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The Clash Didn't Smash The Town Hall

from The Future Needs Us Now by Joe Solo

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lyrics

Pulling 10 til 8's at Renny's
It was driving me beserk
And I'd stopped for twenty Bennies
On my way back home from work
When shuffle sent a song my way
I hadn't heard in years
'Complete Control' came pounding out
And I fought back the tears

It must have been November
Cos me Dad was still at home
When The Clash hit Boro Town Hall
With that riot all their own
We'd spiked our hair with soap
And we'd sewn zips into our jeans
Looking back we hadn't much of nothing
But our dreams

Chorus:
There was me and Jack and Johnny
And a stolen bottle of gin
We didn't have a penny
But the band they let us in
Took me 30 years to see it
On a Number 19 bus!
The Clash didn't smash the Town Hall
That was us

There was Mick and Paul and Topper
And in the centre of the stage
There was Strummer barking orders
In that mystic kinda rage
This was our Rebel Army
And they'd come to take our town
We let out all our anger
And we tore the damn place down

Chorus

The band are dead and gone now
And I thought I was too
But Strummer woke up something
When he shouted: "That means you!"
And I jacked my job at Renny's
What I'll do now, I don't know
But I owed it to the young man I was
All them years ago

And the moral of this story
Is you've one life, don't you blow it
And anyone can change the world
It's just most of us don't know it
You either live life like you mean it
Or you rack up more regrets
And I'm 53 next Friday
But I aren't finished yet

Took me 30 years to see it
On a Number 19 bus!
The Clash didn't smash the Town Hall
That was us.

credits

from The Future Needs Us Now, released January 6, 2017
Joe Solo

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Joe Solo Scarborough, UK

Joe Solo is an award-winning musician, writer, poet, activist, broadcaster and washing machine engineer from Scarborough.

Live he has an ever growing reputation as both a performer and raconteur, being thought-provoking, comical and punch-the-air political often in the same breath.

He is not an artist you forget in a hurry.
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