One of those top nights of the year

And I see everyone’s here

Oh, took me a long time to get it

But when its taken time

Think and don’t forget it

Following up on last week’s discussion about Billy Bragg’s evolving views on LGBTQ+ rights, I relate a disturbing interaction I had on Twitter after posting last week’s show in which a random stranger reacted to my defending the rights of trans and nonbinary people in a particularly offensive way. That interaction got me thinking about how Joe Strummer was never afraid to evolve and grow and challenge his own understanding of the world. The song “Diggin’ the New” really embraces this — not only Joe’s drive to understand the world around him, but his embrace of trans rights long before most artists did.

Joe was always ahead of his time. He was ahead of where a good many people are today, even twenty years after his untimely death.

And because America experienced yet another school shooting this past week, this time at Michigan State University, I reflect on the Clash’s, and particularly Joe Strummer’s, running commentary on guns and violence. Although “The  Guns of Brixton” may seem to express pro-gun sentiment, Joe’s and the band’s views on guns and violence were in reality quite different. From their cover of “Police and Thieves” to “Tommy Gun,” an explicitly anti-violence anthem, to Joe’s “Burning Streets”/“London is Burning” track first recorded with the Mescaleros and later reworked and re-released on Joe Strummer 001, their position on gun violence was far more humane and nuanced than the folks who seemingly don’t care if mass shootings continue apace. Meantime, I can’t get over the prophetic words from “Burning Streets”/“London is Burning”:

Too many guns in this damn town

At the supermarket, you gotta duck down

Baby flak jackets on the merry-go-round

(London is burnin’)

There’s too many guns in this damn town

(London is burnin’)

Baby flak jackets on the merry-go-round …

So please give this week’s show a listen and share your thoughts in the comments. And as Joe always said, “Without people, you’re nothing.”