“And I cornered him in the kitchen and I said to him ‘Joe do you think we’ll ever work together again’ and it was one of the most brilliant things he ever said to me ‘Don’t be stupid man’- It was one of those ambiguous Joeisms don’t be stupid man of course or don’t be stupid man it’s over”
One of Joe Strummer’s pals on “The Future is Unwritten
It is surprising that this year I have been able to learn new things, laugh at the little things in life, and also learn about human beings and seeing that we are not perfect, nor should we strive to do so. This past Friday afternoon, I decided to sit down in my room and watch The Future is Unwritten, which I thought was not going to be worth watching at first but it got more interesting as it went on. The film, is of course about Joe Strummer and his life and how he lived it. What I saw Joe as someone who was an artist in this documentary because they talked at length about he was great at doing paintings, writing song lyrics, being a leader in his own right, playing music and many other things. I found it surprising when I first thought about how the director, Julien Temple, used Joe Strummer’s radio broadcast “London Calling” to narrate some of the aspects of the film and how she used various interviews to document several of Joe’s triumphs and tragedies. I loved hearing about Joe would live by squatting at homes which were considered slums in those days and all the struggles he had to go through in order to actually document his life. I was surprised to hear about how much of a party man Joe was yet not many people would go out of their way to actually make sure everyone at the party had something to drink like Joe did at many of his parties. The most interesting part was hearing people talk about Joe and his life around a campfire which signifies that some of these people actually had a want to say great things about him. I liked seeing some of the clips of them playing pool and Joe talking about how people can’t hear the lyrics over the instruments but sometimes the vocal word is only supposed to add to it. I thought about what he said after he said that and I realized that in some songs by the Clash I can only understand the instruments and if I listen more I can hear what the songs means but in my honest opinion I believe that sometimes the instruments and the beat of the song are what makes the song. I was also intrigued by the many clips they showed of the Clash as they were starting to form as there former drummer Terry Chimes talked about how it was a headache to go to sessions because they would just argue about politics all day. Politics isn’t for everyone and as we descend into even deeper levels of conversation it is difficult to comprehend just how Joe, Mick, and Paul were engaged in politics. I laughed at Joe’s antics as he talked about how he would never steal money from a friend but he would steal his girlfriend. It just shows what kind of person he is through the film as he doesn’t want to steal someone’s earnings and prosperity but he wants to at least have a shot at a girl he has his eye on. The discussion of how Joe got together with their manager Bernie Rhodes was interesting because he seemed intent on building a foundation for music and he also seemed willing to have someone handling their business. He once again stated here that many people claim that London Calling was their finest work yet I still don’t believe that is their best album. The fact that they made it in three weeks was impressive because it had a variety of interesting subjects about poverty, war, politics, life, love, and many other subjects. I was surprised to see some notable names on the documentary such as Matt Dillion, explaining his love for the Clash, and also Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. I was surprised that Flea stated that Sandinista! was his favorite Clash album because not many people have heard of the album and many people discuss it as being somewhat of a letdown. Flea explained something that I recently found out and that is the fact that the much of the music on there signified growth and if you don’t show growth what is the point of making music anymore. After hearing that, I was in full agreement because I didn’t like it at first, in fact I hated it at first, but after giving it a few listens it is really the Clash trying to speak to their audience through instruments and the occasional lyrics to spark excitement. It was pretty funny to see how Joe would talk to the media and he would explain that this was their manager Bernie Rhodes and he was passed out (probably from so much alcohol and drugs). What got me during the whole documentary is the amount of power that Joe exhibited in his humor and in his words. I was taken aback by the fact that Joe was a deep thinker who likes to analyze the whole event as he states in a part of the documentary that he enjoys thinking and takes a liking to it. I was also surprised and shocked at the saying “Is It our destiny never to know what is true?” These are questions which may sound impossible to answer but they let us imagine what it is like to see life from someone who was living to show others how to live a good life. I was also intrigued by some of the stuff he said such as when he left a note for one of his friends, Gerry, and he said on the note on when he would be back from the desert and he circled one of the days which had had me chuckling because Joe stood and looked like an awesome person. One last thing that left me thinking was that Joe loved his kids and he showed a human compassion for people yet when he went behind closed doors he went back to being depressed. I learned from this that he wasn’t perfect and we have our shares of ups and downs which either help us change and we look at our mistakes and other people’s mistakes. Joe was human too and hearing about how the Clash broke up must have been killing him inside because he was never the same after that. It was the Clash itself which was the problem and as some of the people on the documentary even admit Joe did seem afraid of confrontation which sad to say made him in other people’s eyes a coward. Confrontation are sometimes needed and sometimes they are not but in my opinion what made them into one of the best bands is what killed them. When you are in a band you don’t want to ruin a good thing and even if you can’t stand one or two bandmates, you still have it in your heart to keep making contributions towards the music you are making. Joe was trying to keep the peace and I can understand that because sometimes the consequences are something we as human beings fear the most. After all, Joe Strummer was a human being like the rest of us and he wanted to keep his band together for as long as possible. The last saying by Joe Strummer is something that got me thinking and I hope that if some people read this they too will learn from an inspirational man in Joe Strummer:
“‘I’d like to say people can change anything they want to; and that means everything in the world. People are running about following their little tracks. I am one of them. But we’ve all gotta stop… just stop following our own little mouse trail. People can do anything; this is something that I’m beginning to learn. People are out there doing bad things to each other; it’s because they’ve been dehumanized. It’s time to take that humanity back into the centre of the ring and follow that for a time. Greed… it ain’t going anywhere! They should have that on a big billboard across Times Square. Think on that. Without people you’re nothing.”
Thanks for reading Happy Holidays!
Just Another Day... 