I Dream a Parade: On Joe Strummer

In this bloated cultural landscape, does the work of the Clash front-man matter?

The best short bit of writing about the life of Joe Strummer was written by Bryan Doyle for The American Scholar in June of 2016. Less than a year later Doyle himself died of brain cancer. It’s easy to wonder, as that tumor grew and wormed its way through his skull, if the synapses in his brain had somehow been jolted into a deeper understanding of that mysterious veil between creative life and untimely death. Maybe that’s what made his remembrance of Strummer so deft and beautiful.

It's easy to wonder, but of course it’s also nonsense, bordering on offensive. The heart anomaly that killed Joe Strummer on December 22, 2002 was, like most cases of brain cancer and many other ailments, undetected before it was too late. Death has no inherent meaning or symbolism. It is random, unfair, and a reminder of how hopelessly alone we ultimately are, no matter how much we try to avoid that truth.

This lack of sentimentality is what makes Doyle’s tribute to Strummer so poignant. Chris Salewicz’s de…