I was listening to the last Clash album the other day, Cut The Crap. My God, never again. Luckily there was another Clash album. Of sorts. The second album by Mick Jones' Big Audio Dynamite, produced by and partly written with Joe Strummer. One of my favourite albums. Beyond The Pale is quite possibly the best song by Strummer/Jones and one I identified with, being about immigration bringing people to London and the troubles they face.
My dad and his family came to the UK from Mauritius in the early 60s, and a lot of my mates growing up were Jamaican or Turkish, the two main immigrant communities in our area. Beyond The Pale was something of an anthem for me and my best mate.
Big Audio Dynamite - V.Thirteen
Big Audio Dynamite - Limbo The Law
Big Audio Dynamite - Beyond The Pale
"If you don`t know where I come from
You better stear clear of my trail
From the dark side of London
And that`s way beyond the pale
My grandpa came from Russia
Stowed away hidden in some bales
And he took my grandma dancing
To the air raid sirens hail
Saint George used his sword
On the immigrant poor
`Cos he can`t kill no dragon
If I was in those shoes
I`d say Soweto`s gonna happen here too
I gotta get a message through
Tell everybody the news
And with the winter coming...
Crossing all the borders
Through the smoke of war and rain
Papers out of order
On a military train
A coat a bag a baby
Status: refugee
These are the people of my family
Don`t anybody know that
This city was made
Of immigrant blood and money
If I was in those shoes
A blackshirt with the playboy blues
I gotta get a message through
Tell everybody the news
And with the winter coming...
Now there`s a rocker in Vladivostok
Got every side by Jerry Lee
But for accidents of disorder
That guy could well be me
I want everybody to know this
I want everyone to hear
Immigration built the nation
You got a bloodclaat standing here
Saint George used his sword
On the immigrant poor
`Cos he can`t kill no dragon
If I was in those shoes
I`d say Soweto`s gonna happen here too
I gotta get a message through
Tell everybody the news
And with the winter coming...
Don`t anybody know that
The city was made
Of immigrant blood and money
If I was in those shoes
A blackshirt with the playboy blues
I gotta get a message through
Tell everybody the news
And with the winter coming.."
Monday, 27 October 2008
Big Audio Dynamite
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6 comments:
Nice post Simon.
I love when it gets personal, just makes it all that little bit more interesting.
Cheers.
Don't know this song or album - song reminds me of the 'Sandinista' period a little, things like 'Something About England' (what a cracking track that is too). Chin chin.
Those first two B.A.D albums were beaut's - I regularly fire up C'mon Every Beatbox
David: Thanks!
Davy H: it's the second BAD album, No10 Upping Street; PM's right the first two albums are beauts, the second though is what I think The Clash would have ended up sounding like. It's all in awe of the emerging hip hop stuff and American films, but all as English as The Kinks at the same time. Grand stuff for me. It all sounded like the future!!!
I've always prefered the 1st and The Globe myself. I recently made a mixed cd entitled "The Best Clash Album Never Recorded", which contained songs from BAD, Carbon-Silicon and tracks from Joe Strummer and The Mescaleros. And guess what? It worked and flowed wonderfully and is a far sight better than Cut The Crap. Ahhhh dreams can be a wonderful thing.
Haven't listened to the Mescaleros stuff for a while...might have to dig those out later...
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