Clampdown

Album: London Calling (1979)
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  • The kingdom is ransacked
    The jewels all taken back
    And the chopper descends
    They're hidden in the back
    With a message written on a half-baked potato
    The spool goes 'round
    Sayin' I'm back here in this place
    And I could cry
    And there's smoke you could click on

    What are we gonna do now?

    Taking off his turban, they said, "is this man a Jew?"
    'Cause they're working for the clampdown
    They put up a poster saying: "We earn more than you
    We're working for the clampdown
    We will teach our twisted speech
    To the young believers
    We will train our blue-eyed men
    To be young believers"

    The judge said, five to ten, but I say double that again
    I'm not working for the clampdown
    No man born with a living soul
    Can be working for the clampdown
    Kick over the wall 'cause government's to fall
    How can you refuse it?
    Let fury have the hour, anger can be power
    Do you know that you can use it?

    The voices in your head are calling
    Stop wasting your time, there's nothing coming
    Only a fool would think someone could save you
    The men at the factory are old and cunning
    You don't owe nothing, boy, get runnin'
    It's the best years of your life they want to steal

    But you grow up and you calm down
    And working for the clampdown
    You start wearing blue and brown
    You're working for the clampdown
    So you got someone to boss around
    It make you feel big now
    You drift until you brutalize
    Make your first kill now

    In these days of evil Presidentes
    Working for the clampdown
    But lately one or two has fully paid their due
    For working for the clampdown
    Ha! Get along! Get along! (working for the clampdown)
    Ha! Get along! Get along! (working for the clampdown)

    Yeah, I'm working hard in Harrisburg
    Working hard in Petersburg
    Working for the clampdown
    Working for the clampdown
    Ha! Get along! Get along!
    Beggin' to be melted down

    (Get along! Get along!)

    Work, work, work
    And I'll give away no secrets
    Work, work, more work, more work
    Work, work, work, work, work

    Who's barmy now? Writer/s: Joe Strummer, Mick Jones, Paul Gustave Simonon, Topper Headon
    Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 4

  • AnonymousIt's about war
  • Wes From Regular Chino, Ca But Not from Chino HillsAmazing analysis but i think it’s a bit of a stretch. If these guys spoke out specifically about the record company they were under screwing them, then maybe it’s in the realms of possible but these guys were more socially political in there lyrics. About others suffering and them relating with a message. Consider ‘straight to hell’ or ‘Spanish bombs’ for example. This song was inspired apparently from a nuclear meltdown at a plant in PA. Imo It’s definitely a repressive state kinda song with a message to say rise above
  • Jeff from Berkeley"You start working for the blue and brown" is NOT about a record company. Sometimes, songs about the repressive state are ... songs about the repressive state.
  • Steve from Chino Hills, CaIt sounds like a song about anarchy. Yet I've been surprised to learn that strongly worded songs (Everything counts-Depeche Mode, Death on two legs-Queen) are often about the record company or management. Equating having a recording contract and selling out your art in the name of profits for a large corporation to being suppressed by a Nazi regime probably doesn't go over well. I think what this song is saying is that having a recording contract is enticing from the outside but once your beholding to the label you'll regret it. The factory (record company) is full of old, cunning men and evil presidents who have paid their dues to Satan by working in the industry. The "kick over the wall "line" I believe is aimed at industry censorship by the state run radio of the BBC. No airplay means no exposure.
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