Today's Best Song Ever: "(White Man) in Hammersmith Palais" -- The Clash



The Clash is surely one of the best, and most important, bands of the rock'n'roll era. And this tune is the one that demonstrated they were up to something special.

The band could play stripped down, aggressive punk with the best of 'em. But here--after a rocking opening--they slip into a credible reggae groove and get thoughtful without becoming boring or pretentious.

In the tune, singer/writer Joe Strummer recounts his experiences at a reggae show in venue named in the tune's title. It was an awakening, as he explained in 1991:

"All over the world people are oppressed and in London there were the dreads and there were the punks, and we had an alliance. England is a very repressive country... Immigrants were treated badly... So these people had a sense of pride and dignity, and when we went into their concerts, where we should have had the grace to have left them alone... And they didn't jump us, they didn't stomp us, they didn't beat the seven shades of you-know-what out of us... They understood that maybe we needed a drop of this roots culture. And 'White Man in Hammersmith Palais' is a song that was going through my mind while I was standing in the middle of the Hammersmith Palais...in a sea of thousands of rastas and dreads and natty rebels. That song was trying to say something realistic."

The lyrics address Strummer's concern with cultural friction, with prejudice and the oppressiveness of white culture.

The Clash continued to include reggae rhythms in their music everafter without it ever seeming they were coopting someone else's culture. They paid respect to it, showed love for it, found common ground with it.

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More on the Clash and reggae.

Availability:
The Clash U.S. version

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