Paper Planes Go Straight To Hell

One day I might write about M.I.A’s Kala, because it’s an amazing album and perfect for high energy Sunday mornings. Like if you want to get up and go go go, you might start your day with Bamboo Banga. It definitely dropped at the rise of DJ Feliz Cumbe, my former DJ nom de plume. Feliz Cumbe was all about world booty bass music. Didn’t matter where the sounds were coming from, if it had drums, breaks, and bounce, then Feliz Cumbe was all about it. The name comes from a Fernandito Villalona song I wanted to embody. M.I.A’s Kala was a masterful blending of culture from a person who is, like me, not quite part of one and not quite part of the other, but exists primarily in the margins of both, or rather in the intersection of their venn diagram. Which is how you take a song like Modern Romance’s Roadrunner, turn it into a little rap over an electric back beat, add some melodies from your parent’s home, the stew you were summered in, and all that London electro attitude to come out with a Bamboo Banga. We’re not “from” any of the same countries, but I can recognize many of my own experiences with people who grew up as the child of immigrants. We are third culture kids. 

Tin foil 5G blocking apparel aside, M.I.A. had a great moment in my musical life, and I still rock that album, but today I’m writing about a song and album that M.I.A. introduced me to. I knew who the Clash were, and I knew some of their hits, like London’s Calling and Rock the Casbah, but I'd never explored their catalog or listened to a complete album. I knew them more because people always talked about how great The Clash were, and I just took their word for it. It’s one of the bands where you know the name more than you know the works. If you’re around my age (43) or younger, you’ve probably heard the name The Beatles or The Rolling Stones or The Sex Pistols way before you recognized one of their songs, especially if your parents didn’t listen to that music and your neighborhood wasn’t listening to it either. Samples and covers continue to put people on to older songs. In this case I’m talking about how Paper Planes put me on to Straight to Hell. Today’s Sunday Morning Record is the album that contains that song, and an album I didn’t get into until after Kala, The Clash’s Combat Rock.  

Combat Rock’s DNA is made up mostly of reggae. Yeah they play rock, but their playing a lot of reggae with rock style instruments. They are very rocksteady and rudy about their sound. Of course this came from the great Jamaican influence in the UK, which in turn came through UK imperialism, but so did we. With the Rudy culture came a type of activism and politics which is very much against authority and power in the world order. Skinheads actually came out of this culture too, but that’s a whole different thesis. I mention all this because The Clash has fun in this album, but they’re also calling out politics they disagree with. While they are punk in spirit, this is not a punk album in the way most people describe punk these days. The vibe in Combat Rock is everything from reggae to ska, to rocksteady to classic American style rock n roll, to funk, surf rock, rockabilly, and even spaghetti western. The vibe is also a little whimsical, playful and poetic.

The Clash were Joe Strummer, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon, and drummer Nicky "Topper" Headon. This is their fifth album, dropped in 1982, which angered a lot of their hardcore fans, but also their highest selling album, which gave them mass US success, and ultimately broke the original band up. So I guess it’s not a shocker that this was my first The Clash album, but it’s really all because of Paper Planes. 

Side One 

1 Know Your Rights

This album’s thesis statement. A definite political message against the system, all spoken-sung over a bopping reggae rock ska psycho song with some spaghetti western guitars. This will go great after your first cup of caffeine. It’s a tap your foot or slap your knee to the drum beat type of song. 

2 Car Jamming  

A little more rocksteady with a pub band chorus. In a car you jam this song out and it has that sound, while telling stories of a post Vietnam War world. Because of the nature of geo-politics and war, this song, along with many others on this album, feel relevant and prescient. 

3 Should I Stay or Should I Go 

A question most people have asked themselves, in varying situations. That’s what makes this one a classic. We can all relate to this simple question. Sometimes it’s about a relationship, sometimes a job, sometimes a sticky situation. It can even be about something completely bigger, like leaving home for the unknown. Big or small this question resonates. 

4 Rock the Casbah 

Who cares what these words are about? They sound cool and the chorus is a crowd pleaser. For years I had no idea what they were saying. Shorty don’t like it, rock the cash bar? Whatever it is, this song came from the drummer, and if you like drums you’ll love this. It’s a classic rock sound with so much funk in it, it’s a wonder how it all plays together. Banger!

5 Red Angel Dragnet

Spoken wordy reggae tune talking about the shooting death of Frank Melvin, a member of New York’s Guardian Angels. According to wikipedia, it’s inspired by Taxi Driver, but I’ve never watched it, so I couldn’t tell ya. 

6 Straight to Hell

This is why we’re here. There is no Paper Planes without this. You hear the intro and you’re all about to fly like paper and get high like plane, until that bossa nova style drum beat comes in and you realize you’re on a different trip with that bass drum pounding so low. The lyrics tell stories in each verse, about shutting down steel mills in England, to post Vietnam War America and Vietnam, to the burning out of Puerto Rican immigrants from their buildings in Alphabet City and global immigration.. They’re talking about heavy issues with the catchiest of melodies. Paper Planes is also talking about immigration and the treatment of people who are foreign using the same backdrop. Paper Planes isn’t jacking this song for it’s own benefit, it’s adding to the story and conversation Straight to Hell started. The story and conversation is the song, and this is how these messages and melodies get passed on through generations. I’m excited to see what some future artist do with it in their hands. 

Side Two

7 Overpowered by Funk (Ft. Futura 2000) 

A beautiful New York art story. Futura 2000 is a graffiti artist who rapped on this song, and who painted on stage while the band played the song on tour. The title of the song couldn’t be more accurate. The funk just jumps at you, right in your funky face. This music makes me boogie. Overpowered by funk? We should be so lucky. 

8 Atom Tan 

Dystopian atomic tale. Lead says something, and backup adds, line by line, and the music is played the same, riff repeat over riff repeat. It’s a fun song, kinda weird, and the tale is bizarre. I recommend it. 

9 Sean Flynn 

Dreamy in sound, with atmospheric playing and a great drum, this song is about the titled subject, Photojournalist Sean Flynn who covered the Vietnam war and went missing in 1970.

Sonically it’s the easiest, listening song of the album. I’d listen to an entire album like this. It’s so soothing. 

10 Ghetto Defendant (Ft. Allen Ginsberg) 

Ginsberg poets all over a classic sounding reggae song. How cool is that? Strummer’s singing is the best over Ginsberg's words. I get chills when I listen to this. This is from about when I was born and it all feels like it could be today. Things change but they don’t change much. These systems got us down. Heavy song, groovy song. 

11 Inoculated City

Capitalism and shiny things got people numb to what's happening outside in a catchy rock setting. You can listen to this song, this album and just hear a few words and all the great music and not take notice of songs like this one. Having to read the titles of the songs, and interrogate the lyrics for this, is giving some of these songs, like Inoculated City, a deep second look. Enjoy it how you will. 

12 Death Is a Star

If this was envisioned as a stage production, this is the perfect outro song. Nothing like the rest of the album, it’s a jazzy piano song with orchestral sentiments and a mixture of crooning, vocal harmony and beat poetry. It’s epic feeling on its own, and as an epilogue to this spectacular album, it just eases you out while giving you a different frame to think about it. It is a reflection. 

So that’s Combat Rock. I hope you enjoyed it. See you next week with a brand new Sunday Morning Records.