Rocktrospectiva: The Clash Iconical Single "London Calling" Turns 45

Released on 7 December 1979 "London Calling" was released as a single from the band's 1979 double album of the same name. This apocalyptic, politically charged rant features the band's post-punk sound, electric guitar and vocals.

 

Written by Joe Strummer and Mick Jones. The title alludes to the BBC World Service's station identification: "This is London calling ...", which was used during World War II, often in broadcasts to occupied countries.

 

The lyrics reflect the concern felt by Strummer about world events with the reference to "a nuclear error" just like the incident at Three Mile Island, which occurred earlier in 1979. Joe Strummer has said: "We felt that we were struggling about to slip down a slope or something, grasping with our fingernails. And there was no one there to help us."

 

The line "London is drowning / And I live by the river" comes from concerns that if the River Thames flooded, most of central London would drown, something that led to the construction of the Thames Barrier. Strummer references police brutality in the lines "We ain't got no swing / Except for the ring of that truncheon thing" as the Metropolitan Police at the time had a truncheon as standard issued equipment. 

The lyrics also reflect desperation of the band's situation in 1979 struggling with high debt, without management and arguing with their record label over whether the London Calling album should be a single or double album. The lines referring to "Now don't look to us / Phoney Beatlemania has bitten the dust" reflects the concerns of the band over its situation after the punk rock boom in England had ended in 1977.

 

The sinlge "London Calling" was recorded at Wessex Studios located in a former church hall in Highbury in North London. This studio had already proved to be a popular location with the Sex Pistols, the Pretenders and the Tom Robinson band. The single was produced by Guy Stevens and engineered by Bill Price. 

 

London Calling" was released as the only single from the album in the UK and reached No. 11 in the charts in January 1980, and becoming at once the band's highest-charting single until "Should I Stay or Should I Go" hit No. 1 ten years later. The song did not make the U.S. charts, as "Train in Vain" was released as a single and broke the band in the United States, reaching No. 23 on the pop charts.

Also "London Calling" was the first Clash song to chart elsewhere in the world, reaching the top 40 in Australia. 

 

The success of the single and album was greatly helped by the music video shot by Don Letts showing the band playing the song on a boat (Festival Pier), next to Albert Bridge on the south side of the Thames, Battersea Park in a cold and rainy night at the beginning of December 1979.