1,394,659 plays (276,726 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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sneggyuser wrote:
A classic!
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Tarkella wrote:
where´s the magnificen seven??? T_T
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SuperNautica wrote:
timeless. rocks Like A MotherFucker.
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wantaway wrote:
first golf war?
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gungh0 wrote:
Cant beat The Clash, best group.
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Marquis-manson wrote:
Impressive Video Cip... Post-Punk OverlOaded!!!
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MetulHead wrote:
I don't know about put on bombs, whatever that is even supposed to mean... but it was like the US anthem during the Gulf War. Like Break on Through and Vietnam
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kingkeir wrote:
didnt rock the casbah get used by u.s. military and was put on bombs during first golf war which made strummer upset?
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OLDCHAVYCAR2RED wrote:
like it
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frikenfroken wrote:
Love it... but whenever the third verse comes around, I think my phone is ringing. [2] haha
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DeadlockVictim wrote:
Love it... but whenever the third verse comes around, I think my phone is ringing.
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rymdvarelse wrote:
that ring tone is kickass.
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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!
The Clash
Rock the Casbah
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