“Mustapha Dance” (1982) – The Clash * Written by the Clash * 12″ single: “Rock the Casbah” / “Mustapha Dance” * Produced by Mick Jones * Label: Epic
The odd musical singularity of the Clash’s “Rock the Casbah” seems to be one of those happy accidents. As drummer Topper Headon tells it, he had been tinkering around with a keyboard riff in the studio that ended up percolating throughout the hit recording. This was not the traditional Clash songwriting process, but the band had nonetheless ridden with it, after which Joe Strummer topped off Topper’s track with his own Middle Eastern word sauce. Their decision to give the mostly-instrumental dance version its own title invites the listener to approach it as a different entity and to take note of otherwise obscured wonders like Paul Simonon’s jounced-up bass line. A version by Paul Azzuba of a song called “Ya Mustapha” had perhaps gotten into Strummer’s lexicon when it reached #23 in early sixties Britain. Both sides of the “Rock the Casbah” 12-inch single credit Clash guitarist Mick Jones as the producer, while the Combat Rock LP says “mixed by Glyn Johns, made by the Clash.”