The Clash : The Clash US

Punk-Rock / United-Kingdom
(1979 - Sony Music)
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Lyrics


1. Clash City Rockers



An' I wanna move the town to the clash city rockers
You need a little jump of electrical shockers
You better leave town if you only wanna knock us
Nothing stands the pressure of the clash city rockers

You see the rate they come down the escalator
Now listen to the tube train accelerator
Then you realise that you got to have a purpose
Or this place is gonna knock you out sooner or later

So don't complain about your useless employment
Jack it in forever tonight
Or shut your mouth and pretend you enjoy it
Think of all the money you've got

An' I wanna liquefy everybody gone dry
Or plug into the aerials that poke up in the sky
Or burn down the suburbs with the half-closed eyes
You won't succeed unless you try

You owe me a move say the bells of St. Groove
Come on and show me say the bells of Old Bowie
When I am fitter say the bells of Gary Glitter
No one but you and I say the bells of Prince Far-I
No one but you and I say the bells of Prince Far-I

An' I wanna move the town to the clash city rockers
You need a little jump of electrical shockers
You better leave town if you only wanna knock us
Nothing stands the pressure of the clash city rockers
Rock rock Clash city rockers




2. I'm So Bored With The U.S.A.




Yankee soldier
He wanna shoot some skag
He met it in Cambodia
But now he can't afford a bag

Yankee dollar talk
To the dictators of the world
In fact it's giving orders
An' they can't afford to miss a word

I'm so bored with the U...S...A...
But what can I do?

Yankee detectives
Are always on the TV
'Cos killers in America
Work seven days a week

Never mind the stars and stripes
Let's print the Watergate Tapes
I'll salute the New Wave
And I hope nobody escapes

I'm so bored with the U...S...A...
But what can I do?

Move up Starsky
For the C.I.A.
Suck on Kojak
For the USA




3. Remote Control




Who needs remote control
From the Civic Hall
Push a button
Activate
You gotta work an' you're late

It's so grey in London town
With a panda car crawling around
Here it comes
Eleven o'clock
Where can we go now?

Can't make a noise
Can't get no gear
Can't make no money
Can't get outta here

Big business it don't like you
It don't like the things you do
You got no money
So you got no power
They think you're useless
An' so you are - puuuuuuunnnnnk!

They had a meeting in Mayfair
They got you down an'
They wanna keep you there
It makes them worried
Their bank accounts
That's all that matters
And you don't count

Can't make no progress
Can't get ahead
Can't stop the regress
Don't wanna be dead

Look out' those rules and regulations

Who needs the Parliament
Sitting making laws all day
They're all fat and old
Queuing for the House of Lords

Repression - gonna start on Tuesday
Repression - gonna be a Dalek
Repression - I am a robot
Repression - I obey




4. Complete Control




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
C-o-n control - that means you!




5. White Riot




White riot - I wanna riot
White riot - a riot of my own
White riot - I wanna riot
White riot - a riot of my own

Black people gotta lot a problems
But they don't mind throwing a brick
White people go to school
Where they teach you how to be thick

An' everybody's doing
Just what they're told to
An' nobody wants
To go to jail!

All the power's in the hands
Of people rich enough to buy it
While we walk the street
Too chicken to even try it

Everybody's doing
Just what they're told to
Nobody wants
To go to jail!

Are you taking over
or are you taking orders?
Are you going backwards
Or are you going forwards?




6. (White Man) In Hammersmith Palais




Midnight to six man
For the first time from Jamaica
Dillinger and Leroy Smart
Delroy Wilson, your cool operator

Ken Boothe for UK pop reggae
With backing bands sound systems
And if they've got anything to say
There's many black ears here to listen

But it was Four Tops all night with encores from stage right
Charging from the bass knives to the treble
But onstage they ain't got no roots rock rebel
Onstage they ain't got no...roots rock rebel

Dress back jump back this is a bluebeat attack
'Cos it won't get you anywhere
Fooling with your guns
The British Army is waiting out there
An' it weighs fifteen hundred tons

White youth, black youth
Better find another solution
Why not phone up Robin Hood
And ask him for some wealth distribution

Punk rockers in the UK
They won't notice anyway
They're all too busy fighting
For a good place under the lighting

The new groups are not concerned
With what there is to be learned
They got Burton suits, ha you think it's funny
Turning rebellion into money

All over people changing their votes
Along with their overcoats
If Adolf Hitler flew in today
They'd send a limousine anyway

I'm the all night drug-prowling wolf
Who looks so sick in the sun
I'm the white man in the Palais
Just lookin' for fun

I'm only
Looking for fun




7. London's Burning



London's burning! London's burning!

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

London's burning with boredom now
London's burning dial 99999

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

London's burning with boredom now
London's burning dial 99999

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 99999




8. I Fought The Law




Breakin' rocks in the hot sun
I fought the law and the law won [x2]
I needed money 'cause I had none
I fought the law and the law won [x2]

I left my baby and it feels so bad
Guess my race is run
She's the best girl that I ever had
I fought the law and the law won
I fought the law and the

Robbin' people with a six-gun
I fought the law and the law won [x2]
I lost my girl and I lost my fun
I fought the law and the law won [x2]

I left my baby and it feels so bad
Guess my race is run
She's the best girl that I ever had
I fought the law and the law won
I fought the law and the

I fought the law and the law won [x7]
I fought the law and the





9. Janie Jones




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

An' he knows what he's got to do
So he knows he's gonna have fun with you
You lucky lady!
An' he knows when the evening comes
When his job is done he'll be over in his car for you

An' 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!

An' the invoice it don't quite fit,
There's no payola in his alphabetical file
This time he's gonna really tell the boss
Gonna really let him know exactly how he feels
It's pretty bad!

Let them know - how you feel




10. Career Opportunities




The offered me the office, offered me the shop
They said I'd better take anything they'd got
Do you wanna make tea at the BBC?
Do you wanna be, do you really wanna be a cop?

Career opportunities are the ones that never knock
Every job they offer you is to keep you out the dock
Career opportunity, the ones that never knock

I hate the army an' I hate the R.A.F.
I don't wanna go fighting in the tropical heat
I hate the civil service rules
And I won't open letter bombs for you

Bus driver....ambulance man....ticket inspector

They're gonna have to introduce conscription
They're gonna have to take away my prescription
If they wanna get me making toys
If they wanna get me, well, I got no choice

Careers
Careers
Careers

Ain't never gonna knock





11. What's My Name




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 naaaame...naaaame....naaaame....

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

What's my 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

What's my name

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 celloid strip
An' you won't know who came

What's my name





12. Hate & War




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
An' 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...

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 it to them two time back
Every day it's just the same
With hate an' war on my back

Hate and war - I hate all the English
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

I wanna walk down any street
Looking like a creep
I don't care if I get beat up
By any Kebab Greek




13. Police and Thieves




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 stop it in anyway
And all the peacemaker turn war officer
Hear what I say

[Vocal ad lib]

Police, police, police and thieves oh yeah
Police, police, police and thieves oh yeah
From Genesis oh yeah
Police, police, police and thieves oh yeah

Scaring, fighting the nation
Shooting, shooting their guns and ammunition

Police, police, police and thieves oh yeah
Police, police, police and thieves oh yeah
Here come, here come, here come
The station is bombed
Get out get out get out you people
If you don't wanna get blown up

[Vocal ad lib]




14. Jail Guitar Doors




Let me tell you 'bout Wayne and his deals of cocaine
A little more every day
Holding for a friend till the band do well
Then the D.E.A. locked him away

Clang clang, go the jail guitar doors
Bang bang, go the boots on the floor
Cry cry, for your lonely mother's son
Clang clang, go the jail guitar doors

An' I'll tell you 'bout Pete, didn't want no fame
Gave all his money away
"Well there's something wrong, it'll be good for you, son"
And so they certified him insane

And then there's Keith, waiting for trial
Twenty-five thousand bail
If he goes down you won't hear his sound
But his friends carry on anyway
Fuck 'em!
Jail guitar doors
54/46 was my number
Jail guitar doors
Right now someone else has that number





15. Garageland




Back in the garage with my bullshit detector
Carbon monoxide making sure it's effective
People ringing up making offers for my life
But I just wanna stay in the garage all night

We're a garage band
We come from garageland

Meanwhile things are hotting up in the West End alright
Contracts in the offices, groups in the night
My bummin' slummin' friends have all got new boots
An' someone just asked me if the group would wear suits

I don't wanna hear about what the rich are doing
I don't wanna go to where the rich are going
They think they're so clever, they think they're so right
But the truth is only known by guttersnipes

There's twenty-two singers! But one microphone
Back in the garage
There's five guitar players! But one guitar
Back in the garage
Complaints! Complaints! Wot an old bag
Back in the garage
All night



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