Clampdown
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| "Clampdown" | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
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| Song by The Clash | ||
| from the album London Calling | ||
| Released | 14 December 1979 | |
| Recorded | June-July, 1979 | |
| Genre | Rock | |
| Length | 3:49 | |
| Label | CBS | |
| Writer(s) | Joe Strummer, Mick Jones | |
| Producer(s) | Guy Stevens | |
| London Calling track listing | ||
| Lost in the Supermarket (8) |
"Clampdown" (9) |
The Guns of Brixton (10) |
"Clampdown" is a song by The Clash, on the album London Calling. It is sometimes called "Working for the Clampdown" which is the main lyric of the song, but also the title provided on the album's lyric sheet.
The song's lyrics, written by Joe Strummer, have a variety of interpretions. One commonly held belief is that it refers to the Nazi regime[1]. According to this view, the reference to "wearing blue and brown" would refer to the monochromatic military-style uniforms often worn by federal police forces in dictatorial regimes, specifically the all-brown uniform worn by members of Hitler's SA (see Sturmabteilung).
The first verse is also commonly cited in support of the Nazi interpretation of the song, containing as it does references to Jews (see the Final Solution), blue-eyed men (see Aryan race) and young believers (see Hitler Youth):
- Taking off his turban, they said, is this man a Jew?
- Cause they're working for the clampdown
- They put up a poster saying we earn more than you!
- When we're working for the clampdown
- We will teach our twisted speech
- To the young believers
- We will train our blue-eyed men
- To be young believers
Others believe that the lyrics are more broad in scope, reflecting the failures of capitalist society.[2] This interpretation of the lyrics see the wearing of the "blue and brown" as referring to the color of the suits that are mostly worn by businessmen to the office. This idea goes along with lyrics that refer to "young believers" who are brought and bought into the capital system by those "working for the clampdown" who will "teach with twisted speech". Strummer wrote,
- The men in the factory are old and cunning
- You don't owe nothing, so boy get running!
- It's the best years of your life they want to steal!
- You grow up and you calm down and You're working for the clampdown.
- You start wearing the blue and brown and you're working for the clampdown.
- So you got someone to boss around. It makes you feel big now...
These lyrics are seen to refer to how one gets caught by the capital economic system and its ethos of work, debt, power and position. Strummer, who was a proud and loud socialist,* also uses the songs closing refrain to highlight this mindset and potential trap and offers a warning to not give oneself over to "the clampdown". He does this by repeating as the song fades out the word "work" five times and "more work" twice. This reaffirms the idea that Strummer saw "the Clampdown" as a threat to all who get caught up in the modern economic wage-hour system. Bass player and Clash co-founder Paul Simonon, in an interview with the LA Times, spoke about the opportunities available to him after he finished his education, "What was worse was that when it got time for us to start leaving school, they took up out on trips to give us an idea of what jobs were available. But they didn’t try to introduce us to anything exciting or meaningful. They took us to the power station and the Navy yards. It was like saying, ‘This is all you guys could ever do." "Some of the kids fell for it. When we got taken down to the Navy yards, we went on a ship and got cooked up dinner and it was all chips and beans. It was really great. So some of the kids joined up - because the food was better than they ate at home." Strummer like Simonon, spent time on the dole, but Strummer didn’t come from a lower-class family. In the same interview with the LA Times Strummer said, "You see, I’m not like Paul or the others, I had a chance to be a ‘good, normal person’ with a nice car and a house in the suburbs - the golden apple or whatever you call it. But I saw through it. I saw it was an empty life." Strummer's father was a diplomat in the British Field Service,and he was sent away to boarding school, where he detested "the thick rich people’s thick rich kids". "I only saw my father once a year (after being sent to boarding school),", Strummer said. "He was a real disciplinarian, who was always giving me speeches about how he had pulled himself up by the sweat of his brow: a real guts and determination man. "What he was really saying to me was, ‘If you play by the rules, you can end up like me.’ And I saw right away I didn’t want to end up like him. Once I got out on my own, I realized I was right. I saw how the rules worked and I didn’t like them."
Later verses suggest an alternative in revolution, a theme common throughout Joe Strummer's songwriting. This point of view also points to the lyric "You start wearing the blue and brown" as supporting their cause. Both the Nazi SS and SA wore blue and brown, as did many British politicians of the 1970's. The barely audible lyrics at the beginning of the song were deciphered by Clash fan Ade Marks, and first published in Q magazine's Clash special:
- The kingdom is ransacked, the jewels all taken back
- And the chopper descends
- They're hidden in the back, with a message on a half-baked tape
- With the spool going round, saying I'm back here in this place
- And I could cry
- And there's smoke you could click on
- What are we going to do now?
[edit] Other artists
"Clampdown" was later covered by Rage Against the Machine at their first live show in 1991, and also was covered by Indigo Girls and can be heard on Rarities (2005). The song was also covered by The Strokes (at their Oxegen and T in the Park appearances in July 2004) and James Dean Bradfield (of the Manic Street Preachers) on his solo tour in October 2006; the Rhode Island rock band The Agitators have also covered the song.
