Rock the Casbah - Dec 3

Man, do I miss Joe Strummer and The Clash. Surely one of England's finest punk bands ever. This post may seem unusual but in fact its not. The Clash were a band that was way ahead of their time both in style and in lyrics. The song 'Rock the Casbah' was probably one of the first anti-jihad songs before we even knew what jihad really was. Look, if you're ahead of your time, don't expect this world to understand or congratulate you for your efforts. Being on the leading edge of social commentary will endear you to some and cause fear and loathing in others. I didn't understand The Clash at first either. Now I do and consider myself richer for listening to their music.

Johnny Cash
(lyrics provided by lyricsfreak.com)



Now the king told the boogie men
You have to let that raga drop
The oil down the desert way
Has been shakin 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

Chorus
The shareef dont like it
Rockin the casbah
Rock the casbah
The shareef dont like it
Rockin 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 shareef
Had cleared the square
They began to wail

Chorus

Now over at the temple
Oh! they really pack em in
The in crowd says "Cool!"
To dig this chanting thing
But as the wind changed direction
The temple band took five
The crowd caught a wiff
Of that crazy casbah jive

Chorus

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 shareef was
Chauffeured outta there
The jet pilots tuned to
The cockpit radio blare

As soon as the shareef was
Outta their hair
The jet pilots wailed

Chorus

He thinks its not kosher
Fundamentally he cant take it.
You know he really hates it.