Each day, Rich Terfry and Radio 2 Drive wraps up your day with music and stories about the interesting things going on in the world.
RICH'S PICK: "Runaway" by Nadine Shah
JUNK IN THE TRUNK:
Cats with colourful autumn leaf-hats:
Little dog, big stick:
Kitten vs. mirror. Mirror wins:
REAR-VIEW MIRROR:
Every week, Rich Terfry looks back in our Rear-view Mirror at a great song from the good ol’ days. This week, The Clash with "London Calling."
Joe Strummer of The Clash is credited with writing one of the most iconic songs in rock history. But at least some of the credit should have gone to his girlfriend.
Listen to Rich Terfry tell you the story behind "London Calling" by The Clash!
In the early days of The Clash, frontman Joe Strummer was a news junkie. Although most of the news from his native London and around the world was rather grim in the late 70s, he poured over the newspaper every morning. Strummer was deeply concerned about everything from the Cold War to the flooding of the river Thames. In an interview in 1988, Strummer said, "I read ten news reports a day calling down all variety of plagues on us."
After reading about the doom and gloom of the world one day, Strummer was in a taxi with his then-girlfriend, Gaby Salter. They were on their way home to the London neighborhood of World's End, appropriately enough. Strummer and Salter were talking about the day's headlines when Salter suggested Strummer write a song about all the issues on his mind. He did just that. The result was the song "London Calling". In keeping with the idea of issuing a news report, the title of the song was taken from the station identification the BBC used during WW2.
London Calling was the title track of The Clash's 1979 album and was the only song on the 19-song album released as a single. It was a modest hit and received mixed reviews from critics. The song's middling success is surprising considering that it is now regarded as a classic and one of the greatest songs in the history of popular music. In fact, Rolling Stone magazine ranked it #15 on their list of the greatest songs of all time.
Here's the song that serves as a report on the state of the world in 1979 - a classic that may never have been written if not for a suggestion from Joe Strummer's girlfriend. This is "London Calling" by The Clash on Rear View Mirror.
Here are some other great editions of Rear-view Mirror:
Phil Spector and the Ronnettes/Be My Baby
Os Mutantes/Ando Meio Desligado
Captain Beefheart/Yellow Brick Road
Elton John/Bennie and the Jets
Hank Williams/Long Gone Lonesome Blues
R.E.M./What's the Frequency, Kenneth?
Tom Waits/Jockey Full of Bourbon
Buffalo Springfield/For What It's Worth
Five Man Electrical Band/Signs
Band Aid/Do They Know It's Christmas
The Pursuit of Happiness/I'm An Adult Now
Big Joe Turner/Shake Rattle and Roll
Martha and the Muffins/Echo Beach
Wilson Pickett/In The Midnight Hour
The Band/The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
The Animals/House of the Rising Sun
Ian and Sylvia/Four Strong Winds
James Brown/Please Please Please
John Cougar Mellencamp, 'Pink Houses'
The Ramones/I Wanna Be Sedated
U2/I Still Have't Found What I'm Looking For
Janis Joplin/Me and Bobby McGee
Gordon Lightfoot "If You Could Read My Mind"
Simon and Garfunkel "The Sound of Silence"
Bill Haley and his Comets "Rock Around The Clock"
The Velvet Underground "I'm Waiting For The Man"
Johnny Cash "Folsom Prison Blues"
Bobby Fuller "I Fought The Law"
Joy Division "Love Will Tear Us Apart"
Booker T and the MGs "Green Onions"
Neil Young "Rockin' in the Free World"
The Left Banke "Walk Away Renee"
Lou Reed "Walk On The Wild Side"
The Clash "Should I Stay or Should I Go"
The Animals "We Gotta Get Out of this Place"
Dusty Springfield "Son of a Preacher Man"
Screamin' Jay Hawkins "I Put A Spell On You"
Mott The Hoople "All the Young Dudes"
New York Dolls "Personality Crisis"
George Jones "He Stopped Loving Her Today"
Bruce Springsteen "Born in the USA"
The Beatles "With A Little Help From My Friends"
James Brown, 'Hot (I Need to be loved loved loved)'
Ray Charles, 'I Don't Need No Doctor'
Curtis Mayfield, 'Freddy's Dead'
Gang Starr, 'Beyond Comprehension'
CCR, 'Have You Ever Seen the Rain'
Howlin' Wolf, 'Smokestack Lightning'
Bobby Womack, 'Across 110th Street'
Foggy Hogtown Boys, 'Man of Constant Sorrow'
Pink Floyd, 'Wish You Were Here'
Neil Young, 'Cortez The Killer'
Bob Dylan, 'Subterranean Homesick Blues'
Elvis Costello, 'Watching the Detectives'
Jimmy Cliff, 'The Harder They Come'
The Verve, 'Bittersweet Symphony'
Roberta Flack, 'Killing Me Softly with his Song'
Rolling Stones, 'Beast of Burden'
Glen Campbell, 'Wichita Lineman'
