Incidentally, in one of his live shows Strummer mentioned that Tony Adams was about a “catastrophe hitting New York”, an obvious reference to 9/11. A lot of his songs can be quite oblique, though, interpretation can be tough. 10 years on am still tryin to figure out Yalla Yalla from the first Meskies album. The best songwriters should be difficult but inspiring, and Joe fits that bill admirably.

I think Chippy’s right. I half-remember reading somewhere that Joe admired Adams for the way he fought through his problems.

Anyway, excellent stuff. And a particularly fine choice in ‘Complete Control’, my personal Clash favourite.

If I may plug my own little piece of the web, I wrote a piece a few months back on the influence of football on the making of London Calling, if anyone’s interested.

I think Strummer was a Chelsea supporter and what I think he was refering to in the song was Adams being made England captain.