Culture Wars

Geoffff

Just happened to tune into MAX while looking for something else and caught part of the Ultimate MAX 80's Rock Countdown.


At number 6 was this video from British punk group The Clash in 1982. Rock the Casbah.

1982. Thirty years ago. Do you think anyone would risk producing something like this now? Perhaps they got away with it because no one listened to the lyrics? I doubt it; but I'll reproduce them here anyway. People weren't so scared of Islamic extremism as they are now. In fact it hardly occurred to us back then that we had to take the intimidation seriously. Now we know that otherwise they will kill somebody.

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 cruisnin 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 say its 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.


I prefer the IDF version: