{"id":11276,"date":"2014-11-04T10:46:16","date_gmt":"2014-11-04T14:46:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=11276"},"modified":"2014-11-04T10:46:16","modified_gmt":"2014-11-04T14:46:16","slug":"joe-strummer-influenced-by-world-travel-and-shortwave-radio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/11\/joe-strummer-influenced-by-world-travel-and-shortwave-radio\/","title":{"rendered":"Joe Strummer: influenced by world travel\u2013and shortwave radio"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/London-Calling.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-11277\" src=\"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/London-Calling.jpg\" alt=\"London-Calling\" width=\"640\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/London-Calling.jpg 640w, https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/London-Calling-300x187.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>SWLing Post<\/em> reader, Chris, writes:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;After reading <a title=\"Peter Gabriel: inspired by shortwave radio\" href=\"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/11\/peter-gabriel-inspired-by-shortwave-radio\/\">your piece on Peter Gabriel<\/a> it reminded me of Joe Strummer and the Clash and the Mescaleros&#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=EfK-WX2pa8c\" target=\"_blank\">The album and song <em>London Calling<\/em><\/a> was written from a huge influence from the BBC World Service&#8230;. Need I say more about the song?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/EfK-WX2pa8c\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Shortly before his death in 2002, Joe recorded an album called at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Rh5txTRGUFY&amp;app=desktop\" target=\"_blank\">Global A Go-Go<\/a> along with a song of that title track. The first line in the song is &#8220;World Service Bulletin&#8221; and references many cities around the world wanting great rock and roll music&#8230;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Rh5txTRGUFY\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>I know there are also interviews with him stating that growing up his father was a diplomat and he lived in various countries. He would tune in to the BBC World Service to get rock music from home!<\/p>\n<p><em>The Clash<\/em> ended up taking on a worldly sound in their later recordings. During <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/search\/ref=as_li_qf_sp_sr_il_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;index=aps&amp;keywords=Joe%20Strummer%20%26%20The%20Mescaleros&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=swlcom01-20&amp;linkId=YJ3PRHDVUZNSQZDZ\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros<\/em><\/a>, it was all world music!<\/p>\n<p>The latter is still one of my top three albums of all times!<\/p>\n<p>Shortwave radio is the reason why I love world music.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Same here, Chris&#8211;shortwave radio is directly responsible for my interest in any and all forms of music. Growing up, the variety I could hear on shortwave was beyond anything I could hear locally. I think many SWLs share <a title=\"Voice of Greece: walking in on a party\" href=\"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2013\/11\/voice-of-greece-walking-in-on-a-party\/\">this global connection<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>Strummer via the World Service<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.prx.org\/series\/27024-joe-strummer-s-london-calling\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-11286\" src=\"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/strummershow_medium.jpg\" alt=\"strummershow_medium\" width=\"240\" height=\"224\" \/><\/a>After receiving Chris&#8217; message, I did a little more research because I <em>vaguely<\/em> recalled a program on the BBC World Service that was hosted by Joe Strummer, though I never had the opportunity to hear it live.<\/p>\n<p>Fortunately, I uncovered <a title=\"PRX\" href=\"http:\/\/www.prx.org\/series\/27024-joe-strummer-s-london-calling\" target=\"_blank\">the original <em>Joe Strummer&#8217;s London Calling<\/em> via PRX<\/a>. <em>SCORE!<\/em><\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve embedded <a title=\"PRX\" href=\"http:\/\/www.prx.org\/pieces\/27175-joe-strummer-s-london-calling-episode-1\" target=\"_blank\">the first episode<\/a>\u00a0below: an introduction to the series where you&#8217;ll hear a little about Joe in the first half hour and in the second half, the first episode of \u00a0the original\u00a0<a title=\"PRX\" href=\"http:\/\/www.prx.org\/series\/27024-joe-strummer-s-london-calling\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Joe Strummer&#8217;s London Calling<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><script id=\"prx-p27175-embed\" src=\"http:\/\/www.prx.org\/p\/27175\/embed.js?size=small\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>This is <a href=\"http:\/\/www.prx.org\/series\/27024-joe-strummer-s-london-calling\" target=\"_blank\">an amazing collection<\/a>&#8211;actually, that&#8217;s an understatement. I&#8217;m already on the third\u00a0episode and will probably listen to the whole series by the end of the week (if not end of day).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.prx.org\/series\/27024-joe-strummer-s-london-calling\" target=\"_blank\">Click here for the full list of shows via PRX<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>This has all prompted me to\u00a0order\u00a0<a title=\"Joe Strummer\" href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/B00001X51J\/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=B00001X51J&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=swlcom01-20&amp;linkId=SMAD2G3ILAQM2MGM\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Rock Art &amp; The X-Ray Style<\/em> by Joe Strummer\u00a0&amp; The Mescaleros<\/a>. Thanks, Chris: amazing stuff&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SWLing Post reader, Chris, writes: &#8220;After reading your piece on Peter Gabriel it reminded me of Joe Strummer and the Clash and the Mescaleros&#8230; The album and song London Calling was written from a huge influence from the BBC World Service&#8230;. Need I say more about the song? Shortly before his death in 2002, Joe [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[508,8,442,3,43],"tags":[3378,3380,3379,3384,3382,3383,3381],"class_list":["post-11276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art-2","category-articles","category-music","category-news","category-shortwave-radio","tag-joe-strummer","tag-joe-strummer-the-clash","tag-joe-strummer-the-mescaleros","tag-joe-strummer-bbc-world-service","tag-joe-strummer-shortwave","tag-joe-strummers-london-calling","tag-the-clash"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-2VS","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":59374,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2024\/03\/london-calling-joe-strummers-shortwave-influence\/","url_meta":{"origin":11276,"position":0},"title":"London Calling: Joe Strummer&#8217;s Shortwave Influence","author":"Thomas","date":"March 31, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bob Butterfield, who writes: London Calling by The Clash Readers may be interested in the shortwave influence and story behind the creation of the song \"London Calling\" written by Joe Strummer of the band The Clash from the 1979 double album of the same\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Music&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Music","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/TheClashLondonCallingalbumcover.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":37171,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2019\/05\/brilliant-radio-song-by-van-morrison-in-the-days-before-rocknroll\/","url_meta":{"origin":11276,"position":1},"title":"Brilliant radio song by Van Morrison: &#8220;In The Days Before Rock&#8217;n&#8217;Roll&#8221;","author":"Thomas","date":"May 9, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dave Porter, who writes: After some 20 years I have rediscovered this radio song by the UK northern Irish singer Van Morrison. \"In The Days Before Rock'n'Roll\" There are some great TX station names in the song! It's a full 8 minutes long.... Take\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Van_Morrison_1972.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11293,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/11\/wilcos-yankee-hotel-foxtrot-and-shortwave-radio\/","url_meta":{"origin":11276,"position":2},"title":"Wilco&#8217;s &#8220;Yankee Hotel Foxtrot&#8221; and shortwave radio","author":"Thomas","date":"November 6, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"After posting our articles about Joe Strummer and Peter Gabriel, Mike Barraclough writes: \"Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is my favourite shortwave radio related album, I was a fan of the band anyway so when I read about the theme I was really looking forward to the album and was not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Art&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/art-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"YankeeHotelFoxtrot","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/YankeeHotelFoxtrot.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/YankeeHotelFoxtrot.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/YankeeHotelFoxtrot.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10330,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/shortwave-radio-recordings-pirate-joe-via-wbcq\/","url_meta":{"origin":11276,"position":3},"title":"Shortwave Radio Recordings: Pirate Joe via WBCQ","author":"Thomas","date":"July 23, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"For your listening pleasure: one hour of Pirate Joe. My good friend\u2013and SWLing Post reader\u2013Mike Hansgen recently apprised me that WHVW's\u00a0Pirate Joe\u00a0show is being relayed on WBCQ here in North America in the afternoons. Last week I recorded Pirate Joe starting at 3:00 PM (EDT). Propagation was not in our\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"SX-99-Dial","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/SX-99-Dial-1024x192.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/SX-99-Dial-1024x192.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/SX-99-Dial-1024x192.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":45891,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2020\/12\/studio-recording-radio-moscow-new-years-eve-show-with-joe-adamov-january-1-1980\/","url_meta":{"origin":11276,"position":4},"title":"Studio Recording: Radio Moscow New Year&#8217;s Eve Show with Joe Adamov: January 1, 1980","author":"Thomas","date":"December 30, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Shortwave Radio Audio Archive contributor, Tom Gavaras, shared this studio recording of Radio Moscow from January 1, 1980. We posted this recording on the SRAA, but I also wanted to share it here as I'm sure there are readers who might have even heard this show over shortwave live back\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Soviet-Radio-Dial-e1539517556232.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Soviet-Radio-Dial-e1539517556232.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Soviet-Radio-Dial-e1539517556232.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Soviet-Radio-Dial-e1539517556232.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":63922,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2025\/09\/shortwave-in-a-joe-meek-track-help-identify-these-1966-sounds\/","url_meta":{"origin":11276,"position":5},"title":"Shortwave in a Joe Meek Track? Help Identify These 1966 Sounds","author":"Thomas","date":"September 13, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and buddy, One Deck Pete, who writes with a question. I am not sure if I have sent you this before but this alternative version of a Joe Meek produced single has what I think are shortwave samples bookending it and also a couple\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Music&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Music","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Joe-Meek-Glenda-Collins.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Joe-Meek-Glenda-Collins.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Joe-Meek-Glenda-Collins.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11276\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}