Lately I've been listening to The Clash more than usual. This is partially due to my showing Strummer: The Future is Unwritten to Tanja, and partially due to the fact that I've restricted the music on my ipod thanks to my playlist growing too large for it. Rudie Can't Fail is one of my favourite Clash songs, as it's cheerful, easy to sing along to, and has a happy vibe which befits sunny Australian afternoons.
Or so I thought.
I googled the lyrics on my way to the store because I wanted to send out a tweet with what was in my head on a loop and didn't want to get the words wrong. When I had a read all the way through, this is what I found.
The lyrics describe a young man being harassed by an Unnamed Someone for being, essentially, an angry young punk wasting his life drinking and generally wrecking up the place. The young man replies that he knows his life prevokes the Unnamed Someone by its very existence, but that he was born without knowledge of who he should be or his place in the world. In the bridge, (I think it's a bridge), the young man explains that he dislikes his lack of purpose, and went out looking for a Way to follow to fill his void. The world gave him back anger and pain initially, then instructions to "curb his temper" and "find a job in the paper", and go to church and "find a saviour", essentially curbing his questioning spirit, in order to make fewer waves. His response?
I reject your reality, and substitute my own.
I will be angry, and rude, and drink in the morning, and be provocative, until you give me a better answer. The track ends with the young man calling out random insults to the Unnamed Someone, calling out his pork pie hat and "chicken skin suit", which is both his outfit and his cowardice.
So yeah. Nice sunny happy song, right?
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