1,350,081 plays (267,390 listeners)
According to the Rock The Casbah Songfacts, Clash Drummer Topper Headon wrote the music and the original lyrics. Vocalist Joe Strummer then decided to take Headon’s lyrics in a different direction, to tell the story of an Arab ruler (the Shereef) who hates music, but is defied by the citizens . According to former Clash co-manager Kosmo Vinyl, Headon’s original words were a filthy ode to his girlfriend. Vinyl recalled to Rolling Stone: “He had really pornographic lyrics for it if I remember correctly. Very, very pornographic lyrics.” Strummer’s inspiration for re-working the song came from the Clash’s other manager, Bernie Rhodes, who asked the band, “Does everything have to be as long as a raga?” after a particularly long take of the track “Sean Flynn.” Strummer told Rolling Stone shortly before he died in 2002: “I got back to the hotel that night and wrote on a typewriter, ‘The King told the boogie men You gotta get that raga drop.’ I looked at it and for some reason I started to think about what someone had told me earlier, that you get lashed for owning a disco album in Iran.”
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Shouts
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anca2004 wrote:
!!!
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the_golas wrote:
shareef dont like it!
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snakeyjake wrote:
"conundrum"
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tom_dissonance wrote:
"finest indie rock :) " >>> not indie rock in the slightest
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Johnnycakez0rz wrote:
rock the catbox?? I remember the lyrics were quite the conundrum when I was a child
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dirodrigues wrote:
Old, but gold.
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clokc wrote:
lol... nice ..
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paynexkiller wrote:
Tune!
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LQQKIE wrote:
Great song... part of Retro Fridays member group radio
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punkpoet1961 wrote:
oh hell yeah...needed to hear this today
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carlsbadgirl wrote:
'The crowd caught a wiff... of that craaazzzyyy casbar jiiiiiiiiiiiiiveeeeeeeeeeeee'! Love it!! :)
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sLumd0g wrote:
Listen to Rachid Taha's version, too!
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urbanrockergirl wrote:
LOL @ Music_Walrus, that made my day! [3]
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chumbanomirchi wrote:
I really like the story behind the music! "Sharif don't like it. Rock the Casbah!"
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hillsmeister wrote:
I love it...make me happy all around!
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Writtenjustice wrote:
This song has the sexiest Bass ever. Anyone who disagrees is a damned liar.
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Fraenzine wrote:
finest indie rock :)
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draculahair wrote:
my fav clash song.
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VincentEga wrote:
fundamentally connected !
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Beefheart- wrote:
http://rusandnoodle.co.uk/flash/taskbah.swf
The Clash
Rock the Casbah
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