Beto O’Rourke May Become the 1st U.S. Senator to Reference The Clash in a Debate
We already knew U.S. Senate candidate Beto O’Rourke was cool because he was in punk bands when he was younger and he jammed with Willie Nelson on some pro-marijuana songs.
Now, in a much-anticipated Friday night debate with his opponent in the Texas race, the very unhip Sen. Ted Cruz, O’Rourke dropped a reference to the band that got him into punk music in the first place: The Clash.
“I want to make sure that, again, we’re are not giving away to corporations or special interests,” O’Rourke said. “That’s what Senator Cruz would do thanks to the contributions that he’s received from those political action committees. He’s working for the clampdown and the corporations and the special interests. He’s not working for the people of Texas.”
The “clampdown” is a reference to the 1979 song of the same name by the legendary British punk band. It appeared on London Calling, an album O’Rourke, who is 45, first heard in eighth grade, according to Rolling Stone. O’Rourke called the album “a revelation.”
“Clampdown” refers to the widespread crackdown by police and government forces on protesters and strikers throughout the 1970s. The song has become an anti-capitalist mantra over the years.
Here’s one verse:
The judge said five to 10, but I say double that again
I’m not working for the clampdown
No man born with a living soul
Can be working for the clampdown
Kick over the wall ’cause government’s to fall
How can you refuse it?
Let fury have the hour, anger can be power
Do you know that you can use it?