Artist: The Clash

First Release: unreleased

Length:

Vocals: Joe Strummer

Themes:

Additional Information:

• correct title of the song confirmed by Joe Strummer: "We'd like to perform a summer narrative entitled How Can I Understand The Flies." ^[1]
• in a 1978 interview Strummer called the song Flies ^[2]
• mistitled as 'I Can't Understand the Flies' 'I Don't Understand the Flies' or 'For the Flies' on bootlegs

• written during the initial rehearsals June-August 1976
• performed at the band's very first public London gig in August 1976 ^[3]
• dropped from the set after drummer Terry Chimes left the band in November 1976 ^[4]
• Joe Strummer: "[The song] was about all those flies in the basement of Orsett Terrace." (Strummer's flat in 1976)^[5]

References:

1. ↑ The Roundhouse, London (5/9/1976)
2. ↑ [1] "Sounds" magazine (17/6/1978)
3. ↑ [2] Screen On The Green, London (29/8/1976)
4. ↑ [3] last reported performance: Royal College of Art, London (5/11/1976)
5. ↑ [4] "Sounds" magazine (17/6/1978)

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