Clash City Rockers
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| "Clash City Rockers" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by The Clash | ||||
| from the album The Clash (US ver.) | ||||
| B-side | "Jail Guitar Doors" | |||
| Released | 17 February 1978 | |||
| Recorded | October–November 1977, CBS Studios, London | |||
| Genre | Punk rock | |||
| Length | 3:55 | |||
| Label | CBS CBS 5834 | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Joe Strummer and Mick Jones | |||
| Producer(s) | Mickey Foote | |||
| The Clash singles chronology | ||||
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"Clash City Rockers" is a song and single by The Clash. First released in February 1978 with the b-side "Jail Guitar Doors," a re-worked version of a song from Joe Strummer's pub rock days. It was later included as the opening track of the belated US version of the band's eponymous debut album.
Background
The song was first played live at Mont De Marsan (Landes – France), in August 1977 and recorded the same year in the band's October and November sessions at CBS Studios. Following an argument at the end of the band's Get Out of Control Tour, Paul Simonon and Mick Jones were not on speaking terms, leaving Joe Strummer as a middle-man, relaying instructions and insults from one to the other. In December, producer Mickey Foote (Joe Strummer's old sound-man from the 101'ers and producer of The Clash and "White Riot") increased the speed of the tape for the finished master of the song after manager Bernie Rhodes decided the song sounded "a bit flat." This technique, known as "varispeeding," rendered the song one semitone higher in pitch. Strummer and Jones were in Jamaica at the time. When they heard the finished result, Foote was sacked. With the exception of the 2000 re-issue of the US version of The Clash, the original version of the song (at the proper speed) has been used on every re-release since.
The Clash's first overt attempt at self-mythology, "Clash City Rockers" is, by and large, a song about positivity and moving forward, and revisits themes common in Clash songs of the era, specifically dead-end employment and having a purpose in life. The middle part of the song is based on an old nursery rhyme, "Oranges and Lemons", and after suggesting the groovers of the day owe them a move ("You owe me a move say the bells of St. Groove") namechecks David Bowie, Gary Glitter and Prince Far-I; the irony of the line "when I am fitter say the bells of Gary Glitter" following his scandal was not lost on Mick Jones, who joked about it in December 2003 of Uncut magazine:
- "The Gary Glitter lyric? Yeah, that was before the internet. [grins]"
The main riff
The main riff is very similar to the main riff of The Who's debut single "I Can't Explain", and sounds like it has been expanded by The Clash. This riff was reworked by the band again for "Guns on the Roof" on their second album Give 'Em Enough Rope.[citation needed]
Personnel
"Clash City Rockers"
- Joe Strummer - lead vocal, pianos
- Mick Jones - guitars, backing vocals
- Paul Simonon - bass guitar
- Topper Headon - drums
"Jail Guitar Doors"
- Mick Jones - lead vocals, backing vocal, lead guitars
- Joe Strummer - rhythm guitar, backing vocal
- Paul Simonon - bass guitar
- Topper Headon - drums
Charts
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References
- Sources
- Topping, Keith (2004) [2003]. The Complete Clash (2nd ed.). Richmond: Reynolds & Hearn. ISBN 1-903111-70-6. OCLC 63129186.
