“Bankrobber” is a song, and single by The Clash. The song was not released on any of their studio albums, instead appearing on their compilation Black Market Clash. Upon its 1980 release as a single (initially available in the UK on import only) it peaked at #12 on the UK Singles Chart, and at #14 on both the Irish Singles Chart and the New Zealand Singles Chart. The song haphazardly chronicles the life of the narrator’s father, the bankrobber of the song’s title (who “never hurt nobody”), concentrating on the theme of the drudgery of many working class jobs. Young Ian Brown and Pete Garner – later of The Stone Roses – were in attendance at the studio recording session of this single. The full account of this incident is in John Robb’s ‘Stone Roses And The Resurrection of british Pop’. The Clash filmed a low-budget video for the song, depicting members of the band recording the song in the studio, interspersed with Clash roadies Baker and Johnny Green wearing bandanas over their faces, performing a bank heist in Lewisham. During the filming, Baker and Green were stopped and questioned by the police, who thought they were the real thing.
[Dedicated to Tim Christensen]
New Music United 