's so fun.So, Fred, this is the part of the show where we talk about the legacy of the song.What do you think is the legacy?
58:23What do you think about the legacy of London College?I think it gave bands a chance to think we can actually expand beyond what we're known for.That's my, and I can't assume that for every band, but I think that was a little bit of like,oh, you're allowed to kind of, you know, widen whatever perception you have of what you're supposed to be.for some reasonI also think it just became an emblemfor the punk movementeven though,
58:51or for the British punk movement,even though it's not particularly punk,for some reason it becamethe sort of passport or calling cardof like this is what it represents that time.It represents the air.I mean, how many movies have,you know, if they're going to England
59:05in the late 70s,are they using this song to signal that?Yes, right?Exactly.It calculates Britishness, late 70s,kind of an counterculture,which may or may not bepunk. This is the song that used.
59:15And it's a good representation of what it has the intelligence of the clash and also like alittle bit of a chaos, especially with that solo. So to me, that's what it's like a goodjumping off point. No, not jumping off point. It's a good representation of, in my opinion,of that whole era. I think God for the clash widening the palette, I mean, among a bunch ofother bands, post-punk era music is my favorite. Punk was though at a certain point an orthodoxy.and they were one of the first to smash the sort of expectations of like, well, three chords and the truth.And those three chords have to be these three chords and only these three chords.And they have to be at this tempo.
59:52And we can't be like going half time and bringing in Jamaican, you know, they were the ones, they were, if not the first, definitely the biggest to smash that convention and say, no, this is, we can have a more expansive palette.And then out of that you get, you know, artists like, you know, American artists like Blondie that take in all these different types of genre.And then they could serve.And we were just talking during the break about, okay.I think great musicians are always trying to, you know, expand their genres to the point where Andre 3000 came out with the best flute album in my collection.So there you go.The best of all of your flute albums.All of them.
01:00:24Yes.Beat them all.Okay, Frank, before we let you go, we want to play a game with you.It's called What's One Song?Here are the rules.We'll give you a question and you give us a one song answer.And just answer as quickly as possible.Don't overthink it.
01:00:37Oh, I'm going to.Okay.I'll try to go fast.Your only wrong answer is pure silence.Let's begin.All right.What's one song you've been listening to lately?Had to Hear by a band called Real Estate.
01:00:49Okay.It's just been, I've been playing in my car over and over.Are they a new band?I don't know them.They're actually newer, but maybe I think they've been around since 2009.It's not Sunny Day real estate.Nope.Just plain old real estate.
01:01:01Real estate.Yeah.And that's my real answer because I was thinking about being in my car.I'm like, I keep listening to Had to Hear.No, I love it.Yeah.What's one song you wish you play drums on?Golly, go, buddy.
01:01:13by Bow Wow Wow.Oh, yes.I'm the biggestBao-W-W-W-Fa-W-Fa.The drumming is,that's the first thing that came to,I was like, I wish.Barbarosa.
01:01:21Dave Barbarosa.Yeah.Insane.There's a lot of classes.Yeah.Yes.Timbali on there.I can't do that.
01:01:27It's got this sort of swing qualitythat like you have to really.It's like relentless.Great call.Love that song.They did,I want candy.Yes.
01:01:33So like they're,he did an amazing job.He did insane drums.That band's output is so underrated.They are all monster musicians.That bass player is.Gorman, Barbarossa,and what was the guitar player?
01:01:45Matthew Ashman.Matthew Ashman, who died really young, right?Yeah.I always assume everything's ODs, and, like, I think he was sick.What's one song that you loved as a kid?The Candy Man by Sammy Davis Jr.That's hilarious.That's amazing.
01:02:00That's a great one.I did not, I mean, my brain was a child, child.Oh, it was a child child.Yes.How old were you?Oh, I mean, six?Something like that.Would you, like, put it at the 14?
01:02:1245 on your own little record.45 on the record player over and over.Over and over again.Needle drop.Yep.Just like Q-tip.Absolutely.Oh, that was crazy.
01:02:20What's one song Ian Rubbish loved as a kid?Oh, he like a lot of blues.Yeah.Just in general.Yeah.No, they actually bought me.No.It's a little Nigel Tuftel in there, too, isn't it?
01:02:38What's one song that changed your life?Girl You Want by a Deep.That changed my life.That's a great choice.Girl you want by Devo was like, yeah, simple as that.And you play drums with Devo at S&L 50 concert.Yep, I sure did.Was that like a lifelong dream come true?
01:02:56This is how literal it was.I, when I was 14, went to go see Devo, bought a little concert, you know, ticket.Which album or what tour?New traditionalists.Okay.At Radio City Music Hall.So I went to the place where I went to go see Devo.That's insane.
01:03:11Your life will serve.Yep. I mean, I'll never get over it. Even playing with The Clash.Do they start with We're Through being cool?They wrote this other intro for their concerts, which was like a mix, almost like a Broadway show of all, like a bunch of their songs.Like a medley.Yeah, like a medley. And then I think they go into a song called Going Under.Going Under is one of my absolute favorites.When he and I DJ, I usually try it mixing Going Under at some point. It's very fast, but it's so fun.
01:03:42underrated as though.I'm like, come on.It's a great, great song.It's in a great episode of Miami Vights for those really paying attention.Oh, yeah, it's got a usage in season one.It's just epic.You can actually find it on Instagram sometimes.What's one song that you came up with up here that you wish you'd released?
01:03:58Oh, wow.You know what?My honest answer is everything that appeared in here got released eventually.Because it's...Through SNL, through...It's all sort of parody of...genres. And I got to say, it all made its way out there.That's great. Thank goodness. Yeah, I really do feel like, nope, it went on TV. I'm good.
01:04:24Listen, most divo fans don't end up playing drums with them at Radio City. Almost all of them don't get to. I would say, yeah, yeah.It's a very small number. Most people don't get to meet, you know, meet some of the people you've met, record some of the songs that you've recorded.Do you ever just take a step back?just say, wow, this has been insane.Every day.Every day I think, I'm like, I can't believe it.To talk to David Byrne, to see, to hear David Byrne say Fred.Yes.
01:04:58It's always weird, right?Yeah, like, that's insane to me.And even getting to work with Kerry Brownstein, I love Sleadr-Kinney.And then this is going to sound corny also, but like to be on SNL.I'm like, I ended up.on that show.And you got to be on it.And you got to come on one song too and meet us.
01:05:18This must be blowing your life.If this airs.Oh.If this goes out.I can see your lawyers lying up over here and they're saying this is never going to air.I've never seen the light of day.I have an answer for this, Ian Rubbish one.Because I think they like, those guys like to pretend like they all have a surprising one.
01:05:35So for Ian Rubbish, it would be the hills who are alive with a sound.to use. It was just spinning up out. I love it.Finally, what's one song we have to break down on a future episode of one song?The Ballad of Dorothy Parker.Prince. Is that Black album? No. That's on...Close. It's on Sign of the Times. Which is actually, I think, a really underrated Prince album.Oh, my favorite of his. But I can't figure out what those tracks are.You know what's crazy about that song is that Prince didn't realize that Dorothy Parker was a writer
01:06:10at the Algonquin.Like, he was just a name he liked.Isn't that crazy?That's so artsy, though.It's like, I don't know who that is.Well, they tried to talk, Mike.I think Quincy tries to talk Michael Jackson out of naming it, Billy Jean.He's like, Mike, there's a business.
01:06:25There's a tennis player.He's like, no, I just like it.Those people exist outside of pop culture.They just don't know.Fred, thank you so much for playing that game and spending some time with us,sincerely.Where can, this is a funny question to ask you, where can people find you?And is there anything that you want to promote?
01:06:46No, nothing I want to promote.I just love this show so much.Thanks for listening, man.I love it.And watching it and it's just incredible.There's so many, there's so many songs I want to put through here.Well, we'd love to have you back.It's an honor having you.
01:07:01We're huge fans of all your work.I love to having you on.Thank you for coming.As always, you can find us on Instagram and TikTok.You can find me on Instagram.at Diallo. That's just six letters. DIA, LLO, and on TikTok at Diallo Ripple.And you can find me on Instagram at L-U-X-X-U-X-Y and on TikTok at Luxury X.And now One Song officially has its own Instagram account and TikTok account.
01:07:23Go follow at One Song podcast for exclusive content, behind-the-scenes moments and all the musicdebates that you've come to love. You can also watch full episodes of One Song on YouTuberight now. Just search for One Song podcast. Please like and subscribe.And if you made it this far, I think that means you like this podcast.So please don't forget to give us five stars, leave a review, and share it with someone you think would like it.It really helps keep the show going.Luxury help us in this thing.I'm producer, DJ, songwriter, and musicologist Luxury.
01:07:50And I'm actor-writer-director and sometimes DJ Diallo Riddle.And this is one song.We'll see you next time.This episode was produced by Melissa Duanyez.Our video editor is Casey Simonson.Our associate producer is Jeremy Bimbo.Mixing and Engineering by Eric Hicks, production supervision byRazak Boykin. The show is executive produced by Kevin Hart, Mike Stein, Brian Smiley,
01:08:12Eric Eddings, Eric Wyle, and Leslie Guam.
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