Song Does Anyone Else Hear the Cell Phone Ringing in “Rock the Casbah”?
posted by on May 23 at 11:34 AM
“Rock the Casbah” was released in 1982, so I know it’s not really a ringing cell phone, but that little noise that chirps in around the 1:54 mark, just as Joe Strummer sings “the in crowd say it’s cool,” well it sounds just like a cell phone…
I never noticed it until this morning.
The Clash were such a forward thinking band.
its from a Pac Man watch which for some reason plays "dixie",i had one and remember wondering why the "dixie" playing pac-man watch was in a Clash song...still not entirely clear on that one, although the subsequent Big Audio Dynamite records make me think this was more of a Jones decision.
While I was listening to this in my office, somebody's actual cell phone ring, the Cingular "dum-duh-dum Dum-Duh-Dum da-Da-DA-DA!" ring. I had a "Holy crap!" moment before realizing that I hadn't hit 1:54 yet. It was a letdown after that--sorry.
It's always been in that song. I've always just thought it was a sample of some monophonic old something. Supposedly it is Jones' watch and intentional, but since it is missing from later collections, that seems like an intentional removal.
FWIW, the sound is on the "Combat Rock" album version, as well as the double CD set "Essential Clash". Is not on "Clash on Broadway" or the collection "Singles"
Now I know I'm not crazy. The Clash is on my writing-papers-all-night playlist, and I'm always ripping me headphones off during that song and scrambling for my phone (which has a generic ring) before it can wake up my roommate. I think it's on another one of their songs too, can't remember which one though.
Comments Closed
In order to combat spam, we are no longer accepting comments on this post (or any post more than 14 days old).