Lyrics for Rudie Can't Fail as interpreted by aebassist

Rudie Can't Fail Lyrics
Sing, Michael, sing-on the route of the 19 Bus
Hear them sayin'
How you get a rude and a reckless?
Don't you be so crude and a feckless
You been drinking brew for breakfast
Rudie can't fail

So we reply
I know that my life make you nervous
But I tell you that I can't live in service
Like the doctor who was born for a purpose
Rudie can't fail

I WENT TO THE MARKET TO REALISE MY SOUL
'CAUSE WHAT I NEED I JUST DON'T HAVE
FIRST THEY CURSE, THEN THEY PRESS ME TILL I HURT
WE SAY RUDIE CAN'T FAIL

We hear them sayin'
Now first you must cure your temper
Then you find a job in the paper
You need someone for a saviour
Oh, Rudie can't fail

We reply
Now we get a rude and a reckless
We been seen lookin' cool an' a speckless
We been drinking brew for breakfast
So Rudie can't fail

Okay!
So where you wanna go today?
Hey boss man!
You're looking pretty smart
In your chicken skin suit

You think you're pretty hot
In your pork pie hat
But...Rudie can't fail
Look out, look out...
Sky juice!...10 cents a bottle!

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  • 54 Comments
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meh
06-02-2002

Rated 0 
feckless????????

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aebassist
06-06-2002

Rated 0 
feckˇless [féklss ] adjective

1. ineffective: unable or unwilling to do anything useful

2. unlikely to be successful: lacking the thought or organization necessary to succeed feckless attempts at starting a business


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cherrypunkker07
06-15-2002

Rated 0 
wow cool now i know what feckless means (no seriously...i didn't know) but i like this song.

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UnwrittenMestUpGurly
07-13-2002

Rated 0 
this song is cool! i liekt he clash, and this is my favorite song by them, but when i first heard this song i had no idea what he was saying accept for rudie can't fail.

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butterflykiss84
08-23-2002

Rated 0 
Yeah i wish i knew what it was about - great tune otherwise :)

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Hooper_X
09-28-2002

Rated 0 
it means that people tell the rude boys that they need to get a real job instead of slacking off all day listening to ska and riding the bus all over town. The rude boys say no way, that's not the life for us, we like our fun.

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orgnizedcnfuzion
04-16-2003

Rated 0 
deffinately one of my favorite clash songs, maybe because i listen to too much ska and occasionally do drink beer for breakfast.. never take the bus anywhere tho... fuckin great tune

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a-girl
04-18-2003

Rated 0 
the only time i drank beer for breakfast i'd been up all night and it was totally regrettable beer.
it's a sweet song though. it makes me feel like a rebel even though i'm completely not.

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ilikefood
04-27-2003

Rated 0 
great song

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kay_says
06-05-2003

Rated 0 
why do they talk about rudeboys always riding busses?

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hpw101
06-07-2003

Rated 0 
ok lets do a lil history lesson
In jamaica around this time and still today a "rudy" is someone who is the equivalent of an american punk.
and with all the jamaican reggae influence the Clash use can this really suprise you
great song Everyone should own the best album ever "London Calling" there is no excuse

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j0k3r_31
06-07-2004

Rated 0 
hpw101 youre kinda right. but rude boys and rude girls were like the orginal skinheads. they were umm you could say "fathers and mothers " to the orginal skinhead. skinheads came from the mod and rude but scene. eather way great song and kinda describes me and my crew a fair amount.none of us have jobs. we drink way to much, and we basicly dont do anything walk around and hassle people

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tommy_gun
06-15-2004

Rated 0 
j0k3r_31 u said "rude boys and rude girls were like the orginal skinheads" but in the song Safe European Home, they say "Rudie comes from Jamaica"...because this CD came out a little over a year before London Calling did, it makes me think that they r making a reference to this song...

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queenjane
09-27-2004

Rated 0 
they are

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ilovethevalleyoh
10-26-2004

Rated 0 
the rudies [or rude boys] were the cats who were out and about being good fer nothin bums [don't take offence, i consider myself a rudie, too] when the ska scene in jamaica was just starting about. they were the ones starting riots and fights in the streets, pretty much. they were rude. now, that term is used to define anyone with sufficiant knowledge of ska or those who listen to ska. for those who are SAT inclined, rudie:ska :: hipster:indie

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Anatriptic
10-27-2004

Rated 0 
Actually, you're all wrong. A rudie, in jamaica, where the term came from, was a bad child that would be abandoned on the side of the road, and would never be allowed to return.

The term rudie was applied, because the people who listened to this type of music tended to be drunkards.

Anyway, please realize, that the clash did not play "ska."
thank you.

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bbzzdd
10-29-2004

Rated 0 
This song is not about rude boys, it's about being young and free and having adults criticize your lifestyle.

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Chinup
12-02-2004

Rated 0 
Anatriptic, they're not all wrong. Words, like music, progress and take on new meanings as time goes by. When the Clash and English white boys took on the term Rudy/Rude boy, it had a much different meaning 20 years later. In short, it became what ilovethevalleyoh said - people who like ska. Like it or not.

In addition, my bullshit detector went off when i read your "rude boy" definition (bad child that would be abandoned on the side of the road). I've never heard that. Anyone else? Do you have a source, or did you just make it up?

Anyway, please realize, that the clash did not play "ska."
but this is a ska, or at least ska-influenced song...that's why everyone's talking about ska in this thread. See feckless.

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Chinup
12-02-2004

Rated 0 
Anatriptic, they're not all wrong. Words, like music, progress and take on new meanings as time goes by. When the Clash and English white boys took on the term Rudy/Rude boy, it had a much different meaning 20 years later. In short, it became what ilovethevalleyoh said - people who like ska. Like it or not.

In addition, my bullshit detector went off when i read your "rude boy" definition (bad child that would be abandoned on the side of the road). I've never heard that. Anyone else? Do you have a source, or did you just make it up?

Anyway, please realize, that the clash did not play "ska."
but this is a ska, or at least ska-influenced song...that's why everyone's talking about ska in this thread. See feckless.

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Brat Moj
12-08-2004

Rated 0 
No, this is a reggae influenced song.

Ska is also reggae influenced, so there are similarities.

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Chinup
12-08-2004

Rated 0 
Actually, it's the other way around - reggae is ska influenced (ska predates reggae).
i see what you mean, but it's slightly more upbeat that reggae, and the multiple horn sections really remind me more of ska. Plus it's got that "he he he he" synchopation in there that I don't know I've ever heard in a reggae song. It's also got more of a rock than R&B feel. Give it a listen and see if I'm making sense. I'd even argue that a lot of modern ska bands modeled their sound around this very song (although sped up).

In any case, I'm sure it could be argued both ways.

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whofreak777
01-21-2005

Rated 0 
j0k3r_31 , I can see what you're saying with mods, and that is actually what I was thinking about when I heard this song, even though mds and punks are pretty different (yet very alike in some ways). The song reminds me of Punk and the Godafther by The Who, it seems to be a dialogue between a young person (or young people) and the older people who think they have some kind of power over the younger people. The Who's song had kind of a double meaning, like they were both the punk and the godfather, but this one is awesome too. Don't know about all this Jamaican stuff, but that's the way I see it, doe sit make sense to anybody else?

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swim_lil_fishie
12-03-2005

Rated 0 
Clear a few things up...cuz I've researched alot about ska and stuff like that: Reggae was created from ska.
Rudeboys are pretty much rebellious poor kids. You know how some ska fans today dress up in suits and pork pie hats? That's because original rudies were dressing like the upper classes. People, read the lyrics too 007(Shanty Town) by Desmond Dekker or the Specials.
The Clash is ska-influenced. THey are the original skunk, kinda like Operation Ivy, whos ska/punk.

And anatriptic...where on earth did that definition of a rude boy come from? All on the web, i have NEVER EVER heard that.

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summerlr
02-01-2006

Rated 0 
Ok well what do they mean by "Rudie Can't fail"?

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skacore_dude
02-10-2006

Rated 0 
I reckon there's an underlying factor to this song. Rude boys often turned to crime, and were somtimes even looked upon as gangsters. Check out the chorus... he's not going to the market to 'realise his soul', he's going to 'get what he doesn't have' by stealing some sky juice and then selling it to make money. Otherwise why else would they 'curse him' and 'try to press him till he hurts'?

Maybe 'Rudie can't fail' means he can't get caught stealing, but I dunno whether that's true, or just something I made up. But at least in general, 'Rudie can't fail' means that he can't fail his lifestyle. One of the verses basicly says 'why don't you get a job etc.', and rudie would fail if he did that.

There's loads of other songs that are worth a listen if you want to look further. Like 'Rude Boy's Outta Jail' and 'A Message To You, Rudy' by the Specials spring to mind.

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