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Lot 16

A set of Joe Strummer's handwritten lyrics for The Clash's "Cheapskates"

19 November 2018, 10:00 EST
New York

Sold for US$10,000 inc. premium

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A set of Joe Strummer's handwritten lyrics for The Clash's "Cheapskates"

1978, 1p, in blue and black ballpoint on the reverse of a studio tracksheet, some amendments/additions.

"Cheapskates" was included on the Clash's second studio album Give 'Em Enough Rope, released in November 1978, their first US album release. The song is a response to criticism they received from the alternative press for signing with a major record label (and potentially abandoning their punk roots for commercial success).

This lyric sheet was obtained by the vendor who lived in London in the late 70s from a friend and fellow Californian, Peter Unpingco. He and the vendor corresponded in 1979 and one of these letters contained the two Strummer lyric sheets offered in this auction. The vendor recalls that Unpingco had told him that he was Strummer's "spriritual mentor" and had spent time traveling in the States with Joe in 1978. Joe and Mick Jones spent three weeks in September/October of that year recording overdubs for the album at The Automatt studios in San Francisco before finishing off in New York.
Reference: Salewicz, Chris, Redemption song, The Definitive Biography of Joe Strummer (HarperCollins: 2006).
8.5 x 11in

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