JOE STRUMMER: Streetcore (21 August 1952 - 22 December 2002)

John Graham Mellor (21 August 1952 – 22 December 2002), better known by his stage name Joe Strummer, was the co-founder, lyricist, rhythm guitarist and lead singer of the English punk rock band The Clash. He was also a member of The 101'ers, The Mescaleros and, temporarily, The Pogues.

Joe Strummer was born John Graham Mellor in Ankara, Turkey on 21 August 1952. His mother Anna Mackenzie, a crofter's daughter born and raised in Bonar Bridge in the Scottish Highlands, was a nurse. His father Ronald Mellor, was a British foreign-service diplomat born in Lucknow, India. Ronald Mellor had an Armenian maternal grandfather and a German Jewish paternal grandmother.


On 3 April 1976, a then-unknown band called the Sex Pistols opened for The 101'ers at a venue called "The Nashville Rooms" in London, and Strummer was impressed by them. Sometime after this show, Strummer was approached by Bernie Rhodes and Mick Jones.
Jones was from the band London SS and wanted Strummer to join as lead singer. Strummer agreed to join just as the group was breaking up, but he formed a new band with Jones, bassist Paul Simonon, drummer Terry Chimes and guitarist Keith Levene.
The band was named The Clash by Simonon and made their debut on 4 July 1976, opening for the Sex Pistols at The Black Swan (a.k.a. The Mucky Duck, now known as the Boardwalk Sheffield, England).



On 25 January 1977, the band signed with CBS Records and was now a three-piece after Levene was fired from the band and Chimes quit. Drummer Topper Headon later became the band's full-time drummer.

At the band's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Clash was said to be "considered one of the most overtly political, explosive and exciting bands in rock and roll history".

Their songs tackled social decay, unemployment, racism, police brutality, political and social repression, and militarism in detail. Strummer was involved with the Anti-Nazi League and Rock Against Racism campaigns.

He later also gave his support to the Rock Against the Rich series of concerts organised by the anarchist organisation Class War.

The Clash's London Calling album was voted best album of the 1980s by Rolling Stone magazine (although it was released in late 1979 in the UK; it was released in 1980 in the USA).

The Clash's influence can be clearly heard in countless subsequent rock bands.

Strummer died suddenly on 22 December 2002 in his home at Broomfield in Somerset, the victim of an undiagnosed congenital heart defect.

JOE STRUMMER AND THE MESCALAEROS

STREETCORE

1. Coma Girl (Shields/Slattery/Strummer) – 3:48
2. Get Down Moses (Bullen/Shields/Slattery/Stafford/Strummer) – 5:05
3. Long Shadow (Hormel/Strummer) – 3:34
4. Arms Aloft (Bullen/Shields/Slattery/Stafford/Strummer) – 3:47
5. Ramshackle Day Parade (Bullen/Shields/Slattery/Stafford/Strummer) – 4:02
6. Redemption Song (Bob Marley) – 3:28
7. All in a Day (Saber/Strummer) – 4:55
8. Burnin' Street (Shields/Slattery/Strummer) – 4:32
9. Midnight Jam (Bullen/Shields/Slattery/Stafford/Strummer) – 5:50
10. Silver and Gold (Dave Bartholomew, Antoine Domino, Robert Guidry) – 2:38

Bonus Traxs:

11. Cool'n'out
12. Global a go - go
13. Bhindi Bhagee
14. Mega bottle ride
15. Tony Adams
16. X - Ray Style
17. Techno D - Day

HERE

Get Down Moses Lyrics

Once I got to the mountain top, tell you what I could see,
Prairie full of lost souls running from the priests of iniquity
Where the hell was Elijah?
What do you do when the prophecy game was through?

We gotta take the walls of Jericho
Put your lips together and blow
To the very top
They say the truth crystallizes like jewels in the rock, in the rock

Get Down Moses - part another sea
Carve another tablet out of L.S.D.
Get Down Moses - out in Tennessee
Get Down Moses - down in the street
The blood is washing down all the gravel to our feet
Get Down Moses - down in the pit

Lying in a dream, cross battle field,
Crashing on a downtown strip,
Looking in the eyes of the diamonds and the spies and the hip
Who's sponsoring the crack ghetto?
Who's lecturing? Who's in the know and in the don't know?

You better take the walls of Jericho
Put your lips together and blow
Goin' to the very top
Where the truth crystallizes like jewels, in the rock, in the rock

Get Down Moses - from the eagle's aerie
We gotta to make new friends out of old enemies
Get Down Moses - back in Tennessee
Get Down Moses - down with the dreads
They got a lotta reasoning in a dreadhead
Get Down Moses - down in the street
Get Down Moses

Get Down Moses - part another sea
Carve another tablet out of L.S.D.
Get Down Moses - out in Tennessee
Get Down Moses - down in the street
The blood is washing down all the gravel to our feet
Get Down Moses - down in the pit
Get Down Moses

Get Down Moses

Get Down Moses
We need to eat, we gotta chew it over with our wisdom teeth
Get Down Moses

The Mescaleros

Joe Strummer – Vocals, Guitar, Vocal Samples
Martin Slattery – Synth, Guitar, Electric Guitar, Organ, Chamberlain Strings, Tambourine, Piano, Wurlitzer, Mellotron, Drums, Percussion, Tenor Saxophone, Backing Vocals
Scott Shields – Drums, Acoustic Guitar, Guitar, Bass, Percussion, Slide Guitar, Electric Guitar, Synth, Harmonica, Small Kit, Cowbell, Backing Vocals
Simon Stafford – Bass, Trombone, Guitar, Cello, Cornet, Backing Vocals
Luke Bullen – Drums, Congas, Loops
Tymon Dogg – Violin

Guest musicians

Josh Freese – Drums
Smokey Hormel – Guitar
Rick Rubin – Piano
Peter Stewart – Backing Vocals
Benmont Tench – Harmonium

Mega Bottle Ride Lyrics

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


This post is dedicate to two very best friends of mine
To George and to Tasos
Fuck you Punk you