michael lambe

Last Christmas John and Christina gave me “Redemption Song: The Definitive Biography of Joe Strummer.” and since then I’ve been slowly reading through it’s 646 pages while listening to my “Clash on Broadway” and Mescaleros CDs. Putting it all in context. Now I’ve finally finished it, and I want to recommend it. The book is a great tribute to the man, covering his early life, the days with the Clash, the “wilderness years” and his final comeback with the Mescaleros. The writer was a friend of Joe Strummer and the way the same reminiscences get repeated in different contexts makes it seem very much like a chat with one of your mates (over a few pints) would. The writer doesn’t shy away from Joe Strummer’s personal quirks, his depression or his alcoholism, but overarching all that is a sense of deep love and respect for the man. It seems he inspired these feelings in a lot of people.

Those who knew Joe Strummer… knew he wasn’t Saint Joe. No he was much more interesting than that. If you knew him you’d love him. But you’d be mad not to recognize he could be a piece of work.

I saw Joe Strummer play only once, in 2002 at The Liquid Room in Tokyo. I went with a couple of British work-mates who fondly remembered seeing the Clash back in the glory days of punk. I was really struck by how much of a hero Joe Strummer was to a lot of people at the gig, how much they loved him. And it was a great show. His band was really versatile (it seemed like they were changing instruments with every song), playing old stuff and new stuff, all different genres… And Joe Strummer’s performance was intense, his veins bulging, the sweat pouring off him, he was clearly loving it, and the crowd was loving it too. Two months later he died suddenly of a congenital heart defect that apparently could have taken his life at any time over the past 50 years. I was reall shocked back then. But how lucky I was to see that show. What a blessing it was to us that he lived so long. Here’s a nice video made by his friends.