Beto O’Rourke is currently running for a U.S. Senate seat in Texas against Ted Cruz, and in a recent debate, he made a reference to The Clash’s “Clampdown,” saying of Cruz, “He’s working for the clampdown, and the corporations, and the special interests. He’s not working for the people of Texas.” Over the weekend, he was at the Buffalo Tree Festival, an event that doubled as a political rally, and festival performer Spoon decided to give a nod to O’Rourke’s The Clash reference with a cover of “Clampdown.”
Spoon leader Britt Daniel said that O’Rourke’s quote inspired the band to learn the song, which is critical of capitalism and fascism. O’Rourke is apparently a fan of the cover and of the band, as they all sported wide smiles in a photo from backstage, which the band posted and captioned, “Thank you Dallas for all the energy & great times last night with [O’Rourke]. Early voting starts October 22. We can do this! #notworkingfortheclampdown.”
O’Rourke has some serious music cred, by the way: Aside from the recent political support he’s gotten from Spoon and Willie Nelson, he was in a punk rock band called Foss back in the ’90s. That group also featured Cedric Bixler Zavala, who went on to be in the Grammy-winning group The Mars Volta.
Watch Spoon cover The Clash’s “Clampdown” above.
