In this series on The Napping Wizard Sessions called ONE SONG I’m taking deep dives into single songs. In this episode, I take The Clash’s WRONG 'EM BOYO and chart the history behind it that connects late 1800s America through the true story and legend of Stagger Lee with the Jim Crow American south, reggae and the Jamaican Rude Boys, the Black Panthers, John Sinclair, the mods, skinheads and the birth of punk in the UK, and push it up against the anti-immigration and racist climate we're witnessing today in the dis-United States. For what appears to be a simple song, after peeling back the layers, it ends up becoming something like an anthem for solidarity, uniting racial and social struggles, and fraught with the glorious embellishment and vernacular drift of oral traditions. A lot of people are curious - What does 'Em Boyo mean?
REFERENCES AND FURTHER INFO:
Audio Ammunition. Documentary of The Clash. GooglePlay Original, 2013.
Brown, Cecil. I Stagolee. CA: North Atlantic Books, 2006.
Brown, Cecil. Stagolee Shot Billy. MA: Harvard University Press, 2003.
Chuck D. Stay Free: The Story of The Clash, Spotify original series, 2019.
Cox, Alex. Sid And Nancy + DVD extras. UK: Initial Pictures, 1986 and DVD extras.
Egan, Sean. The Clash On The Clash. IL: Chicago Review Press, 2018.
Gates Jr., Henry Louis. The Signifyin(g) Monkey. NY: Oxford University Press, 1988.
Gray, Marcus. Route 19 Revisited: The Clash and London Calling. UK: Random House, 2010.
Henzell, Perry. The Harder They Come. Kingston, Jamaica: International Films, 1972.
Lomax, Alan and John. American Ballads And Folk Songs. NY: Dover, 1994.
Marcus, Greil. Mystery Train. NY: Plume, Revised Edition, 2015.
Temple, Julien. The Future is Unwritten. Parallel Films Production, 2007.
…and various other sundries on YouTube
SONG CLIPS IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE
00:00:00 The Clash, Wrong ‘Em Boyo, 1979
00:05:43 Lloyd Price, Stagger Lee, 1958
00:08:12 Herb Weidoeft and His Band, Stack ‘O Lee Blues, c1924
00:08:42 Gertrude Ma Rainey, Stack O’Lee Blues, 1926
00:08:57 Amy Winehouse, live at Arena Anhembi, São Paulo, Brazil January 15, 2011
00:09:11 Cliff Edwards, Stack O Lee Blues, 1928.
00:09:28 Furry Lewis, Billy Lyons and Stackolee, 1927
00:09:40 Mississippi John Hurt, Stack O’ Lee, 1928
00:10:10 The Clash, Career Opportunities, 1977
00:10:29 Frank Hutchinson, Stackalee, 1927
00:10:39 Archibald, Stack-A-Lee, Parts 1 and 2, 1946
00:11:08 Fats Domino, Stagger Lee, Live at Montreux, 1973
00:11:32 Dion, Stagger Lee, 1962
00:11:51 Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, Stagger Lee, 1996
00:12:20 Taj Mahal, Stack O’Lee, 1969
00:12:49 Keb Mo, from the movie Honey Drippers, 2007
00:13:02 R.L. Burnside, Stack O Lee and Billy Lyons, (year ?)
00:13:32 Sidney Bechet, Old Stack O’Lee Blues, 1946
00:13:42 Wilson Pickett, Stagger Lee, 1967
00:14:05 Elvis, rehearsal recording, 1970
00:14:17 Bob Dylan, Stack A Lee, 1993
00:14:35 Woody Guthrie, Stackolee Muleskinner Blues, 1944
00:15:00 James Brown, Stagger Lee, 1967
00:15:18 The Black Keys, Stag Shot Billy, 2004
00:15:51 Sol Hop’opi’i, Stack O’ Lee Blues, 1938
00:16:17 The Rulers, Wrong Emboyo, 1967
00:19:44 The Clash, Wrong ‘Em Boyo, instrumental, 1979
00:21:09 Junior Murvin, Police and Thieves, 1976
00:22:00 The Clash, White Riot, 1977
00:23:04 MC5, Kick Out The Jams, 1969
00:24:05 John Lennon, John Sinclair, 1971
00:24:57 John Lennon, David Frost Show, 1971
00:25:50 The Clash, I Fought The Law, 1977
00:27:05 The Who, Won’t Get Fooled Again, 1971
00:27:53 The Rulers, Copasetic, 1966
00:29:01 Jimmy Cliff, They Harder They Come, 1972
00:30:03 The Clash, Paul’s Tune, 1979
00:31:10 The Clash, (White Man) In Hammersmith Palais, 1977
00:32:50 The Rulers, Don’t Be a Rude Boy, 1966
00:33:22 Bob Marley and the Wailers, One Love, 1977
00:33:48 The Clash, Wrong ‘Em Boyo, 1979
00:35:17 The Rulers, Wrong Emboyo, 1967
00:36:00 The Slickers, Johnny Too Bad, 1971
00:37:12 The Rulers, Be Good, 1966
00:39:07 Joe Strummer, hostility clip from The Future Is Unwritten, 2007
00:39:32 The Clash, Rudie Can’t Fail, 1979
00:39:57 Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Stagger Lee, 1996
00:40:15 The Clash, Guns of Brixton, 1979
00:40: 34 Mississippi John Hurt, Stack O’ Lee, 1928
00:40:43 The Clash, Guns of Brixton, 1979
00:40:53 The Clash, Death or Glory, 1979
00:41:54 Furry Lewis, Billy Lyons and Stackolee, 1927
00:44:35 The Clash, Wrong ‘Em Boyo, 1979
00:47:45 (007) Shanty Town, Desmond Dekker and the Aces, c1972
00:48:46 Bob Marley and the Wailers, Buffalo Soldier, 1983
00:49:06 The Rulers, Wrong Emboyo, 1967
00:51:07 The Clash, Wrong ‘Em Boyo, 1979
00:52:04 Bob Marley, Jammin’, 1977
00:52:19 Scotty, Draw Your Breaks, 1971
00:53:02 The Clash, Wrong ‘Em Boyo, instrumental, 1979
00:55:56 Joe Strummer, on punk, The Future Is Unwritten, 2007
00:56:17 Joe Strummer, on drugs, The Future Is Unwritten, 2007
00:56:23 Joe Strummer, on pitfalls, The Future Is Unwritten, 2007
00:56:54 The Clash, Police and Thieves, 1977
00:57:47 Joe Strummer, on people, The Clash On Broadway Interview, 1981
00:59.16 Bob Marley, Punky Reggae Party, 1977
01:00:31 The Clash, Wrong ‘Em Boyo, live, Capital Theater, Passaic, NJ, 1980
01:00:38 The Clash, Wrong ‘Em Boyo, 1979
Tracking recorded at BRIC podcast studio, Brooklyn, August 17, 2019
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