In this series on The Napping Wizard Sessions called ONE SONG I’m taking deep dives into single songs. In this episode, I take The Clash’s WRONG 'EM BOYO and chart the history behind it that connects late 1800s America through the true story and legend of Stagger Lee with the Jim Crow American south, reggae and the Jamaican Rude Boys, the Black Panthers, John Sinclair, the mods, skinheads and the birth of punk in the UK, and push it up against the anti-immigration and racist climate we're witnessing today in the dis-United States. For what appears to be a simple song, after peeling back the layers, it ends up becoming something like an anthem for solidarity, uniting racial and social struggles, and fraught with the glorious embellishment and vernacular drift of oral traditions. A lot of people are curious - What does 'Em Boyo mean?REFERENCES AND FURTHER INFO:Audio Ammunition. Documentary of The Clash. GooglePlay Original, 2013.Brown, Cecil. I Stagolee. CA: North Atlantic Books, 2006.Brown, Cecil. Stagolee Shot Billy. MA: Harvard University Press, 2003.Chuck D. Stay Free: The Story of The Clash, Spotify original series, 2019.Cox, Alex. Sid And Nancy + DVD extras. UK: Initial Pictures, 1986 and DVD extras.Egan, Sean. The Clash On The Clash. IL: Chicago Review Press, 2018.Gates Jr., Henry Louis. The Signifyin(g) Monkey. NY: Oxford University Press, 1988.Gray, Marcus. Route 19 Revisited: The Clash and London Calling. UK: Random House, 2010.Henzell, Perry. The Harder They Come. Kingston, Jamaica: International Films, 1972.Lomax, Alan and John. American Ballads And Folk Songs. NY: Dover, 1994.Marcus, Greil. Mystery Train. NY: Plume, Revised Edition, 2015.Temple, Julien. The Future is Unwritten. Parallel Films Production, 2007.…and various other sundries on YouTubeSONG CLIPS IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE00:00:00 The Clash, Wrong ‘Em Boyo, 197900:05:43 Lloyd Price, Stagger Lee, 195800:08:12 Herb Weidoeft and His Band, Stack ‘O Lee Blues, c192400:08:42 Gertrude Ma Rainey, Stack O’Lee Blues, 192600:08:57 Amy Winehouse, live at Arena Anhembi, São Paulo, Brazil January 15, 201100:09:11 Cliff Edwards, Stack O Lee Blues, 1928.00:09:28 Furry Lewis, Billy Lyons and Stackolee, 192700:09:40 Mississippi John Hurt, Stack O’ Lee, 192800:10:10 The Clash, Career Opportunities, 197700:10:29 Frank Hutchinson, Stackalee, 192700:10:39 Archibald, Stack-A-Lee, Parts 1 and 2, 194600:11:08 Fats Domino, Stagger Lee, Live at Montreux, 197300:11:32 Dion, Stagger Lee, 196200:11:51 Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, Stagger Lee, 199600:12:20 Taj Mahal, Stack O’Lee, 196900:12:49 Keb Mo, from the movie Honey Drippers, 200700:13:02 R.L. Burnside, Stack O Lee and Billy Lyons, (year ?)00:13:32 Sidney Bechet, Old Stack O’Lee Blues, 194600:13:42 Wilson Pickett, Stagger Lee, 196700:14:05 Elvis, rehearsal recording, 197000:14:17 Bob Dylan, Stack A Lee, 199300:14:35 Woody Guthrie, Stackolee Muleskinner Blues, 194400:15:00 James Brown, Stagger Lee, 196700:15:18 The Black Keys, Stag Shot Billy, 200400:15:51 Sol Hop’opi’i, Stack O’ Lee Blues, 193800:16:17 The Rulers, Wrong Emboyo, 196700:19:44 The Clash, Wrong ‘Em Boyo, instrumental, 197900:21:09 Junior Murvin, Police and Thieves, 197600:22:00 The Clash, White Riot, 197700:23:04 MC5, Kick Out The Jams, 196900:24:05 John Lennon, John Sinclair, 197100:24:57 John Lennon, David Frost Show, 197100:25:50 The Clash, I Fought The Law, 197700:27:05 The Who, Won’t Get Fooled Again, 197100:27:53 The Rulers, Copasetic, 196600:29:01 Jimmy Cliff, They Harder They Come, 197200:30:03 The Clash, Paul’s Tune, 197900:31:10 The Clash, (White Man) In Hammersmith Palais, 197700:32:50 The Rulers, Don’t Be a Rude Boy, 196600:33:22 Bob Marley and the Wailers, One Love, 197700:33:48 The Clash, Wrong ‘Em Boyo, 197900:35:17 The Rulers, Wrong Emboyo, 196700:36:00 The Slickers, Johnny Too Bad, 197100:37:12 The Rulers, Be Good, 196600:39:07 Joe Strummer, hostility clip from The Future Is Unwritten, 200700:39:32 The Clash, Rudie Can’t Fail, 197900:39:57 Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Stagger Lee, 199600:40:15 The Clash, Guns of Brixton, 197900:40: 34 Mississippi John Hurt, Stack O’ Lee, 192800:40:43 The Clash, Guns of Brixton, 197900:40:53 The Clash, Death or Glory, 197900:41:54 Furry Lewis, Billy Lyons and Stackolee, 192700:44:35 The Clash, Wrong ‘Em Boyo, 197900:47:45 (007) Shanty Town, Desmond Dekker and the Aces, c197200:48:46 Bob Marley and the Wailers, Buffalo Soldier, 198300:49:06 The Rulers, Wrong Emboyo, 196700:51:07 The Clash, Wrong ‘Em Boyo, 197900:52:04 Bob Marley, Jammin’, 197700:52:19 Scotty, Draw Your Breaks, 197100:53:02 The Clash, Wrong ‘Em Boyo, instrumental, 197900:55:56 Joe Strummer, on punk, The Future Is Unwritten, 200700:56:17 Joe Strummer, on drugs, The Future Is Unwritten, 200700:56:23 Joe Strummer, on pitfalls, The Future Is Unwritten, 200700:56:54 The Clash, Police and Thieves, 197700:57:47 Joe Strummer, on people, The Clash On Broadway Interview, 198100:59.16 Bob Marley, Punky Reggae Party, 197701:00:31 The Clash, Wrong ‘Em Boyo, live, Capital Theater, Passaic, NJ, 198001:00:38 The Clash, Wrong ‘Em Boyo, 1979Tracking recorded at BRIC podcast studio, Brooklyn, August 17, 2019 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ver todos los episodios