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“Rock The Casbah” was the second single from Combat Rock and the band’s most successful in the US, reaching #8 in January 1983. It also performed well in the UK, peaking at #30.
The song’s music and original lyrics were written by drummer Topper Headon. But frontman Joe Strummer tossed Headon’s ‘ve...
[Verse 1]
Now the king told the boogie men
"You have to let that raga drop
The oil down the desert way
Has been shaken to the top"
The Sheikh, he drove his Cadillac
He went a-cruising down the ville
The Muezzin was a-standing on the radiator grille
[Chorus]
Sharif don't like it
Rocking the Casbah, rock the Casbah
Sharif don't like it
Rocking the Casbah, rock the Casbah
[Verse 2]
By order of the prophet
We ban that boogie sound
Degenerate the faithful
With that crazy Casbah sound
The Bedouin, they brought out
The electric kettle drum
The local guitar picker
Got his guitar-picking thumb
As soon as the Sharif
Cleared the square
They began to wail
[Chorus]
Sharif don't like it
Rocking the Casbah, rock the Casbah
Sharif don't like it
Rocking the Casbah, rock the Casbah
[Verse 3]
Now over at the temple
Oh, they really pack 'em in
The in-crowd say it's cool
To dig this chanting thing
But as the wind changed direction
And the temple band took five
The crowd caught a whiff of that crazy Casbah jive
[Chorus]
Sharif don't like it
Rocking the Casbah, rock the Casbah
Sharif don't like it
Rocking the Casbah, rock the Casbah
[Verse 4]
The king called up his jet fighters
He said, "You better earn your pay
Drop your bombs between the minarets
Down the Casbah way"
As soon as the Sharif was
Chauffeured outta there
The jet pilots tuned to
The cockpit radio blare
As soon as the Sharif was
Out of their hair
The jet pilots wailed
[Chorus]
Sharif don't like it
Rocking the Casbah, rock the Casbah
Sharif don't like it
Rocking the Casbah, rock the Casbah
[Outro]
(Sharif don't like it)
Thinks it's not kosher
(Rocking the Casbah
Rock the Casbah)
(Sharif don't like it)
Fundamentally can't take it
(Rocking the Casbah
Rock the Casbah)
(Sharif don't like it)
You know he really hates it
(Rocking the Casbah, rock the Casbah)
(Sharif don't like it)
Really, really hates it
Rock the Casbah was written by Topper Headon & Mick Jones & Paul Simonon & Joe Strummer.
Rock the Casbah was produced by The Clash.
The Clash released Rock the Casbah on Fri Jun 11 1982.
Joe Strummer shared:
I started to wail about the muezzin and the sheiks and the oil in the desert. Somebody’d told me earlier that if you had a disco album in Tehran, you got 20 lashes. And if you had a bottle of Johnny Walker Black Label whiskey, you got 40 lashes. I couldn’t get this out of my mi...