Joe Strummer died today. Read it in the news. I felt a need to listen to London Calling, just to see why reading about his death tweaked my heartstrings. I’d read an interview Joe did for spanish magazine Zona de Obras about his Mescalero project, which I am not familiar with , and what came across was how grounded this man seemed to be.

I first learned about The Clash in the 80’s thanks to MTV and their hits, "Should I Stay, or Should I Go" and "Rock the Casbah". I actually went out and bought the 45’s. In the 90’s I bought a couple of their first albums on tape, and Combat Rock on CD. Incredibly, it wasn’t til feb 2000 that I bought London Calling and fell in love with it. Actually used the money I had in my pocket to go see my stepdaughter dancing in NY with the Washington Ballet. I happened to pass Tower Records on my way to Acme Underground to see a friends band playing and went in. They had The Clash catalog on sale, newly remastered.

London Calling was on my discman for 2 months non stop. The first song that totally captured my imagination was "Spanish Bombs". What a great song! Incredibly, this song led me to discover a poem by spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca titled "Romance De La Guardia Civil", a poem which I cherish. Dark, brooding menacing opening. The images conjured up in Spanish Bombs fed my illusions of what that epoch represented. Those pre-WW2 ideals.

Then there’s Monty Cliff in "The Right Profile". 42^nd st. Wired jaw. Again, I’m wandering the streets of NY, end of winter, The Clash on my discman... It’s a trip. What amazed me about this album was how raw and to the point it could be. Aggressive but at times sublime. "Guns of Brixton", "Death or Glory" (another fave), "Rudie Can’t fail". London Calling is an awesome opus. I can’t imagine what it must have been like to listen to this when it came out, and I feel unfortunate that at the time The Clash meant little to me. I was discovering Blondie, Saturday Night Fever, Grandmaster Flash and all the music that dominated NYC AM radio of the time.

Of course , I thought this magic I felt for London Calling would translate to other Clash albums. Unfortunately, my next choice was Sandinista. Needless to say , I still haven’t gotten into. Maybe I will one day.

I’ve been playing a cover of "Should I stay or should I go" since 88 or 89. It’s one of the first songs I ever learned to sing and play. I happen to love that track, and "Rock the Casbah". Of course, The Clash and Joe Strummer weren’t about that. I’m not the biggest Clash fan, although I’ve heard most of their work. London Calling aside of course. If you don’t own anything by the Clash, but London Calling, than you have the essential work. So I consider myself a fan in that respect.

Curiously, I was at a book store last saturday morning here in Santo Domingo, and I leafed through a spanish pocket biography of The Clash written in the mid-80’s. I know a little of the background story of the band and about their famous meeting with The Ramones in England from VH-1 specials. How that sparked their work. Raw idealism, pure energy, and a knack for taking musical risks. The Clash’s work is very diverse, inspired and inspiring. It always makes me think that bands like The Clash actually felt and lived what they wrote, something very rare in today’s music scene. My initial impulse to buy London Calling came from seeing the album on the essential’s list of many artists I respect. I don’t regret it.

Joe Strummer was 50. Which means that, like the Beatles, The Clash’s best work was a product of 20 something’s.

I guess now that Joe’s gone I’ll go out and get all of the Clash’s albums and his solo work and look back.

RIP Joe Strummer.

Leo Susana

Santo Domingo, RD

Dic. 23, 2002