Lyrics for London Calling as interpreted by aebassist

London Calling Lyrics
London calling to the faraway towns
Now that war is declared and battle come down
London calling to the underworld
Come out of the cupboard, all you boys and girls

London calling, now don't look at us
All that phony Beatlemania has bitten the dust
London calling, see we ain't got no swing
Except for the ring of that truncheon thing

The ice age is coming, the sun's zooming in
Meltdown expected, the wheat is growing thin
Engines stop running, but I have no fear
Because London is drowning and I, I live by the river

London calling to the imitation zone
Forget it, brother, and go it alone
London calling upon the zombies of death
Quit holding out and draw another breath

London calling and I don't want to shout
But when we were talking I saw you nodding out
London calling, see we ain't got no highs
Except for that one with the yellowy eyes

The ice age is coming, the sun's zooming in
Meltdown expected, the wheat is growing thin
Engines stop running, but I have no fear
Because London is drowning and I, I live by the river

Now get this
London calling, yeah, I was there, too
And you know what they said?
Well, some of it was true!
London calling at the top of the dial
After all this, won't you give me a smile?
I never felt so much alike

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  • 127 Comments
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SPAZ316
04-23-2002

Rated 0 
best clash song? impossible to answer but this is definately the most well known one...the clash is just awesome!

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bosco9
05-07-2002

Rated 0 
i miss songs like this....the clash stood for soemthing and played and sang about it. if you don't like them, fine, but you gotta respect them. the fact that they are one of the greatest punk bands ever is just dessert.

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Joycey
05-19-2002

Rated 0 
For people who care, this song means a lot. Go to the East End on Monday night, you'll find a pub somewhere full of 30-somethings going mad to this one.

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dead_kennedys
06-18-2002

Rated 0 
yea....clash rocks old punk rocks

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strawdog
06-19-2002

Rated 0 
go the clash! they kick ass!!

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Guybrush
07-07-2002

Rated 0 
Definately the best song by The Clash I have heard yet. Too bad that punk got popular and died awhile ago, but it lives on in London Calling.

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ButtOfMalmsey
07-30-2002

Rated 0 
Has this song been ruined by its inclusion in a Jaguar commercial, or has its meaning been expanded? You decide!

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SuperSonic
08-18-2002

Rated 0 
call me a dumbass or watever,but does any1 no wat this song means....

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itltfan
08-25-2002

Rated 0 
i THINK(i use that strongly, cause im not sure) that its about ww2 when the germans were bombing london, all the stuff about war and the destruction of london and the war kinda supports that

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Filthy_Lipstick
08-26-2002

Rated 0 
yeah I agree with itltfan, this song is about war...

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butterflykiss84
08-29-2002

Rated 0 
This is such a fantastic song. I've always wanted to know what exatcly is meant by 'London is drowning, and I live by the river'. Is the persona happy that London is drowning and they don't live there, or are they happy beacuse they can watch London 'drown' ( as they live by the river) ? Anyone have any ideas? :]

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smallcheese
09-05-2002

Rated 0 
it is from the war (ww2) when the english/british called in to find out about how their troops where doing they started the call with' this is london calling'. i think this is the clash saying london calling how is the uk in our era?
'All that phoney Beatlemania has bitten the dust' as if to say the dream is over, this is what we are left with. the beatles are not what music is about anymore (in this time, i like the beatles) but punk moved away from that music scene and was about the everyday kid on the street, with out a job or much hope at that time of making something of themselfs.
'London calling, see we ain't got no highs
Except for that one with the yellowy eyes'
yellow from to much drugs or drink.

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Mainstreet
09-15-2002

Rated 0 
This song is renowned in british culture for being about the Apocalypse. The song was written in the late 70's during a heavy depression and hence is very negative London was rebelling in fashion and in music, the clash were in the middle and were echoing the fears of the nation's youth.
Strummer was dreaming about destruction and death as an idea to induce excitement from the monotony of the scene.

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Little_Matt
03-04-2003

Rated +1 
I only found this song when Joe Strummer died a couple of months back, I downloaded it, began to love it and absoloutely LOVED the tribute to Joe by Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, Dave Grohl and Steve Van Zandt at this years Grammys. It was simply awesome, if you love this song and missed the show, download it. It is hella worth it.

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Little_Matt
03-04-2003

Rated 0 
I only found this song when Joe Strummer died a couple of months back, I downloaded it, began to love it and absoloutely LOVED the tribute to Joe by Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, Dave Grohl and Steve Van Zandt at this years Grammys. It was simply awesome, if you love this song and missed the show, download it. It is hella worth it.

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Little_Matt
03-04-2003

Rated 0 
I only found this song when Joe Strummer died a couple of months back, I downloaded it, began to love it and absoloutely LOVED the tribute to Joe by Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, Dave Grohl and Steve Van Zandt at this years Grammys. It was simply awesome, if you love this song and missed the show, download it. It is hella worth it.

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Little_Matt
03-04-2003

Rated 0 
I only found this song when Joe Strummer died a couple of months back, I downloaded it, began to love it and absoloutely LOVED the tribute to Joe by Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, Dave Grohl and Steve Van Zandt at this years Grammys. It was simply awesome, if you love this song and missed the show, download it. It is hella worth it.

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Punker829
03-05-2003

Rated 0 
i am completely shocked that there isnt like billions of comments on this song!! Its a classic! But i missed the tribute at the grammys i was sooo pissed!! Anyway great song..

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MountainJew
03-06-2003

Rated 0 
Butterfly, the "river" they're talking about is the Thames (I assume) and since thats the only waste supple to London, i suppose that's how London is drowning.
And he lives by the Thames so he's drowning?

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Aneurysm1985
03-07-2003

Rated 0 
This song is so good...like many people it was the first Clash song I liked and it still sounds as good as ever today. Love the bass riff at the start. I would have to say that the Clash are the best rock band ever for the fact that they played passionate music about things they beleived in, released a huge volume of music in a short period of time then called it quits. They didn't reform and go on worldwide money-hungry tours like the Rolling Stones and dilute their previous work. The Clash are legends and it's such a shame that Joe Strummer is gone.

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OneThirdOfCTW
03-15-2003

Rated -1 
I absolutely LOVE London Calling, but they slaughtered it at the Grammys. The only one who had any right to be on that stage was Costello.

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zoeced
03-16-2003

Rated 0 
This song is one of my favourite songs of all time. As to what it is about:

< Engines stop running and the wheat is growing thin
A nuclear error, but I have no fear
London is drowning-and I live by the river>>

A nuclear error? The ice-age? Sun zooming in? This is all apocalpse imagery. Why? Because we were right in the middle of the Cold War. The Clash were about current politics, about the present, not the past.

And about London drowning...the river is the Thames, and the Clash lived in London. I don't know the exact meaning behind every line. But I always assumed this was about the Cold War

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LastGreatMistake
04-01-2003

Rated 0 
...London will soon be Calling again...

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Cherub Rock
04-02-2003

Rated 0 
yeah i agree with zoeced. it's an apocalyptic story, but it's also about the Clash's generation and their music ("phony Beatlemania has bitten the dust"). I guess its in response to the Cold war paranoia. the sex pistols also talk about in "Holidays in the sun"

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jack_knight
04-28-2003

Rated +1 
The Grammy performance of London Calling was a great tribute to the memory of Joe Strummer. The variety of musical styles represented on that stage just go to show how far the influence of the Clash reached. And don't forget they did it all in FIVE YEARS! Incredible...

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