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The Clash - Hate And War

The Clash - Hate And War Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: The Clash
Released: 1977

Hate And War Lyrics

Hate And War
The only things we got today
An' if I close my eyes
They will not go away
You have to deal with it
It is the currency
Hate, hate, hate, the hate of a nation
A million miles from home
And get war from the junkies
Who don't like my form
I'm gonna stay in the city
Even when the house fall down
I don't dream of a holiday
When hate an' war come around
Hate and war
The only things we got today
Hate and war
The only things

I have the will to survive
I cheat if I can't win
If someone locks me out
I kick my way back in
An' if I get aggression
I give 'em two times back
Every day it's just the same
With hate an' war on my back

Hate and war, I hate all the English, man
Hate and war, they're just as bad as wops
Hate and war, I hate all the politeness
Hate and war, I hate all the cops
Hate and war, I want to walk down any street
Hate and war, looking like a creep
Hate and war, I don't care if I get beat up
Hate and war, by any rotten Greek

Writer/s: JOE STRUMMER, MICK JONES, PAUL SIMONON, TOPPER HEADON
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Hate And War

Singer Joe Strummer noted in a 2002 interview with Uncut magazine that the title "Hate and War" was a direct reversal of the hippy phrase "Love and Peace," done to illustrate the contrast between the optimism and hope of the late 1960s and the grim reality of Britain in the '70s. "It was a good punk rock blast to have a song called that" he said.

In a 1991 interview, Strummer remembered that he "wrote the lyrics in a disused ice cream factory I'd broken into. It was just behind the Harrow Road in Foscote Mews. I wrote it in the dark by candlelight and the next day took it to Rehearsals and Mick put a tune to it."

The lyrics in question are an angry indictment of everyday working class life in London, and a rallying call to toughen up if you want to survive in the mean streets ("I have the will to survive, I cheat if I can't win. If someone locks me out, I kick my back in, an' if I get aggression, I give it to them two time back").

It also controversially uses racist terms such as "wops" and "Kebab Greeks." The lyrics are ambiguous as to their usage, although it would appear the song uses these terms to add to the gritty realistic feel of urban London at the time where such language may well have unfortunately been commonplace.

"Hate and War" was first introduced into The Clash's live set on the Anarchy tour of 1977, and was dropped by 1978, but after that would reappear every so often on tours - the Pearl Harbour tour in 1979 (and on their appearance on the Alright Now TV show), occasionally in Europe in 1980, once in Newcastle in 1982, all of their 1983 US Festival warm-up shows (and the festival itself), and their last festival shows in the summer of 1985 with Strummer handling all lead vocals after original singer on the song Mick Jones had been fired.

The Clash - Janie Jones

The Clash - Janie Jones Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: The Clash
Released: 1977

Janie Jones Lyrics

He's in love with rock'n'roll, woah
He's in love with gettin' stoned, woah
He's in love with Janie Jones, woah
He don't like his boring job, no

He's in love with rock'n'roll, woah
He's in love with gettin' stoned, woah
He's in love with Janie Jones, woah
He don't like his boring job, no

And he knows what he like to do
He knows he's gonna have fun with you
You lucky lady
And he knows when the evening comes
When his job is done, he'll be over in his car for you

He's in love with rock'n'roll, woah
He's in love with gettin' stoned, woah
He's in love with Janie Jones, woah
He don't like his boring job, no

In the in-tray, lots of work
But the boss at the firm always thinks he shirks
But he's just like everyone, he's got a Ford Cortina
That just won't run without fuel
Fill her up, Jacko

He's in love with rock'n'roll, woah
He's in love with gettin' stoned, woah
He's in love with Janie Jones, woah
He don't like his boring job, no

And the invoice it don't quite fit
No payola in his alphabetical file
Send for the government man!
And he's just gonna really tell the boss
He's gonna really let him know exactly how he feels
It's pretty bad

He's in love with rock'n'roll, woah
He's in love with gettin' stoned, woah
He's in love with Janie Jones, woah
He don't like his boring job, no, no, no

Let them know, let them know

Writer/s: STRUMMER, JOE / JONES, MICK / SIMONON, PAUL / HEADON, TOPPER
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Janie Jones

"Janie Jones" was one of the first ever songs written by The Clash, written not long after singer Joe Strummer had joined to initially form the band in 1976. The tune and chorus apparently came to guitarist Mick Jones whilst riding on the 31 bus from Harrow Road to Chalk Farm in London, with Strummer subsequently helping out with the rest of the lyrics.

Musically the song is very simple, with bassist Paul Simonon's one-note bassline in the choruses being very noticeable. It could be speculated that this is a deliberate musical attempt to emphasize the monotony and boredom of the lyrics, but more likely it's because at this stage Simonon was still learning to play bass properly and couldn't physically play anything more complicated!

The lyrics concern the average working life, and the struggle to try and find some fun in a boring office job. The protagonist attempts to have some fun by meeting up with a lady friend after hours ("An' he knows when the evening comes, when his job is done he'll be over in his car for you"), and also discusses how the dull job and abusive boss ("An' in the in-tray lots of work, but the boss at the firm always thinks he shirks") is necessary to cut a living ("But he's just like everyone, he's got a Ford Cortina that just won't run without fuel").

It also includes the first of many anti-establishment sentiments in Clash songs ("This time he's gonna really tell the boss, gonna really let him know exactly how he feels").

Period references include the aforementioned Cortina (a popular cheap car of the time), the sitcom Love Thy Neighbour ("Fill 'er up, Jacko!") and the 1950s Payola radio scandal ("There's no payola in his alphabetical file").

The title comes from the actual name of a controversial cabaret singer/vice queen from the 1950s and '60s who attracted controversy from being involved in the payola Radio One scandal in the 1960s in a "sex for airplay" scenario. Her other scandals included attending the premiere of a film in 1964 in a topless dress, and being arrested and jailed in 1973 for not just the Payola scandal but also for running a brothel and perverting the course of justice by threatening witnesses. She also had a partial pop career in the 1960s, including a single "Witches' Brew" which peaked at #46 in the UK Singles Chart. According to the band, they used her name because someone like her would seem impossibly glamorous to someone working in a dull office job. She subsequently became friends with the band, and together with The Clash and the Blockheads (credited jointly as The Lash) she released another single in 1982 entitled "House of the Ju-Ju Queen," which was also produced by Joe Strummer.

The song is notable in The Clash's canon in that it is the only song of theirs to be played from first show to last. The band played so many shows and had a policy of rotating their setlist night by night, so it's hard to say that it was played at every single show, but it certainly featured in 99% of their shows and tours to all accounts. It was played in their first shows in 1976, and in their farewell shows in 1985.

The simple nature of the song means that it is very easy to cover, and many cover versions of the song exist, including versions by the Rockabilly band The Farrell Brothers (for the This Is Rockabilly Clash album), Bush, The Paddingtons, The Slackers (ft. Chris Murray), Songdog, and famously by Pete Doherty's band Babyshambles.

The Babyshambles cover is notable for several reasons - lots of stars of the British indie rock scene feature on the track, including the Kooks, the Gulliemots and the Dirty Pretty Things. This was Carl Barat's first collaboration with Doherty since the breakup of The Libertines, although neither actually met during the recording process. The music video features the original Janie Jones of the title being chauffeured around London in a limousine with original Clash guitarist Mick Jones.

The Clash - London's Burning

The Clash - London's Burning Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: The Clash
Released: 1977

London's Burning Lyrics

London's Burning
London's burning

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

London's burning with boredom now
London's burning dial nine-nine-nine-nine-nine
London's burning with boredom now
London's burning dial nine-nine-nine-nine-nine

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

London's burning with boredom now
London's burning dial nine-nine-nine-nine-nine
London's burning with boredom now
London's burning dial nine-nine-nine-nine-nine

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 nine-nine-nine-nine-nine
London's burning with boredom now
London's burning dial nine-nine-nine-nine-nine

London's burning

Writer/s: STRUMMER, JOE / JONES, MICK / SIMONON, PAUL / HEADON, TOPPER
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

London's Burning

"London's Burning" (named after the popular nursery rhyme about the Great Fire of London in 1666) is mainly about the punk scene's main choice of drug at the time: amphetamine sulphate, AKA speed ("I can't think of a better way to spend the night, than speeding around underneath the yellow lights").

"I decided quite quickly that the up wasn't worth the down," noted singer Joe Strummer.

It is also one of The Clash's most overt songs about urban alienation, and while they and other first-generation Punk bands became stereotyped for writing songs about tower blocks and inner-city wastelands, this is actually the only Clash song on their first album to reference tower blocks directly ("The wind howls through the empty blocks looking for a home, I run through the empty stone 'cos I'm all alone").

Fellow punk band The Ruts would later go on to have a minor hit with the 1979 single "Babylon's Burning," and were quick to acknowledge the influence "London's Burning" had on that song.

First recorded at CBS Studios London for the sessions for their debut album, Mick Jones' improvised guitar solo near the end of the song was fiercely at odds with punk rock's minimalist attitude (which often opposed guitar solos at all, let alone complex ones). An alternative version, taken from the 'live' session in Dunstable for the "White Riot" promo film in April 1977 (live in that they were playing in a studio to a small assembled audience of journalists) was released as the B-side to the controversial "Remote Control" single in May 1977.

This song became a hugely popular live favorite, and remained in their set pretty much from its first ever performance at Screen on the Green in April 1976 (their third ever show). A common trend would involve Strummer changing the lyrics to match the town where they were performing; for example, the first time this occurred at a show in Birmingham in late 1976, the song became "Birmingham's Burning." This improvisation reached a peak at a show in Paris in 1977, where the song became "Paris Is Singing" and almost the entire original lyrics were disregarded in favor of new stream-of-consciousness ones, including a popular reference to local Punk band The Stinky Toys.

A hugely energetic version recorded at the Rock Against Racism show in April 1977 would later feature (with some studio overdubs) in the Rude Boy movie and on the From Here to Eternity live compilation album.

Several notable covers exist, including one by the '90s alt-rock band Silverchair.

The Clash - Protex Blue

The Clash - Protex Blue Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: The Clash
Released: 1977

Protex Blue Lyrics

Standing in the bog of a west end bar
Guy on the right leaning over too far
Money in my pocket gonna put it in the slot
Open up the pack see what type I got

I didn't want to hold you
I didn't want to use you
Protex, Protex Blue
All I want to do

It's a fab protective for that type of a girl
But everybody knows that she uses it well
It's a therapeutic structure I can use at will
But I don't think it fits my V.D. bill

I didn't want to hold you
I didn't want to use you
Protex, protex blue
All I want to do

Protex, protex blue
All I want to do

Sitting in the carriage of a bakerloo
Erotica my pocket, got a packet for you
Advert on the escalator on my way home
I don't need no skin flicks, I want to be alone

I didn't want to hold you
I didn't want to use you
Protex, protex blue
All I want to do, ooh, ooh, ooh

Johnny, Johnny!

Writer/s: STRUMMER, JOE / JONES, MICK / SIMONON, PAUL / HEADON, TOPPER
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Protex Blue

One of the handful of songs written just before Joe Strummer joined The Clash (back when the formative group was known as the London SS), guitarist Mick Jones had the song written even before bassist Paul Simonon met him. "It (Protex) was the brand in all the pub condom machines, it was a valid subject for a song" Jones noted wryly.

The song is laced with sniggery innuendo and is about a gent getting a condom in a pub toilet ("Money in my pocket gonna put it in the slot, open up the pack see what type I got") and pondering what exactly to use it for - the implication in the final verse being that it may be for his own purposes and not for use with a woman ("I don't need no skin flicks, I want to be alone").

"Protex Blue" holds a notable position in The Clash's canon as being the opening song at their first ever show. After this it was never consistently in the band's live set, and appeared sporadically down the years, including with a dramatic return to their set in the 16 Tons tour in 1980 with a radical rearrangement including a new middle section.

The Clash - What's My Name

The Clash - What's My Name Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: The Clash
Released: 1977

What's My Name Lyrics

What the hell is wrong with me?
I'm not who I want to be
I tired spot cream an' I tried it all
I'm crawling up the wall

What's My Name, name, name

I tried to join a ping-pong club
Sign on the door said "all full up"
I got nicked, fighting in the road
The judge didn't even know

What's my name, name, name

Dad go pissed so I got clocked
Couldn't hear the Tannoy so he lost the lot
Offers mum a bribe through the letter box
Drives you fucking mad

Now, I'm round the back of your house at night
Peeping in the window, are you sleeping tight?
I laugh at your locks with my celluloid strip
An' you won't know who came

What's my name, name, name

What's my name, name, name

Writer/s: STRUMMER, JOE / JONES, MICK / SIMONON, PAUL / HEADON, TOPPER
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

What's My Name

This is the one writing credit that original guitarist Keith Levene got from The Clash on the first album. He claimed to "have a hand" in every song on the first album, but this is disputed by the rest of the band. Joe Strummer always claimed that Levene was too busy doing drugs (heroin and speed, allegedly) to rehearse and hence his subsequent sacking from the band.

Levene claims to have written most of the song with his fellow guitarist Mick Jones in May 1976, and showed it to Sex Pistols singer John Lydon (with whom he would later form the post-punk band Public Image Ltd.). Strummer however remembers that "the only parts the song had when it came was, 'What's my name?' That's all the song was. I put in a few verses to keep the choruses apart."

Judging by early live bootlegs from 1976 to mid 1977, the lyrics were still being worked out (an early version featured a chilling coda about breaking into a house with a flick-knife).

The final lyrics to "What's My Name" are a brutal look at rejection and domestic violence ("Dad got pissed, so I got clocked") and depersonalisation to such an extent that the narrator is literally asking "what's my name?" - he can't even join a ping-pong club ("I went to join the ping-pong club, sign on the door said 'all full up'").

A live favorite from the first Clash album, this is one of the most raw punk tracks from the set when played in a live context; others being "White Riot," "Janie Jones" and "I'm So Bored With The USA." As such, the song remained in the Clash live canon from 1976 till around 1980, before being revived with the rejigged lineup in 1984 with Paul Simonon inexplicably promoted to lead vocals.

The version on the From Here to Eternity live compilation is taken from a Camden show in July 1978 and is the same one as seen in the Rude Boy movie, featuring extensive overdubs from the original scratchy sound take.

The Clash - Police and Thieves

The Clash - Police and Thieves Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: The Clash
Released: 1977

Police and Thieves Lyrics

We're going through a tight wind

Police and Thieves in the streets, oh yeah
Scaring the nation with their guns and ammunition
Police and thieves in the street, oh yeah
Fighting the nation with their guns and ammunition

From genesis to revelation
The next generation will be, hear me
From genesis to revelation
The next generation will be, hear me
And all the crowd comes in, day by day
No one stops it in any way
All the peacemaker, turn war officer
Hear what I say, he-e-ey

Police and thieves in the streets, oh yeah
Scaring the nation with their guns and ammunition
Police and thieves in the street, oh yeah
Fighting the nation with their guns and ammunition

From genesis to revelation
The next generation will be, hear me
Throw it up, throw it up, throw it up, throw it up, throw it up
Oh yeah
Throw it up, throw it up, throw it up, throw it up, throw it up
Oh yeah

And all the crowd come in, day by day
No one stop it in anyway
All the peacemaker, turn war officer
Hear what I say, he-e-ey

Police, police, police and thieves, oh yeah
Police, police, police and thieves, oh yeah
From genesis-is-is-is-is-is-is-is-is-is, oh yeah
Police, police, police, police and thieves, oh yeah

And I'm scaring, I'm fighting the nation, oh yeah
Shooting, shooting their guns and, guns and ammunition, oh yeah
Oh yeah, police, police, police and thieves, oh yeah
I'm scaring, oh yeah
I'm scaring the nation, police, police, police, police, oh yeah

Here come, here come, here come
The station is bombed, oh yeah
Get out, get out, get out you people
If you don't want to get blown up, oh yeah
The police, the police and the thieves, oh yeah
You got an extra grand
But you got trapped in the middle of police, police, police
Police, police, police, police
Police, police, police, police
Police, police, police, police
Police, police, police, police

Writer/s: MURVIN, JUNIOR / PERRY, LEE
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Police and Thieves Song Chart

This was written by the reggae artist Junior Murvin, who recorded it in his falsetto style in 1976. The Clash, who were huge reggae fans, covered the song. It's the first example of The Clash incorporating reggae into their repertoire, something that can be heard in original songs like "White Man in Hammersmith Palais" and "Guns of Brixton." At the time, reggae was the music of Britain's oppressed Jamaican population.

The album was The Clash's first, and it was released only in the UK. As the band gained popularity in the US, there became a huge demand for it there, and about 100,000 copies were sold in the States as an import. A greatly altered version was finally released in the US in 1979.

The Clash - Complete Control

The Clash - Complete Control Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: The Clash
Released: 1977

Complete Control Lyrics

They said release 'Remote Control'
But we didn't want it on the label
They said, "Fly to Amsterdam"
The people laughed but the press went mad

Ooh ooh ooh someone's really smart
Ooh ooh ooh Complete Control, that's a laugh

On the last tour my mates couldn't get in
I'd open up the back door but they'd get run out again
At every hotel we was met by the Law
Come for the party - come to make sure!

Ooh ooh ooh have we done something wrong?
Ooh ooh ooh complete control, even over this song

They said we'd be artistically free
When we signed that bit of paper
They meant let's make a lotsa mon-ee
An' worry about it later

Ooh ooh ooh I'll never understand
Ooh ooh ooh complete control - lemme see your other hand!

All over the news spread fast
They're dirty, they're filthy
They ain't gonna last!

This is Joe Public speaking
I'm controlled in the body, controlled in the mind

Total
See-o-n control - that means you!

Writer/s: STRUMMER, JOE / JONES, MICK / SIMONON, PAUL / HEADON, TOPPER
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Complete Control Song Chart

Mick Jones and Joe Strummer wrote this about their record company's heavy-handed management. It chronicles how The Clash signed a contract and immediately lost control of their music.

The Clash were upset that CBS made them release a song called "Remote Control" as a single, and came up with this as retaliation. So in the UK in 1977, The Clash released a single they didn't like followed by another one (this) that ridiculed the decision to release the previous one. From that point on, The Clash went to great measures to get control of how their music was distributed.

This was the band's first album, but their record company would not release it in the US. This was yet another decision The Clash disagreed with.

The anti-establishment statements The Clash made on this song gave them a lot of credibility with their fans. As punk was ending, many bands were either fading away or changing their style, which was seen as selling out. The Clash managed to stay true to their values and gained a great deal of respect by doing so.

In the US, this album sold about 100,000 copies as an import, making it the biggest-selling import album of the '70s.

Mick Jones wrote most of the song, despite the fact it's credited as a Strummer/Jones joint composition. Joe Strummer ad libbed the "You're my guitar hero" and "This is Joe Public Speaking!" bits, and was so proud of Jones' efforts that except for a reference to a disastrous promotional trip to Amsterdam, he declared them finished.

This was not included in the original UK release of The Clash in 1977. When the album was released in the US in 1979, this was one of five songs added.

The Clash recorded the song at Sarn East Studios in Whitechapel in August of 1977, and it was drummer Topper Headon's first recording with the band since he replaced Terry Chimes earlier that year. It was produced by Jamaican producer Lee "Scratch" Perry, and it's up for dispute just how much he contributed to the sound - engineer Micky Foote claimed that "he was s--t hot - he nearly blew the control room up," whereas Jones claims that "we went back and fiddled about with it. It was good what Lee did, but his echo sounded underwater to us. We brought out the guitars and made it sound tougher."

The title came from a conversation the Clash's manager Bernie Rhodes had with Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren. Joe Strummer noted in a 1991 interview that "Bernie and Malcolm got together and decided they wanted to control their groups... Bernie had a meeting in the Ship in Soho, after the Anarchy Tour. He said he wanted complete control. I came out of the pub with Paul (Simonon) collapsing on the pavement in hysterics at those words."

This was first played live, along with "Clash City Rockers," at Mont de Marsan in August 1977 on their European tour, and remained a firm fan favorite until the end of their career - first as a set opener, then as the first song of the encore. A live version of the song played in New York in June 1981 is the opening track on the live compilation album From Here to Eternity.

A bizarre cover version of the song by Kowalskis appears on the 1999 tribute album Backlash.