London Calling - The Clash

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