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January 20, 2009

Lily Allen Covers The Clash Song "Paper Planes" Sampled

thubmnail icon: Lily Allen Covers The Clash Song "Paper Planes" Sampled

Or, in words your parents will understand: Lily Allen did a cover of the Clash's "Straight To Hell" with the original's co-writer Mick Jones, no less. Originally released in 1982 as the third single from Combat Rock, "Straight To Hell" returned to the spotlight last year after its familiar opening riff was sampled on M.I.A.'s ubiquitous "Paper Planes" (which was itself sampled by ... everyone). Lily's take on the original comes from Warchild's Heroes comp, which also has the Hold Steady taking on Springsteen, Beck doing Dylan, Scissor Sisters as Roxy Music, etc. This version premiered when Lily took over Zane Lowe's Radio 1 show yesterday (she also played TLC, MGMT, SL2, and some bands with vowels in their names).

Heroes is out in the UK via Parlophone and the rest of the world via EMI on 2/16. You can get more info at warchild.org.uk.

As for Ms. Allen, her It's Not Me It's You is out next month on Capitol. You can hear a couple of new remixes of "The Fear" here.

Posted at 4:01 PM by brandon
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22 Comments

Not going to lie..it's pretty cool. It's just a little too peppy for the lyrical content.

Posted by: Zach at 01/20/09 4:55 PM | Reply
Score = 3 Vote up Vote down

Not too shabby Ms. Allen.

Posted by: Elton John at 01/20/09 5:08 PM | Reply
Score = 3 Vote up Vote down

Is it me or can you still hear Joe's voice in the background?

Posted by: Tandrew profile link at 01/20/09 6:13 PM | Reply
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i tried clicking on the "heroes" link and got 404'd. ouch.

Posted by: massromantic at 01/20/09 7:10 PM | Reply
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She was about to show that third nipple of hers.

Posted by: James at 01/20/09 7:38 PM | Reply
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Painful to hear. The original is so fantastic, and this is so... "Target commercial".

Posted by: DB at 01/20/09 7:41 PM | Reply
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Versh

I had my doubts, but it really is good. The Clash made the right choice.

Posted by: Versh profile link at 01/20/09 8:06 PM | Reply
Score = 1 Vote up Vote down

Is it just me, or did lily allen get a lot hotter since her last album?

Posted by: Benjfier profile link at 01/20/09 8:30 PM | Reply
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It is literally a digrace that you referred to "Straight To Hell" as the song that "Paper Planes" sampled. Seriously.

Posted by: Are You Kidding at 01/20/09 9:30 PM | Reply
Score = 3 Vote up Vote down

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH

Posted by: Flargimmer profile link in reply to Are You Kidding's comment at 01/20/09 9:59 PM | Reply
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alfred

Ahh,I don't think he's serious with that,sunshine.

Marry me already,Lily Rose Beatrice Allen.

Posted by: alfred profile link at 01/20/09 9:51 PM | Reply
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is your avatar that psycho chick from youtube? what's her name? laggy, haggy, raggy, loxxy, boxxy?

Posted by: Lilton Chester in reply to alfred's comment at 01/20/09 10:54 PM | Reply
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"Is it me or can you still hear Joe's voice in the background?"

No what you can hear is Mick harmonizing with Lily.

On first hearing I thought it was shit but I tried listening to it again. It grows on you I have played it about five times now and it's quite good. Not great but quite good.

Posted by: chemicalscum at 01/20/09 11:14 PM | Reply
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I wanted to hate... but I cannot bring myself to do so.

Posted by: FlimFlam at 01/21/09 1:20 AM | Reply
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shocked at how much i enjoyed that. my favourite clash song covered by lily allen sounds like a recipe for disaster but she pulls it off.

Posted by: garble at 01/21/09 10:45 AM | Reply
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Raise your standards, people. One of the most politically charged tunes of all time reduced to mall rock by a girl who has no idea what she's singing about.

Strummer would never let this shit go down if he were still alive.

Posted by: Wha? at 01/21/09 11:44 AM | Reply
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joe strummer was her godfather, so i'm pretty sure he would.

Posted by: sass in reply to Wha?'s comment at 01/21/09 11:14 PM | Reply
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i think Joe would since Lily Allen is Joe's goddaughter

Posted by: Rob in reply to Wha?'s comment at 03/20/09 11:15 AM | Reply
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actually Joe Strummer was her actual godfather, you silly, so I'm pretty sure he'd let it happen.

Posted by: dave in reply to Wha?'s comment at 05/11/09 4:27 PM | Reply
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Don't worry about our "standards" -- how about YOU raise your awareness. Just because a woman is pretty and popular doesn't mean she's stupid or vapid.

Posted by: KJ at 01/22/09 4:01 PM | Reply
Score = 5 Vote up Vote down

I admire where your heart is at, but I have much to teach you about the internet.

Posted by: studly roberts in reply to KJ's comment at 01/28/09 5:14 PM | Reply
Score = -1 Vote up Vote down

Ever met or seen The Clash live - read on...‏

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Posted by: researcher researcher profile link at 06/17/09 1:47 AM | Reply
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