I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
The soldier boy for his soldier's pay, obeys
The sergeant at arms, whatever he says
The sergeant will for his sergeant's pay, obey
The captains until his dying day
The captain will, for his captain's pay, obey
The general order of battle play
The generals bow to the government, obey the charge
You must not relent
What of the neighbours and the prophets in bars?
What are they saying in our public bazaars?
We are tired of the tune, "you must not relent"
At every stroke of the bell in the tower, there goes
Another boy from another side
The bulletins that steady come in say those
Familiar words at the top of the hour
The jamming city increases its hum, and those
Terrible words continue to come
Through brass music of government, hear those
Guns tattoo a roll on the drums
No one mentions the neighbouring war
No one knows what their fighting is for
We are tired of the tune, "you must not relent"
The generals bow to the government
We're tired of the tune, "you must not relent"
The sergeant at arms, whatever he says
The sergeant will for his sergeant's pay, obey
The captains until his dying day
The captain will, for his captain's pay, obey
The general order of battle play
The generals bow to the government, obey the charge
You must not relent
What of the neighbours and the prophets in bars?
What are they saying in our public bazaars?
We are tired of the tune, "you must not relent"
At every stroke of the bell in the tower, there goes
Another boy from another side
The bulletins that steady come in say those
Familiar words at the top of the hour
The jamming city increases its hum, and those
Terrible words continue to come
Through brass music of government, hear those
Guns tattoo a roll on the drums
No one mentions the neighbouring war
No one knows what their fighting is for
We are tired of the tune, "you must not relent"
The generals bow to the government
We're tired of the tune, "you must not relent"
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The Clash's songs are all so timeless.
There were two versions of this song, as someone mentions above. The early releases featured the audio from a 2000 Flushes (toilet cleaner) commercial. At some point the Clash were threatened with legal action, so later releases did away with the commercial. I had Rock The Casbah on 45 rpm...if I recall rightly, this song was the "B" side
Correction...it was the "B" side of Should I Stay or Should I Go...
this song is so true even now
"The soldier boy for his soliders pay Obeys the seargent at arms whatever he says
The seargent will for his seargent's pay Obey his captain till his dying day
The captain will for his captains pay Obey the general order of the battle play
The generals bow to the government Obey the charge you must not relent" -i think
Seems to be two versions: one has a little outro before the end talking about toilets or something flushing and brushing, the other seems to be straightforward and go staight to the end. odd
Yeah, the 2000 Flushes section was removed after the original album pressing because of copyright infringement. I love that sample though, it ties into "The bulletins that steady come in say those<br /> Familiar words at the top of the hour".
no one knows what their fighting is for*
i think the toilet part makes it even better. inaculated means implant with ideas, so theyre spreading ignorance everywhere-about war, problems, and stuff. so instead of caring about war, they care about their clean toilets.
In my opinion, I think the toilet commercial is kinda like a metaphor for the faith we put in our gummint. Like in the commercial, it said you don't have to brush for like 4 months, just flush. So it;s like chossing what we're gonna do with the world and then trusting our gummint to do it for us. We don't bother to check on it or see if we're "flushing". Make sense kinda?
I assumed the toilet cleaning advert was a metaphor for the use of agent orange in Vietnam. Flushing (with chemicals - agent orange) sure beats brushing (soldiers going in to do the dirty work).
For what it's worth, the original version with the 2000 Flushes commercial audio included is on the 2013 remastered version of Combat Rock. Personally, I've never heard the version without it. But I imagine it wouldn't be quite as good.