According To The Rock The Casbah Songfacts Clash Drummer Topper Headon Wrote The Music And The Original Lyrics. Vocalist Joe Strummer Then Decided To Take Headon's Lyrics In A Different Direction To Tell The Story Of An Arab Ruler The Shereef Who Hates Music But Is Defied By The Citizens . According To Former Clash Co-Manager Kosmo Vinyl Headon's Original Words Were A Filthy Ode To His Girlfriend. Vinyl Recalled To Rolling Stone "He Had Really Pornographic Lyrics For It If I Remember Correctly. Very Very Pornographic Lyrics." Strummer's Inspiration For Re-Working The Song Came From The Clash's Other Manager Bernie Rhodes Who Asked The Band "Does Everything Have To Be As Long As A Raga?" After A Particularly Long Take Of The Track "Sean Flynn." Strummer Told Rolling Stone Shortly Before He Died In 2002 "I Got Back To The Hotel That Night And Wrote On A Typewriter 'The King Told The Boogie Men You Gotta Get That Raga Drop.' I Looked At It And For Some Reason I Started To Think About What Someone Had Told Me Earlier That You Get Lashed For Owning A Disco Album In Iran."