The Clash

Primary members: Joe Strummer, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon, Tory Crimes (born Terry Chimes)
Band Biography
Albums of focus: The Clash (1977)
Songs for study:

 

"Bored with the USA" - from The Clash (1977)

Yankee soldier
He wanna shoot some skag
He met it in Cambodia
But now he can't afford a bag

Yankee dollar talk
To the dictators of the world
In fact it's giving orders
An' they can't afford to miss a word

I'm so bored with the U...S...A... But what can I do?

Yankee detectives
Are always on the TV
'Cos killers in America
Work seven days a week

Never mind the stars and stripes
Let's print the Watergate Tapes
I'll salute the New Wave
And I hope nobody escapes

I'm so bored with the U...S...A...
But what can I do?

Move up Starsky
For the C.I.A.
Suck on Kojak
For the USA

 

"White Riot" - from The Clash (1977)

 

White riot - I wanna riot
White riot - a riot of my own
White riot - I wanna riot
White riot - a riot of my own

Black people gotta lot a problems
But they don't mind throwing a brick
White people go to school
Where they teach you how to be thick

An' everybody's doing
Just what they're told to
An' nobody wants
To go to jail!

All the power's in the hands
Of people rich enough to buy it
While we walk the street
Too chicken to even try it

Everybody's doing
Just what they're told to
Nobody wants
To go to jail!

Are you taking over or are you taking orders?
Are you going backwards
Or are you going forwards?

"London's Burning" - from The Clash (1977)

London's burning! London's burning!

All across the town, all across the night Everybody's driving with full headlights
Black or white turn it on, face the new religion Everybody's sitting 'round watching television!

London's burning with boredom now
London's burning dial 99999

I'm up and down the Westway, in an' out the lights What a great traffic system - it's so bright
I can't think of a better way to spend the night
Then speeding around underneath the yellow lights

London's burning with boredom now
London's burning dial 99999

Now I'm in the subway and I'm looking for the flat This one leads to this block, this one leads to that The wind howls through the empty blocks looking for a home
I run through the empty stone because I'm all alone

London's burning with boredom now... London's burning dial 99999