Monday, May 4, 2009

the curtains, they're filthy...



S CSBS 5664.



"'Complete Control' was voted No. 9 in the 1977 John Peel Festive Fifty, No. 2 the following year, No.5 in 1979, No. 15 in 1980, No. 18 in 1981, No. 19 in 1982..."


"On the last tour my mates couldn't get in,
I'd open up the back door but they'd get run out again.
At every hotel we was met by the Law;
Come for the party - come to make sure!

Oh oh oh, have we done something wrong?
Oh oh oh; complete control, even over this song."
- Strummer / Jones.

Produced by Lee Perry and Mickey Foote. Released September 23rd, 1977.

THE CLASH: COMPLETE CONTROL from "Complete Control b/w City Of The Dead" 45 (CBS) 1977 (UK)

10 comments:

Denier said...

Quite possibly my favorite all time Clash song. Only Pressure Drop and Police & Thieves -- two covers ironically -- rank with it. Always loved the great guitar solo in CC, although it's probably all of like 20 seconds!

ib said...

Yeah; short but sweet. "Police & Thieves" definitely pips this one onto the higher spot. "White Man...", too, I feel. Still. Fine slab of vinyl.

Thanks for the comment, Warden.

Denier said...

Thanks for the post. I don't think the Clash even made a bad song until the sprawling, all over the place Sandinista. Even then most of it was interesting.

Have you checked out Carbon/Silicon? They have a website with free MP3s. Some dynamite stuff.

Brushback said...

Yep, this is a good one too.

Empire Hancock said...

Easily one of the Clash's finest moments. Certainly one of my favorites. It rips. Hard.

The US version of the first Clash album was in my dad's record collection, so I heard it many times growing up, and it was one of the first albums I ever bought on cd. Never knew what the fuck Joe was singing 90% of the time until I found the lyrics on some website and printed them at the library in like 1997. Haha.

Also, never really appreciated the sheer force of this song until I chose it somewhat at random for a mix tape some years. Sometimes greatness is right in front of your face but it takes you a little while to latch on to it. And once you do, you can't shake it.

ib said...

The lyrics are almost wholly indecipherable on this one, for sure. Interesting you write about looking them up in 1997. I did the same thing while cuing this for upload.

Hence the post title. I've been walking around blithely singing "the curtains, they're filthy...." for more than thirty years.

Nazz Nomad said...

c'mon guitar hero!

ib said...

Alright. Bowing to peer pressure, I will confess Mick may well be the star of this particular three minutes.

pmclaughlin said...

White Man - does edge it for me, but this is a brilliant track.

ib said...

Thanks for the comment, Paul. I just read your older post on offshore outsourcing at the BBC:

http://nujbroadcastingblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/south-asia-strike-ballot-begins.html

"This is London Calling".

Cheers.