Paul Siminon grew up in Brixton (part of the reason why The Clash were so influenced by reggae was their closeness to the black community). Anyway the place was full of gun violence and police oppression. It says when the police come for you, you can either give up and arrested, where you'll likely end up in death row, or you could confront the police where you'll likely end up being shot down, either way you can shortly die.
About personal connections with it, I live pretty close to the Philadelphia suburbs so any time the local news is on you're bound to be hit with stories about shootings and crime and awol cops; they just go down the list of unsafe neighborhoods where this is always happening. So this song always reminds me of that.
Paul Siminon grew up in Brixton (part of the reason why The Clash were so influenced by reggae was their closeness to the black community). Anyway the place was full of gun violence and police oppression. It says when the police come for you, you can either give up and arrested, where you'll likely end up in death row, or you could confront the police where you'll likely end up being shot down, either way you can shortly die.
About personal connections with it, I live pretty close to the Philadelphia suburbs so any time the local news is on you're bound to be hit with stories about shootings and crime and awol cops; they just go down the list of unsafe neighborhoods where this is always happening. So this song always reminds me of that.