Re: Anti-war songs

Date: 21 Mar 2003 22:32:33 -0800
Newsgroups: rec.music.rem
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> Am I the only one who always thought London Calling was an anti-war song in some way?
> The version Costello/Springsteen/Grohl/Van Zandt etc. did at the Grammys was very cool.
>
> London calling to the faraway towns
> Now that war is declared-and battle come down ....
Didn't see the tribute, but what a GREAT song. Glad you mentioned the
band. I believe 'Spanish Bombs' is certainly a war song (and a
strangely beautiful one). Other Clash songs attack war aspects -- the
political and human rights issues, say, of 'Sandinista', or the
anti-fascism of 'Rock the Casbah.'
London Calling , to me, is a 'call to arms' -- the definitive
'statement of purpose' for the combat spirit of punk. Their
free-wheeling, intense image-and-sensory overload lyrical style is
reminiscent of, among others, Jack Kerouac. I've often thought that
the stylized photo on the Lyric book to Clash On Broadway (1991) is an
homage to Kerouac -- Joe is typing a continuous paper roll on an old
manual typewriter (as did Kerouac, for a stream of uninterrupted
thoughts).
While our man Stipe has his 'rivers of suggestion', for my money, Joe
Strummer breaks the dam wide-open.
After asking the obvious (Who is London, and why/who are they calling? What's all this about?) here's roughly how I fished the song out of
the stream.
The chorus stands out. The apocalyptic cross-cut imagery {'ice age is
coming, sun zooming in, meltdown (nuclear?) expected, wheat growing
thin'} lends a needed sense of urgency to the call.
Certain images stand out. 'The truncheon thing', is a billy club used
by Bobbies (Brit cops). 'We ain't got no Swing' refers to a dead
musical style, but also suggests the circular path of the truncheon
used in, say, episodes of police brutality. 'Except for the Ring' and
'Except for the one with Yellowy eyes' should, then, come into better
focus given this context.
'Phony beatlemania' and 'Imitation Zone' suggest immediately,
conformity. Specifically, the tendencies in music business for
homogenization, both in terms of audio and visual appearance. Note
the thematic ring in the last line - 'I never felt so much alike'
(followed by Morse code).
One other image is particularly striking: the next-to-last line,
'after all this, won't you give me a smile...' -- cruel and horribly
patronizing, no matter who is talking to whom. 'Give me a smile' also
echoes, say, the command given by a fashion photographer.
Back to the question generated by the title: I see 'London' as the
old-establishment (monarchy, cops, military, business) and 'Calling'
as the manner of communicating ('call' also has an antique connotation
of a formal and slow request) -- that in the band's opinion occurs
long after important issues take hold (war, organized crime,
environment). The band flatly states it has no solutions ('don't look
to us...'), but rather is just bringing attention where it is finally
due by whatever means necessary: 'I don't want to shout...' (Vitriol)
and '...see we ain't got no highs except...' (Drugs use -- also like
Kerouac) .
It is a 'war song' of sorts, a call for a personal war -- to 'live by
the river'... however you may take that.
--Tad