Elevator! Going up!
In the gleaming corridors of the 51st floor
The money can be made if you really want some more
Executive decision-a clinical precision
Jumping from the windows-filled with indecision

I get good advice from the advertising world
Treat me nice says the party girl
Koke adds life where there isn't any
So freeze, man, freeze

It's the pause that refreshes in the corridors of power
When top men need a top up long before the happy hour
Your snakeskin suit and your alligator boot
You won't need a launderette, you can send them to the vet!

I get my advice from the advertising world
Treat me nice says the party girl
Koke adds life where there isn't any
So freeze, man, freeze

Koka Kola advertising and kokaine
Strolling down the Broadway in the rain
Neon light sign says it
I read it in the paper-they're crazy!
Suit your life, maybe so
In the White House-I know
All Over Berlin (they've been doing it for years)
And in Manhattan!

Coming through the door is a snub nose forty four
What the barrel can't snort it can spatter on the floor
Your eyeballs feel like pinballs
And your tongue feels like a fish
You're leaping from the windows-saying don't
Ayaiiiiirrrghhh!
Don't give me none of this!

I get good advice from the advertising world
Treat me nice says the party girl
Koke adds life where there isn't any
So freeze, man, freeze
Hit the deck!



Lyrics submitted by aebassist

Track duration: 01:48

"Koka Kola" as written by Joe Strummer, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon, Topper Headon

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

Lyrics powered by LyricFind


Koka Kola song meanings
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24 Comments

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  • 0
    General Comment:In general I agree with the other posters; the song has a few different subtexts all woven together with cocaine being the common theme:

    - modern multinationals pushing products on consumers through advertising and hooking us like they're selling drugs
    - the execs of these companies, the wall street yuppies, the world leaders, all actually being ON cocaine, feeding their own habit by fleecing everyone else
    - the brilliant reference to Coca-Cola's history of actually using cocaine to hook customers to tie it all together.

    The last line of the chorus ("freeze, man, freeze") and the last verse about the snub-nose .44 don't seem to fit at first, but they do make sense. The way I see it, he's saying you're getting robbed by coke-heads either way, whether one is coming through your door with a pistol, or you're paying for some product because advertising told you to. Every commercial you see is telling you to freeze and give up your money.
    Flag bluelemon70on December 21, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:YEAH! That's my favourite line off the whole album :)
    Flag NieblaAzulon January 02, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:"Your snakeskin suit and your alligator boot
    You won't need a launderette, you can send them to the vet!" has to be one of the more underrated lines in the clash history
    Flag mechpope13on December 06, 2008   Link
  • -1
    General Comment:its meant to be about drugs:

    "Those who had the Clash filed under "political rock" assumed "Koka Kola" was an indictment of capitalist mutil-nationals. Fooled ya. "It's about cocaine," says Joe. "The other day I was thinking of Wall Street and I remembered that tune. It was all about yuppies and how they got into coke.""
    Flag tricksinesson July 30, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:"Coke adds life" is another Coca-Cola slogan. I think the point in drawing the connection between the two cokes is to show that people buy them for the same basic reason - they have been tricked into believing it will make their lives more exciting.
    Flag Hirostratuson June 20, 2008   Link
  • +2
    General Comment:I agree with most everyone above. However, I don't think the meaning of the song has much to do with coca-cola the drink or the company, other than it's a good fit lyrically and ties in to the coporate world.

    To me, the core meaning of the song is an observation on being or becoming a career oriented person. I think the song describes the commitment required to being or becoming a high-power executive (or politician)...
    ie. The money can be made if you really want some more
    But often that commitment requires you to go against who you really are...
    ie. Executive decision-a clinical precision
    Jumping from the windows-filled with indecision
    And that people lose themselves (their "life") in that world, and they resort to drugs to give them excitement or an escape from it...
    ie. Coke adds life where there isn't any
    I don't understand the last verse or the "freeze, man freeze" parts, the only thing I think is the subject of the song was sick of his whole work-drugs-work-drugs world and "went postal".
    Flag kokobwareon September 11, 2007   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:The fact that Joe and the gang made the song to sound like a catchy advertising jingle may distract you from what the song is really about, which is what everyone before me has already said...

    ...Not much more I can add.
    Flag Paralesson July 21, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:i like micks backing vocals in this. very soft and soothing.
    Flag GIJOE77on January 28, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I pretty much agree with all of you. That it's bashing the corporate world and mainly coca cola companies for basically taking advantage of the public just to make money. Trading in morality for cash. The chorus seems like they're making fun of the people that go along with major companies to make money, like a lot of artists do with record companies. They take advice from the advertising world and then they go to a lot of parties and places that general public couldn't afford. Then they go on to talk about all of the places that money has brainwashed everyone that begin to touch it... like white house and berlin; some of the places where the executives of the world live. The part about the snub nosed 44 confuses me. It just sorta reminds me of people being so strung out on cocaine that they jump out of windows, haha. i doubt that's right though. Can anyone explain it? Please?
    Flag SpineofaJellyFishon July 01, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:its about how you buy things from advertises. (which are cleverly calculated by corporates). we don't really want to, and when you realize it, it drives you crazy. but you can't escape it, its everywhere.
    Flag saint_anonymouson January 22, 2006   Link

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