joe strummer, “johnny appleseed,”
from: joe strummer and the mescaleros,
“Lord, there goes Johnny Appleseed
He might pass by in the hour of need
There’s a lot of souls
Ain’t drinking from no well locked in a factory
Hey, look there goes
Hey, look there goes
If you’re after getting the honey, hey
Then you don’t go killing all the bees
Lord, there goes Martin Luther King
Notice how the door closes when the chimes of freedom ring
I hear what you’re saying, I hear what he’s saying
Is what was true now no longer so
Hey, I hear what you’re saying
Hey, I hear what he’s saying
If you’re after getting the honey, hey
Then you don’t go killing all the bees
What the people are saying
And we know every road, go, go
What the people are saying
There ain’t no berries on the trees
Let the summertime sun
Fall on the apple, fall on the apple
Lord, there goes a Buick forty-nine
Black sheep of the angels riding, riding down the line
We think there is a soul, we don’t know
That soul is hard to find
Hey, down along the road
Hey, down along the road
If you’re after getting the honey
Then you don’t go killing all the bees
Hey, it’s what the people are saying
It’s what the people are saying
Hey, there ain’t no berries on the trees
Hey, that’s what the people are saying, no berries on the trees
You’re checking out the honey, baby
You had to go killin’ all the bees”
If you ever get a chance to see some footage of The Clash playing live, the one thing that smacks me in the face is how hard Joe Strummer played. Or how hard he tried to do whatever he was doing. Success and failure went out the window because he was seemingly absorbed by being. This song is an anthem that wells up comparisons to the diggers, who in the 1640’s in England, tried (by "leveling" land) to reform the existing social order with an agrarian lifestyle based on their ideas for the creation of small, egalitarian rural communities. I am probably reaching ignorantly. Maybe it doesn’t reach those exalted heights. But this song erupts with the obvious spirit Joe Strummer thrust out.