This week's tune came from the much-anticipated follow-up album to The Clash's stunning masterpiece, London Calling. It was a three-record set, sprawling and experimental and adventurous...and it took a while to grow on me. But once it did, holy shit, what a record. Always reminded me (not musically, just in its disparate songs) of The Beatles' unwieldy but brilliant White Album (and Lord have mercy would The Clash have ripped my heart out of my chest for that comparison). And in its disparity, it yielded one of their more pop oriented songs, with a tongue-in-cheek nod to Motown....
I wrote about The Clash in Volume CCXXX, and as Joe Strummer hasn't risen from the dead (not from lack of trying, I'm sure), and Mick Jones, Paul Simonon, and Topper Headon have repeatedly said they have no desire to reunite or go on an oldies tour (like The Clash have anything that could remotely be called an oldie), I'll just leave it at the very good bio (if I do say so myself) of "The only band that matters" that I wrote for their first post.
"Hitsville U.K." was the second single released from the band's revolutionary named three LP set, Sandinista! (exclamation point theirs, not mine--the Sandinistas were a revolutionary left-wing Nicaraguan political group). The single hit #56 in the U.K. but did not chart in America. The album reached #19 in Great Britain and #24 here in the States. It was also ranked at #323 on Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All-Time."
Fun Fact: Despite the fact that Joe Strummer sang the vast majority of their songs, somehow I've managed to pick two that were sung by Mick Jones (though this week he is ably supported by his then girlfriend Ellen Foley).
Every now and again, a song has a small but indelible moment. In "Hitsville U.K.," it's about halfway through right before the instrumental break when Jones says (with his English accent) "So 'it it." Can't ever listen to the song without waiting for that two second blip--it was one of the first things I noticed about the song when I first heard it some forty-three years ago. The song, its title a nod to Motown's nickname "Hitsville U.S.A.," is a paean to the then burgeoning indie music scene in Great Britain, and how it had opened up the music business for everyday boys and girls. It features nice vocal play between Foley and Jones, some funky ass bass work from Simonon, and is, much like my last post on The Clash, much more pop oriented than their usual fare. Wonder why I'd like those two so much....
Lyric Sheet: (Remember)/They say true talent will always emerge in time/When lightning hits Small Wonder/It's Fast Rough Factory time..."
Enjoy:
Republicans = Nazis
Peace,
emaycee
No comments:
Post a Comment