Cipherdom (deprecated)

The Minstrel Boy

It was one year ago that Joe Strummer died. Of the many people who may deserve to drop dead, he wasn't one of them. Reverse snob that I am, I'd always wondered just a little about Joe's public school background, which to some indicated his persona was a pose. (In England, "public" school is where the upper class sends its kids.) But evidently his father was just a hardscrabble guy who'd risen in the British diplomatic service and got his family some perks that are normally denied the lower classes. Any lingering doubts on my part were dispelled by this affectionate reminiscence by a Washington Post reporter who went to school with Joe.

I don't yet have his new disk because it was on my Xmas wish list, but I'm dying to hear "Redemption Song," one of Bob Marley's best. Word is that the album is pretty great. It can hardly be a better epitaph than Joe's version of "Minstrel Boy," an old Irish folk song whose lyrics seem hauntingly autobiographical in this context.

I recall an early 80's interview in which he said Sandinista's kooky sleeve cartoons were an homage to R. Crumb. He said, "R. Crumb, where are you when we need you?" If we "needed" R. Crumb in 1982, the word doesn't suffice regarding Joe Strummer and 2003. Here's to him and all the minstrel boys.