Rock The Casbah

[beso]

Anyone remember "Rock the Casbah" by The Clash.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_the_Casbah

Listen to the track. There is no way the word in the chorus is "rock".

Is it offensive? Was it offensive in 1982 when it was released?

Lyrics

Now the king told the boogie men
You have to let that raga drop
The oil down the desert way
Has been shakin' to the top
The sheik he drove his Cadillac
He went a-cruisin' down the ville
The muezzin was a' standing
On the radiator grille

CHORUS:
Sharia don't like it
Rockin' the Casbah
Rock the Casbah
Sharia don't like it
Rockin' the Casbah
Rock the Casbah

By order of the prophet
We ban that boogie sound
Degenerate the faithful
With that crazy Casbah sound
But the Bedouin they brought out
The electric kettel drum
The local guitar picker
Got his guitar picking thumb
As soon as the Sharia
Had cleared the square
They began to wail

CHORUS

Now over at the temple
Oh! They really pack 'em in
The in crowd say it's cool
To dig this chanting thing
But as the wind changed direction
And the temple band took five
The crowd caught a whiff
Of that crazy Casbah jive

CHORUS

The king called up his jet fighters
He said you better earn your pay
Drop your bombs between the minarets
Down the Casbah way

As soon as the Sharia was
Chauffeured outta there
The jet pilots tuned to
The cockpit radio blare

As soon as the Sharia was
Outta their hair
The jet pilots wailed

CHORUS

(Spoken throughout the last chorus):
He thinks it's not kosher
Fundamentally he can't take it
You know he really hates it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15FfWj11uys

[boxtops]

I don't think anyone saw it as offensive in 1982, but standards and sensitivities were very different then.

[pixie373]

I also thought some of the lyrics in "Oliver's Army" are quite dodgy. Unless I'm mishearing it. But they play it regularly on the radio.

[Quizmonkey]

It's not dodgy when the writer is using the word(s) for political, ideological reasons. I think in previous times station heads etc. never listened to lyrics. Look at Lou Reed's 'Walk on the Wild Side' for example.

[beso]

Our band regularly covers Oliver's Army. What part of the lyrics is dodgy?

BTW Joe Strummer from The Clash seems an interesting guy. Born in Turkey, much of his childhood in Cairo. Would explain why he was so far ahead of the mood on Islam.

[delboy3]

"All it takes's one itchy trigger
One more wiggle, one less white n**ger"
(From 'Oliver's Army')
Following on from Pixie's comment

[dr b]

"One more widow", even.

[pixie373]

Yes, thanks, delboy. That's the bit i was thinking of.

[beso]

Oh yeah. Hadn't really thought about it despite having sung it a hundred times.

[factor-fiction]

As someone who bought quite a few Clash records between White Riot and Should I Stay Or Should I Go, I read this thread with interest. I realised I'd never paid much attention to the lyrics - I'm sure in 1982 I'd have had no idea what Sharia meant.

But I am puzzled by the first main statement made in the question which says says:
"Listen to the track. There is no way the word in the chorus is "rock". "

I listened again with interest to see whether they had actually used an expletive. But no- it sounds to me as if they clearly sing the words 'rock the Casbah'.

[pixie373]

Sounds like "rock" to me, too

[beso]

Maybe it is a local pronunciation thing.

To my Australian ear (and my wife's) it sounds much more like F... the Casbah.

We also hear F...er Face on lady Gaga's Poker Face.

[Zacs-Master]

Pixie
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=white%20nigger

[pixie373]

Thank you, zacs. I didn't know what it meant. Still surprised they will play it on the radio, when they silence out swear words in other songs.

[tonyav]

But they aren't swear words, pixie.

[pixie373]

No, they're not, tony. I believed- although wrongly, perhaps- that you couldn't use the n word on TV and that radio would have the same censorship.

[tonyav]

Yes, I can understand that, pixie.

[pixie373]

I do actually like the song. It just never fails to surprise me slightly that it does broadcast every word.

[tonyav]

It is a great song, I remember when I first heard it I wondered if I had heard it correctly !.