Something About England: Strummer/Jones (The Clash) song-by-song

That sounds good but doesn't stand up to even a nanosecond's inspection, but that's kind of your posting style so knock yourself out.

 

I like this one.
A great play on words.
Sums up 1976 in the UK.
There was a heatwave - the whole country - not just London - was burning.
The bin men were on strike.
It was boring. Pubs shut in the afternoon and at 11 pm, earlier possibly depending on where you lived.
You had to make your own entertainment to a great extent. Television.
Speed possibly.
And then a description of the area local to them.
4.5. 4.5. 4.5.
I really wanted to give it 999.

 

So there were only four bands around in 1977?

 

No, he forgot Sham 69

 

London's Burning

A call-to-arms if there ever was one. Marching beat - check. Topical lyrics coupled with incomprehensible asides - check. Blistering guitar solo - check. Call and response vocals courtesy of Joe and Mick - check.

5/5.

 

"London's Burning" - The backing vocals are a terrific offset to Joe's ranting lead. This track is a lot of fun and very enjoyable. 5/5

 

London’s Burning

This song definitely captures a feeling of boredom and pent-up energy that has no good outlet.

Do I like the song though? Not really, it’s a bit monotonous, and although that’s what it’s trying to evoke (monotony), it doesn’t make for an engaging listen for me.

 

I know, picky swine am I ...

 

Any road up, London's Burning gets a 4/5 from me..

 

"London's Burning" is an energetic punk and roll song. I like the idea of "burning with boredom". The guitars are great. Extra credit for its place as the b-side to the "Remote Control" 45 (although the LP version is better). 4.5/5

 

Thanks, you are right, of course.

 

To me "London's Burning" is the quintessential punk song, and I've loved it ever since I first heard it on The Story of The Clash Volume 1 back when I was 17. It's one of only 4 songs on this album that I'm prepared to give a perfect score to.

Mainly, I really like the lyrics (though I never understood the jabbering at the end -- now I do, though!). I quite like Joe's coda interjections and I guess they are probably more or less improvised (since they seem different in just about every version you hear.)

Anyway, to me, the whole post-modern dull urban wasteland thing is something I've always associated wtih punk rock, and it's a very different thing from the stuff you usually think of when you think of England.

With London you think of the touristy, historical areas, not the run down grey ugly areas (that of course exist in just about every big city in the world.)

So that is something I like, and I can appreciate it even coming from where I come from, although for me it was more like the business center in the town I lived in as a youth that was a complete wasteland -- however the town was utterly boring.

And I can relate to being young and bored and driving around or doing drugs to sort of get outside the monotony for a while.

I like the world the lyrics create, I like the way all three frontmen are singing during the chorus, and I love the guitar solo in the coda, which unexpectedly ramps the rock and roll energy up to full blast.

5/5

 

London's Burning - 5/5 - This is the top of the heap for early Clash. Hooky music and melody, lyrics that embody punk without sounding forced, Joe singing like he's got a mouthful of marbles. Great stuff.

 

Nah, I get bored with what is mediocre, let alone poor.

The Adverts got in on the act with "Bored Teenagers" and of course Buzzcocks with "Boredom".
...and Iggy with "I'm Bored".

 

London's Burning. Classic. 5/5.

 

I saw The Rolling Stones and Lynyrd Skynyrd during my long summer holiday in that heatwave.
I don't remember bin men strikes where I lived (North West England).
Pubs were open when you needed them: lunchtime, evenings,... lovely. After that, fish and chips on the way home or off to a night club.
Parties, holidays, fun in the park, football matches, exhibitions, books, movies, record collecting,...
Not boring at all.

 

Indeed. The song certainly presents a sense of place.

I didn't realize until revisiting these songs as part of this thread how prevalent, and integral to the band's sound, Joe's coda interjections* are.

For what it is worth, I learned years later that the response lyric on the chorus was "Dial 999" (the U.K. version of 9-1-1. I always thought that the lyric was "All n-n-n-n-n-night", which played in better to the song's theme of boredom and ennui

4.25/5

*Perfect descriptor, Lance.

 

I’m giving London’s Burning a solid 4. For many of the reasons other have said. Beyond it’s punk lyric it’s just bloody catchy and I’ve had it in my head since hearing it this morning.

 

"London's Burning"

Great lyrics and vocal delivery. They sound like they will bash in your head with a beer bottle if you don't like it. A punk rock classic. 4/5

 

I would never call this album atrocious. It deserves a re-evaluation! Its only problem is that it's surrounded by two better albums. I still think it's an essential Damned album.

 

Not as bad as it's reputation, but merely good.

 

I like it quite a bit, I don't hear it being drastically different from the albums that surround it. Every time I play it, I'm left scratching my head as to why it gets bad reviews. I'll have to give it a spin today since it's been awhile since I have listened to it.

 

The singles from the album (Problem Child, Don't Cry Wolf & Stretcher Case Baby) are pretty good.

 

Been busy with work so I missed a whole bunch of stuff. My retroactive evaluations:
- Remote Control (3.5/5)
- I'm So Bored with the USA (4.5/5)
- Hate and War (4/5)
- What's My Name (4/5)
- Deny (3.8/5)
- London's Burning (5/5)

To me, "London's Burning" is one of the best tracks on the album, a classic in the tradition of the original punk sound of '76-'77. Every single film clip of them doing this song -- and there's a whole bunch on YouTube -- is just exploding with adrenaline. Fantastic.

 

London's Burning is a great song for me. Not too fast and not too edgy with its pop leaning chorus. Mixolydian rock and blues chords in the chorus and it highlights the lyrics. That high G chord from Jones in the lead up to the verse sounds like a scream of frustration. Awesome song. I like the harmonies as well. The outro modulates but it does not sound cliche. The Who influence. Hits all of the right spots for me.
5/5