LONDON CALLING - The Clash (Listen to it on You Tube Below)
London calling to the faraway towns
Now war is declared - and battle come
down
London calling to the underworld
Come out of the cupboard,you boys
and girls
London calling, now don't look to us
Phoney Beatlemania has
bitten the dust
London calling, see we ain't got no swing
'Cept for the
reign of that truncheon thing
CHORUS
The ice age is coming, the sun's
zooming in
Meltdown expected, the wheat is growing thin
Engines stop
running, but I have no fear
Cause London is burning and I, I live by the
river
London calling to the imitation zone
Forget it, brother, you can
go at it alone
London calling to the zombies of death
Quit holding out -
and draw another breath
London calling - and I don't wanna shout
But while
we were talking I saw you nodding out
London calling, see we ain't got no
high
Except for that one with the yellowy eyes
CHORUS x2
The ice
age is coming, the sun's zooming in
Engines stop running, the wheat is
growing thin
A nuclear era, but I have no fear
Cause London is drowning
and I, I live by the river
Now get this
London calling, yes, I was
there, too
An' you know what they said? Well, some of it was true!
London
calling at the top of the dial
And after all this, won't you give me a
smile?
London Calling
I never felt so much alike, like-a,
like-a...
..................................................
One of the most brilliant songs of the punk era, a total classic with a brilliant lyric.
Again the myths of London are challanged. In White Room - there's the line 'no gold Pavement', in this one one we have the myth of 'swinging London' is replaced by the more realistic -
London calling, see we ain't got no swing
'Cept for the
reign of that truncheon thing
and later the song London's Burning is given a contemporary meaning.
The end and the failure of the 60's hippie dream of an alternative society and 'phoney Beatle- mania' are announced and the consequences have to be faced of not heading the environmental warnings that came out of the 60's awareness - Global warning and nuclear castastrophe are on our doorstep -
The ice age is coming, the sun's
zooming in
Meltdown expected, the wheat is growing thin
Engines stop
running, but I have no fear
Cause London is burning and I, I live by the
river
But hope is at an end - the Clash want to wake up the zombies of death and tells them to
Quit holding out -
and draw another breath
Others have said about the lyric -
- Clash singer Joe Strummer was a news junkie, and many of the images of doom in
the lyrics came from news reports he read.
- The title came from the BBC World Service's radio station identification: "This
is London calling..." The BBC used it during World War II. (thanks, Stefan -
Houston, TX)
- The line, "London is drowning and I live by the river" came from a saying in
England that if the Thames river ever flooded, all of London would be under
water. Joe Strummer was living in a high-rise apartment, so he would have been
OK.
- The line about the "Nuclear Error" was inspired by the Three Mile Island nuclear
reactor meltdown in March, 1979.
- In his 2005 tour, Bob Dylan suprised his audience,
randomly singing the first first verse and chorus of this song at his London
shows.
- I think what you have all said is right and Im sure
that the song has the meaning of these things. However, I think alot of you have
overlooked the fact that this song (also) describes the battle of britain fought in WW2
against Nazi Germany. When it says "London Calling to the far away towns" it is
talkin about how Germany constantly bombed London and since Germany occupied
most of Europe, Britain had to call on "far away towns" for help. When the song
says "Now war is declared, and battle come down" This is refering to how Germany
constantly bombed Britain (London) at night the battle was coming down on them.
Also it says "London Calling to the underworld come out of the cupboard u boys
and girls" this is talking about the citizins of London would hide undergroud in
the subway to get away from the bombings in London and often people would put
their little "boys and girls" in the subway. When the songs says "Now dont look
to us" this is reference to how most of the world at this point looked to
Britain to be the muscle in a war and win it for the allies, many European
countries (including France the 2nd powerhouse) had fallen to Nazi Germany and
Britain had constant bombing and was trappped on the island so the world coulnt
look to them to save them. I am not saying the whole song is about this but
thats what the start of it is .. If u read this thanks
-
Ace, Kingston , Canada - Joe probably wrote these lyrics so we would have
this exact dicussion about its implications Such a clever man he was. Long Live
Joe strummer
- Pascale, Perth, Australia - Jumping on the tube today, after the London Bombing,
this came on random on my walkman. Great taunting anti-terrorist statement in
the first verse! "London calling to the faraway towns Now war is declared, and
battle come down London calling to the underworld Come out of the cupboard, you
boys and girls"
- Sarah, London, England - Joe once did a radio documentary on the BBC where he
explained what this song was about. At the time, there were many 'doom
prophecies' being put forward by the intellectuals and scientists, many of them
contradictory (eg the sun is zooming in, yet the ice age is coming?!). Joe was
making fun of these people, while also urging the punks to drop the cliches and
expand their horizons a bit. At the time he was living at his gfs flat in a
tower block on the worlds end estate, which is right by the thames river, and
they had just built the thames flood barrier so he was theoretically safe, hence
"london is drowning but i live by the river".
-
Mudassir, Bolton, England
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