Campaign To Liberate The Song "Jessica"

I get a lot of emails from many different sources - some resulting from this blog, many from council stuff or other local campaigns - averaging over a 100 a day - some days many more - I do try and respond where I can - however while this one below may not be the most important campaign it did make me smile....

Photo: Clarkson pied back in 2005 when receiving a doctorate see more photos here.

Dear Sir The theme tune to the BBC TV Programme Top Gear , "Jessica", was written by Dickey Betts (Allman Brothers Band) as a tribute to Django Reinhardt. Django was a highly respected jazz guitarist of the "Hot Club of France". He was a disabled Belgian Sinto Gypsy who lived through the Nazi regime unlike many of his compatriots. Traditional gypsy culture is about nature not the air-poisoning gases from cars !! I'm trying to ask various organisations to make a request to Jeremy Clarkson and his "petrol-head" supporters to have some respect and courtesy and give this piece of music back to the spirit of life from which it came and not the excesses of self-importance and selfishness that his programme represents. Can you mention it to your group ?

I have no love for Clarkson but I have no time to be campaigning on this one! Certainly Clarkson's rants have done harm to many campaigns but the use of this song is perhaps amongst the least of his 'crimes' - however good luck to them reclaiming it! And perhaps in the process it will highlight the absurdity of using this music for this programme - so full of life in contrast to the message Clarkson is really selling. Mind I did love the story earlier this year when he had to eat his words over ID cards (see here).

I do have a disregard for the environment. I think the world can look after itself and we should enjoy it as best as we can."
Jeremy Clarkson

Clarkson, a lover of the SUV, sprung to mind when I read another of my emails received this weekend - a link to Saturday's The Guardian article on SUVs and the Hummer - read it here - now I'm not sure of the truth in this - indeed I am not sure how helpful any of this is...but well...here is a brief quote from the article...

Critics of the SUV tend to assume that those who drive them would be constitutionally incapable of such selflessness, which would be an annoyingly smug point of view if it weren't for the fact that market research conducted for the automakers themselves backs it up....The average SUV owner, according to studies cited in Bradsher's book, is "apt to be self-centred and self-absorbed, with little interest in their neighbours or communities."In addition, they are "insecure and vain. They are frequently nervous about their marriages and uncomfortable about parenthood. They often lack confidence in their driving skills ... they tend to like fine restaurants a lot more than off-road driving, seldom go to church, and have limited interest in doing volunteer work to help others....In the case of the Hummer, the researchers reached another telling conclusion. Hummers, the GM researchers found, "tended to appeal to people who never performed military service, but wished they had."