Clash Reunion Called Off

Displeased that reports of a Clash reunion had overshadowed a tribute to Ian Dury planned at London's Brixton Academy June 16, Joe Strummer has taken himself off the bill.

"It's a delicate situation," his manager Simon Moran said. "The last thing he wants to do is offend the memory of Ian Dury, or offend the charity [Cancer BACUP]. His concern was to raise money for cancer. He never planned for all this fuss."

Mick Jones is still scheduled to perform, but will take the stage separately from Nicky "Topper" Headon, said Trisha Ronane, who handles Clash-related affairs. There's no word yet whether Paul Simonon is also still on the bill, though he was the Clash member closest to Dury, Ronane said.

According to a Web site dedicated to Ian Dury, www.blockheads.co.uk, Jones is supposed to sing Dury's "I'm Partial to Your Abracadabra" as part of his set. The site also reports that a Dury tribute album titled Brand New Boots and Panties is in the works and is to include contributions from Paul McCartney, Billy Bragg, Robbie Williams and Madness.

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Song Stories

“Let My Love Open the Door”

Pete Townshend | 1980

A peppy, hopeful love song, "Let My Love Open the Door" became a U. S. Top Ten hit for Pete Townshend in 1980, anchored by the kind of repeating synthesizer figures that he'd used in some of the Who's recordings in the previous decade. Although Townshend brushed the song off as "just a ditty" in Rolling Stone shortly after its release, in 1996 he revealed it was about love of the holiest sort. "It's supposed to be about the power of God's love," he remarked. "That when you're in difficulty, whether it's major or minor, God's love is always there for you."

More Song Stories entries »

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