Joe Strummer and Johnny Cash, dead but singing
I’m staging a bit of a one-man Joe Strummer comeback effort, after the last one (by Joe Strummer) fell apart when he went and died of a heart attack two years ago. This is part of my worldwide educational campaign.
Joe Strummer was the lead singer of the Clash. After they broke up he did one or two things but not much in the way of music until 1999 of all times, when he formed up The Mescaleros and started releasing a record a year until his out-of-nowhere death. It’s great music, listen up if you ever get the chance.
Johnny Cash is dead now too of course, as you could have guessed if you listened to his last album (also highly worth the time).
Strangely enough, just before the two of them waltzed off into the midnight darkness, their paths crossed and they recorded a song.
One of my favourite Joe Strummer tracks is “Long Shadow”. I didn’t know this, but apparently he wrote it as a tribute to Johnny Cash when he found out the Man in Black would be coming by his friend’s studio to do some recording. I found this on Joe Strummer’s official website:
According to Rubin, Joe was “excited but the quietest I’ve ever seen him. He looked like a student in school.” When Strummer presented Johnny and Rick with the lyrics to Long Shadow, they were written on a pizza box, with extra verses on a paper towel and roll of insulation tape. To vibe himself up for his vocal takes, he would lock himself in his car outside the studio door and listen to his cumbia tape over and over again. Naturally, Joe insisted that Rubin record his stuff in the garage on a small tape recorder, rather than in the studio itself. “That was Joe: everything he did was unique and special.”
As part of the recording sessions Joe and Johnny cut a version of Redemption Song. This has just been released as part of ‘Cash Unearthed’, the five album collection of rare Cash music. By the end of the sessions, Cash and Strummer were fast friends: just before his tragic death Johnny told MOJO, “Joe was a nice man, a good man, and a good musician.
It’s striking that Joe comes across as the callow youth in that anecdote, considering he was 50 at the time, and approaching the end. I also think it’s interesting that on the front page of his website it says Make sure you’re signed up to our mailing list, so you don’t miss out on any of the very latest news. They must have a lot of faith in reincarnation.
You can download a lowish quality mp3 of the Cash/Strummer cover of Marley’s classic redemption song from Strummer’s site. Here’s the link: