Midnight Oil does the Clash

In honor of Joe Strummer's 65th birthday this past Aug. 21.

Here.

Courtesy Slicing Up Eyeballs.

That's not as good as I hoped it would be.

Wish they'd chosen a different song. I hate to say it, but "London Calling" has joined the list of songs I love that I honestly wouldn't care if I never hear again, due to overuse.

If one more movie uses it as a cue to let everyone know that the action has moved to London, I'm going to begin singing "Something About England" at the top of my lungs, just to let everyone else in the theater know that there are other songs by the Clash that could be dropped in to that function.

> I hate to say it, but "London Calling" has joined the list of songs I love that
> I honestly wouldn't care if I never hear again, due to overuse.

I don't share that view, but if there's a list of songs that no one should ever even try to cover -- because the originals simply can't be improved upon -- then "London Calling" and "Train in Vain" both belong on it.

I don't care to look it up because I may get tempted to listen (and I'll regret even thinking about it to begin with), but didn't Annie Lennox cover "Train in Vain"?

> ... didn't Annie Lennox cover "Train in Vain"?

Yes, she did. I love Annie, but that one's as bad a snooze as you might imagine.

My 12-year-old hates most of what I listen to but loves London Calling due to it's use in so many animated films, like that pirate thingy with Hugh Grant.

I forgot that "London Calling" even turned up in that Pirates movie. I mainly remembered "Swords of 1000 Men" on the opening credits, which was more than enough for the film to earn my good will. (As if it being an Aardman production hadn't already guaranteed that.)

Didn't "London Calling" show up in a Bond movie as well?

Yes, Die Another Day.

It was also in The Conjuring 2, where it made an anachronistic appearance as representing punk London in 1977. I guess the more appropriate "London's Burning" would've been too obscure to let people know "Hey! The action's moved to London now!"

I believe it also turned up in a Night at the Museum movie, and many others.

Me First & the Gimme Gimmes used the riff to good effect on their cover of the Turtles' "Elenore."

The Killers provided the entertainment at the AFL Grand Final (read Melbourne's Superbowl) this weekend and did a ripping version of Foregotten Years.