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

Inspired by this thread I stumbled across a 6music interview with Mick Jones last night where he chose songs and discussed his career, the last song he chose was Help by The Beatles. Why this song? asked the interviewer. Because The Beatles have always been one of my favourite bands, said Mick.

 

I don't think they were looking down on anyone. They're singing about the desperation of menial, dead-end jobs - I've done a few of those myself. They're not singing about the people who do that sort of work. If anything, I interpret the lyric as being in sympathy.

 

Yes, opening letter bombs doesn't seem like a very good and noble job to me!

 

A cultural reference non-Brits might not have picked up on: there was a 'talent' show here in the 70s, maybe even longer. Mostly comically inept performers, anything from jugglers, ventriloquists & contortionists to musicians of various types. Like a very, very lo-rent X-Factor. Its name? 'Opportunity Knocks'

 

Yes indeed, good point. Lasted till 1990! Les Dawson was discovered on it and a whole host of other people - mostly, but not all, terrible. Especially for the SHF there is a Beatles connection:

A reference to the show can be heard on the Beatles' first live performance of "Yesterday" at Blackpool Night Out. George Harrison introduces the song, saying "For Paul McCartney of Liverpool, opportunity knocks!". This version appears on Anthology 2.

 

"Career Opportunities" - The great songs just keep coming. Short track, yet everything is arranged and performed with perfection. 5/5

 

I think this it right.
They were in a situation, on benefits (probably) and being forced to take menial lower paid jobs by the authorities.
If you didn’t your benefits could be stopped.
They said I’d better take anything they’d got…..

They’ll have to take away my prescription….
If you were ill and had a prescription you would be on a benefit where they wouldn’t be able to force you into work.
If they took it off you - and they could if they didn’t believe you were ill - you would be back in the job market and able to be forced into work.
That’s what it was like at that time.

I won’t open letter bombs for you….
At the time the IRA were targeting government offices with letter bombs.
There were no detection facilities to speak of and so junior staff were employed to open Government mail.

The song is another fantastic narrative of the time.
Great tune too.
4.5.

And the more you go through the songs on the LP the more you realise it’s the story of and reaction to what was happening in the UK at the time.
It’s a musical historic document.

 

Career Opportunities - 5/5 - Just terrific. You can tell in how these songs are put together that Mick and Joe had actually been playing & writing for a few years before the Clash, there is some real craftsmanship here. Great lyrics. Another excellent one for beginning guitar players to follow along with.

 

"Career Opportunities" moves at breakneck pace all the way until the hard stop, a trademark of sorts of the late '70s punks. I thought "take away my prescription" referred to drugs which, again, seems eerily relevant in a slightly different context today. 4/5

Says who?

Well, The Clash (or the Pistols, for that matter) wouldn't have touched this at the time. Leave it to The Damned! But it was released in '76, so I guess it's OK.

 

Career Opportunities
One of the best songs written by Jones/Strummer.
Musically it is tremendous, with a fantastic melody.
the lyrics are very intelligent, nothing is left over or lacking when one listens to the song carefully. I love it, and is one of my all-time favorites.
So... 5/5

 

Er, the Clash?

 

Of course they said it, but did they mean it? Maybe their lyric was a swipe at The Damned.

Sad to say that, for me, much of their early fundamental attitudes and ideals just didn't hold up all that well over time. I was a believer but have felt let down at times and, unfortunately, that colors my view of the band a bit today. I still like them a lot and think they made a lot of great music, but everything they touched did not turn to gold. Reality check for me.

 

Career Opportunities is another one that having had another listen in the morning and wondered if I was really impressed or not with it lyrically, it’s been in my head all day. It’s musicality and melody really does catch you by surprise.

lyrically it is very of it’s time, if of course you were a West London kid who found the idea of a lifelong career doing something that excited you a far fetched dream!

so it’s a 4/5 for me - just. I say just as I know there’s Clash material that I rate much higher.

 

Career Opportunities

This has a fantastic tune and phenomenal energy. I like the bridge a lot. The lyrics are great, expressing palpable frustration.

 

Career: 4/5

 

Hughie Green!



Let's not forget that Mary Hopkins gave her career a huge jolt by appearing/wining on the show!

 

Yup pretty much a perfect punk song. And there’s always a bit of humour and positive energy among the nihilism that makes it irresistible. 5/5

 

London's Burning (4/5) - With such little melody it's surprising how catchy this is - maybe the melody is just simple and great. I'm into Tory Crimes LOL drumming on this the most, his doubling up on his strikes during the fills before each chorus are important and he drives the coda. Strummer's attitude is typical but the lyric is great and pretty daring. I like it less than its historical importance which would be a 5/5.

Career Opportunities (5/5) - A much better written composition than most tunes on their debut, "Career Opportunities" has hooks all over like a fisherman's jacket. It's so singable but it's also cute how Joe has to stuff the words into the chorus and he always just makes it. The verses have more flow vocally and tie better to the music. Love the last time around when Strummer puts on his Johnny Rotten higher pitched imitation "WELLLLL" then his own twist "I got no chooiiiiicee" like he's puking out 'choice'. The 'oy oy oy' echoed part is fun for the bridge. Just another all-time punk classic that is fantastic.

 

"Career Opportunities"

After "Janie Jones", this would be my next favorite song on the album. It starts out like a Ramones song, sounding a bit like a sped up "Beat on the Brat" This is a classic! 5/5

Johnny Ramone also loved The Clash and said "On the second album tour, I said sh**, these guys are as good as us." High praise coming from Johnny!

 

Career Opportunities

Well, the question is who did not hear Gimmie Some Lovin' by Spencer Davis in the UK in the 60s? Well, the boys certainly did when you listen to that intro. The Ramones is all over Career Opportunities as well with the blues based I-IV-V chords in the verse but The Clash add in all of their personalities to make everything about the song their own. Tight playing from the guys early on. If you take out the Joe Strummer snarl you have a song that would fit into the Pop charts as well. But I would never take Joe out of the mix.

5/5

 

As an aside, I am just finishing up Don Letts' book "There and Black Again". Obviously it's not all about the Clash, but he does talk a fair bit about the origins of punk, working with the Clash (including on video projects after the break-up) and his time in B.A.D. Worth a read.

 

Don is a crucial part to The Clash's story, UK punk and reggae as a whole, and by all accounts is a really great person. I'll give it a read.

 

Career Opportunities - a well structured song, as noted by others. Also, Joe dispenses with his "coda interjections" to actually sing an infectious melody to close things out.

I could envision school children singing this around a piano

5/5

 

London's Burning
Solid track. Music bed is not the most melodically interesting, but it has an insistent stomping quality. Lyrically, it is a scene-setter of urban grime: tower blocks, subways and allusions to low-level crime. An apathetic populace or one febrile for revolt? - can be read both ways I think. Overall, it works. Strummer is positively intelligible on this song.

Career Opportunities
A simply great punk song. Comes out of the gates at 100mph with Strummer railing about lack of opportunities, but in a humourous way. "Do you wanna make tea at the BBC?" is a favourite lyric of mine too.

Others have alluded to this already, but I think you are misinterpreting the lyrics here.

Strummer is imploring the working class to be aspirational and not settle for traditional and/or dead-end jobs, not that there is anything wrong with those roles per se. It could be simply a call to action, a take on signing-on protocol, or perhaps even a reflection on careers advice received in school. I remember a 'career-day' (I use that term lightly) at 15 and being completely unenthused by what was being put forward as possibilities. And that was in 1998 not 1977!

For my own amusement, I'm keeping rank of the songs as we work through them. For brevity, I'll chart my Top 10 perhaps once per week, and expand as we reach the end of the thread. Here are the first nine songs covered:

 

'Career Opportunities' -- brilliant example of economy (no pun intended) of the early Clash -- in less than two minutes, Joe infuses wit, intelligence, the personal, the political, all into something that you can sing along to. And the guitars sound fabulous.

5/5