Last week marked the fifth anniversary of the Iraq War And Endless Occupation. I was reminded that when the U.S. invaded Iraq the first time, the first song played by Armed Forces Radio was “Rock The Casbah.” With that in mind let’s revisit the songs of those musical socialists, the Clash.

Petty Booka “Lost In The Supermarket”
Last Tuesday I went to Japan Nite at the Empty Bottle. Six Japanese bands, including one that featured four young women dressed like Japanese school girls playing power pop. It was a great night.

I went there to see Petty Booka and I picked up their new album Tokyo Bluegrass Honeys, which is where this song comes from. Petty and Booka autographed my CD but they don’t speak enough English to engage in conversation and I don’t speak Japanese. I just settled for letting them know I was very happy to see them. “Happy, happy!” was their response. They’re just adorable.

Dwight Yokam “Train In Vain”
Here we move from bluegrass to straight-up country and western. Clash songs are nothing if not flexible.

Mr. David Viner “Should I Stay Or Should I Go”
Even the Clash get the blues.

Nouvelle Vague “The Guns Of Brixton”
Yeah, Nouvelle Vague’s bossa nova arrangements of punk and New Wave songs are really just pure schtick. But they’re so good at it.

Ranchid Taha “Rock El Casbah”
This song is about the Iranian mullahs banning Western music from their country. Here’s some context for this song’s wartime popularity courtesy of Wikipedia:

The song became an unofficial anthem for U.S. forces during the first Gulf War, largely on the basis of the line about dropping “bombs between the minarets”. It was the first song played by Armed Forces Radio at the start of the war. This is ironic given the band’s well established left-wing stance.