The song “London Calling” was given to this world by the British punk band The Clash. This is practically the most famous song of the band. Later only “Should I Stay or Should I Go” was comparable to it.
The song was released as the title track on the LP of the same name in 1979. The hit conquered the English charts and, for the first time in the history of the band, made its way to the foreign hit lists in the USA, Sweden and Australia.
The prerequisites for the birth of “calling London”
On the eve of the creation of The Clash’s song “London Calling”, in 1979, the band was in crisis. The members were simultaneously pressured by quarrels with their record label over money, the moralizing of producer Bernard Rhodes, and the decline of the British punk movement.
All this forced the band to look for new solutions. The musicians began to draw inspiration from the genres of jazz, rockabilly, reggae – the latter would be noticeable in the song about calling London, which the band had yet to record. And instead of Rhodes, Guy Stevens was invited to produce the new album.
The latter was notable, even for punks, for his unconventional and anarchic methods of work. And he had a passion not only for music, but also for alcohol and drugs. In addition, his first collaboration with the band, in 1976, was unsuccessful.
But the fact that Guy was the producer and manager of Mott The Hoople, the favorite band of Mick Jones, guitarist and vocalist of The Clash, played a decisive role.
True, at the same time as the producer, they had to change the studio, moving from a cozy room in the Camden district to the Wessex Studios, which had been converted for a studio.
But the new studio was in the center of London, and later it was taken over by several other famous bands. Among them were Sex Pistols.
The band started recording the record in the summer of 1979. And for the first time the fans could hear the hit of The Clash “London Calling” in December of the same year.
The main impulse to writing the composition became the impressions of the band members from the greatest nuclear catastrophe in America – the Nuclear Power Plant Three Mile Island (March, 1979).
What is this song about?
The authors of the hit are The Clash vocalists/guitarists Joe Strummer and Mick Jones. It reflects the problems of the band, the themes of national conflicts, unemployment, and a number of current events in the world and Britain at the time.
The literal translation of The Clash “London Calling” is “London Calling” or “London Calling”. The title was borrowed from the BBC station’s call sign – “This is London calling…”. With this phrase radio DJs began broadcasting during World War II.
The text of “London Calling” is a visual reflection of the advice not to read newspapers if you want to stay calm and healthy. All lines are taken from disturbing news headlines and translated into poetics.