Joe Strummer Redemption Song Chords
Francisca Noggles
"Treguna Mekoides and Tracorum Satis Dee
Substitutiary locomotion
Mystic power that's far beyond the wildest notion
It's a weird so feared, yet wonderful to see
Substitutiary locomotion come to me" - "Bedknobs & Broomsticks"
Boredom is a great motivator. It helps us to get off of our asses and do something interesting, although it sometimes leads to trouble and I'm an expert when it comes to that particular subject. Though music is a wonderful and extraordinary world, it can also become boring if you find yourself falling into the same old routes, same old melodies and same old chords. Wouldn't it be nice if you could shake and awake some of the familiar stuff to make it strange, new and fresh?
You can use the scale degree numbers to come up with this, but remember that a flat (b) takes the note down a half step while a sharp (#) takes the note up a half step. So, when you look at D Major, and want to take the 3 (or third note of the major scale) down a half step, you simply remove the sharp from the F# to make it F natural. D - F - A = D minor. The more your practice this, the easier it gets. Okay, back to our substitutiary locomotion.
The basic rule of chord substitution is this: if the chord that you are replacing shares two notes with the chord you are inserting, then it should fit nicely. I'll give you an example in the hymn "Amazing Grace."
Now, I'm not insinuating that "Amazing Grace" is boring and neither are any of the churches who have actually grown to embrace this popular chord substitution. From the end of line three until the word "now", it's standard to hold on the D major chord which is made up of D - F# and A. Many folks will insert a Bm chord at the word "blind." It injects a bit of dramatic color. Bm is made up of B - D and F#.
It's a lovely, simple progression with enough darkness to underscore the harrowing nature of the lyrics but enough light to provide the right balance of hope and despair that typifies so much of Bob Marley's music. He's singing about the plight of Africans who were sold into slavery, but as the song progresses, he introduces hope in the form of an almighty God with a plan for every man, free or slave.
Now, what are rules without exceptions? Unbending, unyielding, that's what they are! So, check this out. Even though the basic default layout of major and minor chords built on those seven notes of any scale falls to 1,4,5 = major; 2,3,6 = minor and 7 = diminished, every single one of those notes can be altered to create a different chord just to keep things interesting. What's usually a major chord built on the first note of the scale can easily be changed to a minor chord. What's usually a minor chord built on the second note of the scale can likewise be changed to a 7th chord. These alterations result in some really amazing musical colorations.
Me, I'm a sucker for the I - iii progression and the heartbreaking I - iv progression. Note that in the latter of those, I've altered the normal IV chord to a iv chord. That means instead of playing a major, I will play a minor instead. But let's see how this works with the basic rules of substitution.
Okay - so, a Bb chord would be Bb - D - F. Bb minor flattens the D to Db resulting in Bb - Db - F. Add the sixth notes of the scale, which is G, and you end up with Bb - Db - F - G. Remember that the chord we're replacing is a Gm which contains G - Bb - D. So Gm and Bbm6 share Bb and G, hence a more harmonious movement and a lovely chord.
"Everybody has a story to tell," says Joe Strummer, late of the Clash, the Mescaleros, and the Earth. And in Dick Rude's glorious, moving documentary Let's Rock Again!, the story of Strummer's final American and Japanese tours spins out like a punk rock cable from the beyond. Strummer, with a voice that even in 1977 sounded as though he'd just woken up and gargled with gravel, was an icon long before he died of a heart attack in December of 2002. What makes Rude's stripped-down, maximum rock & roll doc more than just another concert film or audiovisual eulogy is Strummer himself, basking not in his iconic status but in squalls of feedback, dub-groove echo washes, the fans, and the simple joy of DIY music, three chords and the truth.Death or glory? Both, thank you.Austin Chronicle: You met Joe on Alex Cox's Straight to Hell, right?Dick Rude: I met him during the post-production for Sid and Nancy. I had wanted to do a music documentary, and, after Joe finished the Global-a-Go-Go record, he phoned me up and said why not go on tour with them? That was the summer of 2001.Austin Chronicle: At the time, Joe's work with the Mescaleros wasn't even breaking even for their label, right?RudeDR: Yeah. When the Clash were with Sony/Epic, they were locked into a pretty ugly contract, so this time around he ended up on Epitaph/Hellcat, who were basically giving him a one-off deal. And they're not Warner Bros., where they can go out and spend millions of dollars on marketing, which, no matter who you are, can make all the difference in the world.AC: Joe died before your film was completed and before his third album with the Mescaleros was released, right?DR: Yeah. I had just cut all of the songs together, but I hadn't started to build the documentary yet. There are some songs on their last album, Streetcore, that rival anything that the Clash did. I honestly believe that had he lived to see that third record come out, there would have been a strong possibility that that would have taken him to the top again.AC: Joe Strummer and the Clash mean something to everyone. What do they mean to Dick Rude?DR: He was my brother, my hero, my mentor, and my best friend. When somebody's that close to you in your life, you can't really separate what he does from who he is, you know? As for Joe, though, I know that through all of those years of making music, he wanted people to walk away with the feeling that they had been given something to chew on, something for the soul. And while hanging out with him on the road, so many people would come up to him and say something along the lines of "You and your music changed my life," literally. For him to have been able to affect so many people that way, and to, you know, know and appreciate it and be humbled by it, is just such a blessing, a profound blessing. 'Let's Rock Again!'Monday-Tuesday, March 6-7, 9:45pmAlamo Drafthouse DowntownAdmission: www.originalalamo.com
There is one exception. A few years ago I found a copy of the album online in a European record store. I believe they had one copy left. I actually bought it . . . gave them my credit card number and every thing . . . and for a while I was happy as a lark. Then they contacted me to say that their only copy had disappeared and I would not be receiving it. That is the last evidence I have ever had that the Frugivores and their album ever even existed. They seem to have conveniently dropped off the face of the earth, as if they had never existed.
I was indeed present for both concerts and shot lots of footage of both events. Tymon and his band the Quikening were in superb form. This was my first time seeing them and it was great. The show both nights was packed with a varied
He regularly stamped his large working boots as he paced back and forward across the floor like a caged lion. The power of his performance was immense and I learned something really important about performing that night; that a gig can be your statement, your self expression and your universe for a couple of
Me and Sue were so impressed with the gig that we were buzzing all the way home. We decided had to put him on in Reading! He had to be heard! We linked up with another Tymon Dogg enthusiast in Reading called Chris Parr and put him on at the Horse and Barge, which used to be near the canal. That night he played to about eighty people and if my memory serves me right he did a couple of songs with Helen Cherry too.
The last time I saw Tymon play was in Reading, again, about two years later. A guy called Roger Watson from an organisation called TAPS were putting on a songwriter evening at the newly opened South Street Arts Centre. He already had Robb Johnson booked and I suggested Tymon to him.
I happened upon Tymon Dogg by accident; a true multi-instrumentalist. He taught a young Strummer guitar chords as they busked around England, and was a member of Joe Strummer and The Mescaleros. Not only does he play Spanish guitar, mandolin and violin (which he holds nearer to his belly then his chin), he has also invented the New World Harp, a 3D pyramid-shaped harp.
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