Those who are fans of "The Only Band That Mattered" know that Joe Strummer, guitar player and vocalist for The Clash, had a propensity to gum up the vocals when he assumed lead vocals on some of the band's songs. You need only listen to "(White Man) in Hammersmith Palais" or "London's Burning" to hear what I mean. On the band's compilation album, The Story of the Clash, Vol. 1, there is a short excerpt of an interview with Strummer and the rest of the band in which Strummer discussed his singing style. Strummer stated that during a studio session, one of the producers urged him to enunciate more carefully the words to "White Riot." Strummer flippantly responded that he didn't want to sound like Matt Monro (who was essentially the English version of Frank Sinatra) and proceeded with his famous mouth-full-of-mashed-potatoes singing style.So it wasn't surprising that when I heard the band's 1982 hit, "Rock the Casbah," for the first time, I couldn't determine what Strummer was singing. The song came out when I was a sophomore in high school, and I remember sitting on the bus with several members of the JV basketball team when the song came on the bus radio. One of the team members, who was sitting next to me, starting singing, "Rock the gas pump," during the chorus. So for the next month or so, I thought the song was called "Rock the Gas Pump" until a radio deejay finally announced the title of the song.
Last week, I noticed that a recent advertisement from Cingular humorously plays up this lyrical confusion, with the variations this time being "Rock the cashbox" and "Stop the catbox." If you're still not clear on what Joe Strummer was singing, here are the lyrics:
Now the king told the boogie men
"You have to let that raga drop"
The oil down the desert way
Has been shaken to the top
The sheik, he drove his Cadillac
He went a-cruisin' down the ville
The muezzin was a-standing
On the radiator grille
Sharif he don't like it
Rock the casbah
Rock the casbah
Sharif he don't like it
Rock the casbah
Rock the casbah
By order of the prophet
We ban that boogie sound
Degenerate the faithful
With that crazy casbah sound
But the Bedouin, they brought out the electric camel drum
The local guitar picker got his guitar picking thumb
As soon as the sharif cleared the square
They began to wail
Sharif he don't like it
Rock the casbah
Rock the casbah
Sharif he don't like it
Rock the casbah
Rock the casbah
Now over at the temple
Oh, they really pack 'em in
The in crowd say it's cool
To dig this chanting thing
But as the wind changed direction
And the temple band took five
The crowd caught a whiff
Of that crazy casbah jive
Sharif he don't like it
Rock the casbah
Rock the casbah
Sharif he don't like it
Rock the casbah
Rock the casbah
The king called up his jet fighters
He said, you better earn your pay
Drop your bombs between the minarets
Down the casbah way
As soon as the sharif was chauffeured outta there
The jet pilots tuned to the cockpit radio blare
As soon as the sharif was outta their hair
The jet pilots wailed
Sharif don't like it
Rock the casbah
Rock the casbah
Sharif don't like it
Rock the casbah
Rock the casbah
Sharif don't like it (he thinks it's not kosher)
Rock the casbah
Rock the casbah
Sharif don't like it (fundamentally he can't take it)
Rock the casbah
Rock the casbah
Sharif don't like it (you know he really hates it)
Rock the casbah
Rock the casbah
Sharif don't like it (he really really hates it)
Rockin' the casbah...
If you're trying to make sense of the lyrics, you're not alone. In a nutshell, Strummer, who wrote the lyrics, was inspired to write the song by the ban on pop music in Iran instituted by Ayatollah Khomeini in the wake of the 1979 Iranian Revolution (which has since been lifted, although Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad banned "Western music" from state radio and television in 2005). Here's a short glossary of some of the words used in the song:
muezzin - The person at a mosque who leads the call to prayer.
sharif - An Arab leader or ruler.
casbah - A walled citadel. Commonly used to refer to the citadel of Algiers.
minaret - A spire, usually attached to a mosque.
"Rock the Casbah" video.
The history behind the song, as told by the Minneapolis/St. Paul City Pages.
Other sources:
4 comments:
I hope lyrics in focus becomes a regular feature. I quite enjoyed this.
I always laugh at that cingular commercial, especially since the title of the song would likely show up on the phone. Silly kids.
Glad you liked it, Scot. And yes, lyrics will be a regular feature.
Jim, I have wondered what that song meant for 20 years. The video only confused me.
Actually, this song was written by Rachid Taja, from Algeria, and the clash nicked the music and some of the lyrics from Taja. Nothing to do with Iran, it was anti establishment for the French Domination of Algeria man...
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