And the law won

July 20, 2011

And lest we forget, amid all the clamor surrounding the McLuhan centennial, this week also marks the 45th anniversary of the death of Bobby Fuller at the age of 23, asphyxiated by gasoline fumes. The official cause of death was either suicide or accident - the coroner couldn't decide - though many believe it was murder. I'm convinced that, like Robert Johnson before him, Fuller pawned his soul to the Devil, and the Devil collected on the loan.

The gun-toting dancers are beyond great:

Posted by nick at July 20, 2011 04:51 PM

Comments

Thanks for this Nick, I genuinely enjoyed watching the video.

I've always loved the Clash version of this song, I knew it was cover but I'm surprised to see this version and read the back story of the track on wikipedia.

It's no long form book or TV and I'm sure I could have done more social good during these 5 minutes, but this video, my wikipedia research and learning anything strummer/clash related are pretty inspirational to me!

Who knows what makes us think, eh?

Posted by: Stewart Dinnage at August 19, 2011 07:39 PM

I'm sure I could have done more social good during these 5 minutes

Yeah, you should take that up with the "cognitive surplus" Puritans, of whom I am not one.

As to the Clash's cover of "I Fought the Law," it wasn't one of their finest moments. I love Joe Strummer, but he could grandstand at times.

Posted by: Nick Carr at August 19, 2011 11:39 PM

hmmm interesting point although I'm not sure I agree on the finest moment opinion.

That said delivering Sandinista to the business men at the label, who were busy "turning rebellion into money" was arguably their finest moment IMHO.

Once again cheers for the Fuller cover linkage, also I know now who wrote some of the dumbest sounding lyrics ever, as I though they were on my first listen (to the clash version).

Posted by: Stewart Dinnage at August 20, 2011 08:20 AM