Career Opportunities

Album: The Clash (1977)
Play Video
  • The offered me the office, offered me the shop
    They said I'd better take anything they'd got
    Do you want to make tea at the BBC?
    Do you want to be, do you really want to be a cop?

    Career opportunities are the ones that never knock
    Every job they offer you is to keep you out the dock
    Career opportunity, the ones that never knock

    I hate the army an' I hate the R.A.F.
    I don't want to go fighting in the tropical heat
    I hate the civil service rules
    And I won't open letter bombs for you

    Bus driver
    Ambulance man
    Ticket inspector

    They're gonna have to introduce conscription
    They're gonna have to take away my prescription
    If they want to get me making toys
    If they want to get me, well, I got no choice

    Careers
    Careers
    Careers

    Ain't never gonna knock Writer/s: JOE STRUMMER, MICK JONES, PAUL SIMONON, TOPPER HEADON
    Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 4

  • Rodrigo from Paradise City, --This song talks about the lack of jobs, particularly, to youth.
    The line "I won't open letter bombs for you" is a reference to a Mick Jones former job where he opened letters for a British goverment department to make sure they weren't rigged with mailbombs.
  • Jay Wo from Dallas, Tx"I won't open letter bombs for you". Allegedy Joe Strummer was offered a job in a mail room for this purpose.
  • Don from NewmarketA different version of this song sung by children, was used on Sandanista!
  • Ralph from Newton, MaGreat f'ing song. One of the Clash's best.
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Gary Lewis

Gary LewisSongwriter Interviews

Gary Lewis and the Playboys had seven Top 10 hits despite competition from The Beatles. Gary talks about the hits, his famous father, and getting drafted.

Joe Ely

Joe ElySongwriter Interviews

The renown Texas songwriter has been at it for 40 years, with tales to tell about The Flatlanders and The Clash - that's Joe's Tex-Mex on "Should I Stay or Should I Go?"

16 Songs With a Heartbeat

16 Songs With a HeartbeatSong Writing

We've heard of artists putting their hearts into their music, but some take it literally.

Creedence Clearwater Revival

Creedence Clearwater RevivalFact or Fiction

Is "Have You Ever Seen the Rain" about Vietnam? Was John Fogerty really born on a Bayou? It's the CCR edition of Fact or Fiction.

Country Song Titles

Country Song TitlesFact or Fiction

Country songs with titles so bizarre they can't possibly be real... or can they?

Cy Curnin of The Fixx

Cy Curnin of The FixxSongwriter Interviews

The man who brought us "Red Skies" and "Saved By Zero" is now an organic farmer in France.