Artist: Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros Album: Global A Go-Go {2001}

Lord, there goes Johnny Appleseed
He might pass by in the hour of need
There's a lot of souls
Ain't drinking from no well locked in a factory

Hey - look there goes
Hey - look there goes
If you're after getting the honey - hey
Then you don't go killing all the bees

Lord, there goes Martin Luther King
Notice how the door closes when the chimes of freedom ring
I hear what you're saying, I hear what he's saying
Is what was true down along the soul

Hey - I hear what you're saying
Hey - I hear what he's saying
If you're after getting the honey - hey
Then you don't go killing all the bees

What the people are saying
And we know every road - go, go
What the people are saying
There ain't no berries on the trees

Let the summertime sun
Fall on the apple - fall on the apple

Lord, there goes a Buick forty-nine
Black sheep of the angels riding, riding down the line
We think there is a soul, we don't know
That soul is hard to find

Hey - down along the road
Hey - down along the road
If you're after getting the honey
Then you don't go killing all the bees

Hey - it's what the people are saying
It's what the people are saying
Hey - there ain't no berries on the trees
Hey - that's what the people are saying, no berries on the trees
You're checking out the honey, baby
You had to go killin' all the bees

Late news breaking this just in
Late news breaking this just in
Yeah, coolin' out
Yeah, coolin' out
Yeah, coolin' out

God sure baked a lot of fruitcake, baby
When Adam met the Eden lady
They're walking the streets and they're driving cars
They're all over the country and they're running ours
They're walking on the wounded who won the war
What's the matter people - was it worth fighting for
Coolin' out

Fix that gauge or you run out of gas
A cool operator can make it last
Say, from here to Indiana and across Illinois
We're rockin the girls and a-boppin' on the boys
And I spot a little bitty on a little bam-bam
That pill poppers hopping on a city bound tram

The stars go in and the stars go out
And punk rock what it's all about
And even when you're ch-ch-ch-ch-chillin' out
You're wondering what's it all about
Coolin' out, coolin' out, coolin' out

At the G7 summit, well we've got some 25
And we're putting it into the gin supply
We want a satellite crashing outta the skies
And a firework display by ballistic missiles
I got a sneeky feeling that the poker's getting hot
Cos twice times bitten and it's third time shot, third time shot

Oh, the stars go in and the stars go out
And punk rock what it's all about
And even when you're ch-ch-ch-ch-chillin' out
You're wondering what's it all about
Coolin'
What's it all about
Let somebody else figure it out

What's it all about, what's it all about
The stars go in and the stars go out
Punk rock what it's all about
And even when you're ch-ch-ch-ch-chillin' out
Wondering what's it all about, what's it all about
What's it all about

World service bulletin from the nightshift D.J.
To all wavebands on earth
Reconnoitre on the killahertz

This tune is going out to Marconi
To all corners of the globe
There ain't no hut in the Serengeti
Where my wavelengths do not probe
If a rocket went to Saturn
We sure hope a D.J. is on board
For some anti-gravity mixing
With two dub plates of U-Roy

Throwdown Stray Cat strut in Bulawayo - hey, Bulawayo
Buddy Rich in Burundi
Quadrophenia in Armenia
Armenia City In The Sky
Big Youth booming in Djkarta
Nina Simone over Sierra Leone
Wild sound of Joujouka in Nevada - hey, Joujouka
Everywhere, everywhere Bob's bringing it all back home

Yeah, I let the boogie-woogie rumble
In the back of Bangalore
I get complaints from Bondi Beach
What, no longboard surf hardcore
Oh, send the rock steady out to Freddy
Who juggles plates in Tsing Tao City

Cos tonight Bo Diddley's in Finland Station - hey, Bo Diddley
Sun Ra's in Omaha
The Skatalites in New York City - hey, Skatalites
The Stooges rule over Habana
The Bhundu Boys rock Acapulco - hey, hey Bhundu Boys
Good hip hop in Islamabad
Ali Farke Toure's in Oaxaca - hey, Farke Toure
And Baaba Maal's all over Stalingrad

Yeah, while some are waking, some are sleeping
From Kamchatka to the Gabon
Above the tradewind, wingtips beating
We calling out for Ronnie and da-do Ron, Ron, Ron

We call the Cumbria to tumble
From the peak of the Himalayas
We send the funk into the jungle
To the last outpost of the bass player

Well, I was walking down the High Road
And this guy stops me
He'd just got in from New Zealand
And he was looking for mushy peas
I said, no, we hadn't really got 'em round here
I said, but we do got

Balti, Bhindi, strictly Hindi
Dall, Halal and I'm walking down the road
We got rocksoul, okra, bombay duck-ra
Shrimp beansprout, comes with it or without - with it or without
Bagels soft or simply harder
Exotic avocado or toxic empenada
We got akee, lassi, Somali waccy baccy
I'm sure back home you know what tikka's all about - what tikka's all about

Welcome stranger to the humble neighborhoods
You can get inspiration along the highroad

Hommus, cous cous in the jus of octopus
Pastrami and salami and lasagne on the go
Welcome stranger, there's no danger
Welcome to this humble neighborhood

There's Balti, Bhindi, strictly Hindi
Dall, Halal and I'm walking down the road
Rocksoul, okra, bombay duck-ra
Shrimp beansprout, comes with it or without

So anyway, I told him I was in a band
He said, "Oh yeah, oh yeah - what's your music like?"
I said, "It's um, um, well, it's kinda like
You know, it's got a bit of, um, you know."

Ragga, Bhangra, two-step Tanga
Mini-cab radio, music on the go
Um, surfbeat, backbeat, frontbeat, backseat
There's a bunch of players and they're really letting go
We got, Brit pop, hip hop, rockabilly, Lindy hop
Gaelic heavy metal fans fighting in the road
Ah, Sunday boozers for chewing gum users
They got a crazy D.J. and she's really letting go

Oh, welcome stranger
Welcome stranger to the humble neighborhoods

Well, I say, there's plenty of places to eat round here
He say, "Oh yeah, I'm pretty choosy."

You got
Balti, Bhindi, strictly Hindi
Dall, Halal, walking down the road
Rocksoul, okra, bombay duck-ra
Shrimp beansprout, comes with it or without
Let's check it out

Welcome stranger to the humble neighborhoods, neighborhoods
Check out all that

Por-da-sol, por-da-sol
Walking down the highroad

Time for gamma

It's nine o'clock in the Chinese take-away
And I blame the effect on the gamma ray, the gamma ray
Well, losing out on mah jong
I set my watch to Hong Kong
I blame it all on the gamma ray
I hear the triad has crossed the Tong
In Indianapolis, home of the gamma ray
The deadly gamma ray, the deadly gamma ray

And there ain't no guest list tonight at the Memorial Hall
Cher got in cos she's so thin
And even Evil Knievel tried to wheedle
No - the deadly gamma ray, the gamma ray
I blame it all on the gamma ray
Know why, you know why - the gamma ray

I hear there's entry only to those with green hair
In the next World's Fair because of the gamma ray
Yeah, I hear there's panic buying of shampoo
And those little pots of goo
You know why, you know why all because of the gamma ray

When Alan McGhee went to Dundee
He caused all the rock groups to flee
Yeah, I read it in the N.M.E.
It was the gamma ray

The Chief Brigadier's head began to swell
Firing off depleted uranium shells
He bombarded everything pretty well
Except for the gamma ray
Blow it all away

And then the gamma ray seemed to say
If you carry twelve margaritas on a tray
You cannot be touched in anyway
By the benign, yet malevolent
Mark two chrome, gamma, gamma, gamma, gamma, gamma, gamma, gamma, gamma ray
Gamma, gamma, gamma, gamma ray

So, let's go back to Indianapolis, oh, Indianapolis,
Yeah, Indianapolis, Indianapolis
Let's go back to Indianapolis
Because it's the home of the gamma ray

Sure, I'm gettin' on a train right now
I'm outta here

I took a tram into the fourth dimension
Cos I had the blues, the blues of throwing it all away
Just gimme a Tequila, I'll slam it the 4-D way
And when I got there you know it had certain similarities

Like no smoking anywhere
And hiding in the khazi to avoid paying the fare
4-D Tequila anyone
And dont think we didn't dance to records by the Fifth Dimension
In the discosphere like Kublai Khan, Kublai Khan

And it was pretty goddam hazardous
Out on the Illminster by-pass, out on the Illminster by-pass
Out on the Illminster by-pass - out on the Illminster by-pass
Aqua-planing to the theme park
We took a ride called the Banchoff-Klein mega bottle ride
Well, how we spewed inside, back and forth
In time, mathmatics and pride, inside

We've gone Balkan - we've gone Balkan anyway
It absolutely had to happen to someone today
Yeah, there's no smoking anywhere - throw it all away
Yeah, we've gone Balkan anyway - you can get rid of the blues this way
Yeah, that's how we fix the blues today
It absolutely had to happen to someone today
Yeah, there's no smoking anywhere - throw it all away
Yeah, we've gone Balkan anyway - you can get rid of the blues this way
Yeah, that's how we fix the blues today - throw it all away
And its time to be doing something good


Cut it

Possible chance, storm, possible chance, gale

Welcome to Britain in the third Millenium
This is the diary of a Macedonian, Macedonian

He went to Britain in the back of a lorry
"Don't worry, don't worry, don't hurry."
Said the man with the plan
He said, "If you really wanna go - you'll get there in the end."
If you really wanna go - alive or dead my friend
Well, you can levitate you know - long as the money's good you're in
Or if you really wanna go - you'll get there in the end

He had the wooly scarf of Shaktar Donetsk
Nay, the banner of freedom wrung around his neck
Inherited from his father
One of the Ukraine exiles of Yugoslavia
He said, "You'll get there in the end."
If you really wanna go - alive or dead my friend
Well, you can levitate you know - long as the money's good you're in
Or if you really wanna go - you'll get there in the end

Yo-oh, he got a little postcard
Yo-oh, everybody got a dream
Yo-oh, he always got it with him
Yo-oh, it's of a nineteen twenty five
Red telephone box with Wembley in the background
Them twin tower vandal-aye

Will he find a two bar heater
Waiting for him in two rooms
Above the cut rate telephone anywhere place
He got off the train in Shadwell, disappeared without trace
He said, "You'll get there in the end."
If you really wanna go - alive or dead my friend
Well, you can levitate you know - long as the money's good you're in
Or if you really wanna go - you'll get there in the end

Oiling the grinding city underside
Treating each flake of rust all over Humberside
You know a blocked generator could cut power to the city system
Well - you'll get there in the end
Alive or dead my friend
You'll get there in the end
Alive or dead my friend
If you really wanna go - you'll get there in the end
If you really wanna go - alive or dead my friend
If you really wanna go - you'll get there in the end
If you really wanna go - alive or dead my friend
If you really wanna go - you'll get there in the end
If you really wanna go - alive or dead my friend
If you really wanna go - long as the money's good you're in
If you really wanna go - you'll get there in the end

There's something there

I was patrolling a Pachinko
Nude noodle model parlor in the Nefarious zone
Hanging out with insects under ducting
The C.I.A was on the phone
Well, such is life

Latino caribo, mondo bongo
The flower looks good in your hair
Latino caribo, mondo bongo
Nobody said it was fair, oh

Latino caribo, mondo bongo
The flower looks good in your hair
Latino caribo, mondo bongo
Nobody said it was fair

Latino caribo, mondo bongo
The flower looks good in your hair
Latino caribo, mondo bongo
Nobody said it was fair

For the Zapatistas I'll rob my sisters
Of all the curtain and lace

Down at the bauxite mine
You get your own uniform
Have lunchtimes off
Take a monorail to your home

Checkmate, baby
God bless us and our home
Where ever we roam
Now take us home, flaquito

Latino caribo, mondo bongo
The flower looks good in your hair
Latino caribo, mondo bongo
Nobody said it was fair
Latino caribo, mondo bongo
The flower looks good in your hair
Latino caribo, mondo bongo
Nobody said it was fair

It was me, drove off the off ramp
Of the sweetheart highway
It was me, I admit I had the map
This is what I gotta say

We're in Bummed Out City
That's what the sign says
I plead your mercy and your pity
Is not life a mirror maze

The hardware store is never open
Until the quarter of the moon
Let's leave town before the rodeo
Rides in with the typhoon

We're in Bummed Out City
So come on, let's operate
Let's open a disc brake parlor
No, it never is too late
Before you know it you'll be in Bummed Out City
In a cloud of dust and rust
And all the dogs biting on your exhaust pipe
Even they gonna show you trust

And it was me, drove off the off ramp
Of the sweetheart highway
It was me, I admit I had the map
This is what I gotta say

We're in Bummed Out City
That's what the sign says
I plead your mercy and your pity
Is not life a mirror maze

We're in Bummed Out City
That's what the sign says
I plead your mercy and your pity
Is not life a mirror maze

We're in Bummed Out City
That's what the sign says
I plead your mercy and your pity
Is not life a mirror maze

We're in Bummed Out City
I plead your mercy and your pity
Is not life a mirror maze

One, two, one - line check
One, one


We built the buildings of the new city
Out of the broken down peoples
And we built the new languages
Out of courtesy and velocity
Somebody got to have propulsion
Push the envelope

Extra, extra - read all about it
Common sense makes a comeback
Extra, extra - late in the distant city
There are seventeen burned out cars in the valley
And, "Boom," goes the refinery
Where do nomads go when the Dow Jones falls too low
Crazy world
Lee says forty nine

We tried to get across the river
Ringo, Bobo, el numero - holy cow
At Leek town hall tonight
Get me a taxi, godamn
Take me to a reggae city

I'm always reporting for you
In the dangerous bureau
This is McNally, badge forty-nine, calling in
I'm with Mike Flynn
Taxi, godamn
Ringo

The minstrel boy to the war has gone
In the ranks of death you'll find him
Father's sword he has girded on
His wild harp slung behind him

War

Bonzai, bonzai

Land of song
All the world betrays thee
A sword at least

Land of song

This is about Pete Townshend
Destruction overhead

Sometimes you try to read things into the culture