E=MC2 (song)

"E=MC²" is a song written by Mick Jones, the guitarist and singer of The Clash and performed by his post-Clash band Big Audio Dynamite. It was included as the third track on their 1986 debut album This Is Big Audio Dynamite.

E=MC² is considered the first song to make use of highly defined sampling technologies. E=MC² missed out on becoming a top ten hit in the UK, where it peaked at #11. It did however become Big Audio Dynamite's greatest chart success, as well as their first (and last) tenure into the billboard top 40.

This song was featured in the Nicholas Roeg Film Insignificance and it's lyrics allude to lines from several other of his films:

• "Don't like no aborigine" - One of the main characters in Walkabout is an Aborigine
• "Pop star dyed his hair . . . When mobsters came to flush him out. Gangland slaying underground, New identity must be found. . .Insanity Bohemian style" References Performance Starring Mick Jagger and James Fox
• "Space guy fell from the sky" The Man Who Fell to Earth Starring David Bowie
• "Met a dwarf who was no good ... Gets to take the funeral ride" Don't Look Now Starring Donald Sutherland

The music video for the song (directed by Don Letts) features clips from movies made by Nicolas Roeg. Included throughout the song are dialogue samples taken directly from the 1970 film Performance. These include:

• "I don't like music"
• "Why don't you play us a tune pal?"
• "Comical little geezer. You'll look funny when you're fifty."
• "You know I don't think I'm going to let you stay in the film business"
• "Things have changed"
• "I like a bit of a cavort, I don't send 'em solicitor's letters. I apply a bit of pressure."
• "Who do you think you are, the Lone Ranger?"
• "You're Jack the Lad"
• "Putting a little stick about. Putting the frighteners on flash little twerps"
• "He's an ignorant boy. An out of date boy"
• "United we stand, divided we're lumbered"
• "The man's dead, and who's left holding the sodding baby?"
• "They're a bunch of liars and wrigglers. Give 'em a bit of stick."

Trivia

• 'E=MC²' has been covered live a few times by the band HARD-Fi. One notable performance of this (mentioned on NME's website) was at Brixton Academy on 15 May 2006, a gig also guested by Billy Bragg and Paul Weller. No official (or bootleg) recording of this cover is known to exist at present. On 18 May 2006, at the end of HARD-Fi's record-equalling five night residency of Brixton Academy (a record matched by The Clash amongst others) they were joined onstage by Mick Jones one song into their three song encore for their final performance of 'E=MC²'.