73 Meanings
Add Yours
Share
Q&A
Video

Lost in the Supermarket Lyrics

I'm all lost in the supermarket
I can no longer shop happily
I came in here for that special offer
A guaranteed personality

I wasn't born so much as I fell out
Nobody seemed to notice me
We had a hedge back home in the suburbs
Over which I never could see

I heard the people who lived on the ceiling
Scream and fight most scarily
Hearing that noise was my first ever feeling
That's how it's been all around me

I'm all lost in the supermarket
I can no longer shop happily
I came in here for that special offer
A guaranteed personality

I'm all tuned in, I see all the programs
I save coupons from packets of tea
I've got my giant hit discotheque album
I empty a bottle and I feel a bit free

The kids in the halls and the pipes in the walls
Make me noises for company
Long distance callers make long distance calls
And the silence makes me lonely

I'm all lost in the supermarket
I can no longer shop happily
I came in here for that special offer
A guaranteed personality

And it's not hear
It disappear
I'm all lost
Song Info
Copyright
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Writer
Joe Strummer, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon, Topper Headon
Duration
3:46
Producer
Guy Stevens, The Clash
Release date
Feb 02, 1979
Sentiment
Positive
Submitted by
aebassist On Jan 03, 2002
Questions and Answers

Ask specific questions and get answers to unlock more indepth meanings & facts.

73 Meanings

Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.

Cover art for Lost in the Supermarket lyrics by Clash, The

I think this song's about how disenchanted people become with modern society and the way its strips us of our identity. "I can no longer shop happily I came in here for that special offer A guaranteed personality" He lived his life like the commercials told him to, as in he followed all the trends thinking they had the answers ("I save coupons from packets of tea / I've got my giant hit discoteque album"). But when he wanted something substantial, personality, although modern culture promised it, it isn't there, hence is lost in the supermarket of modern culture.

Cover art for Lost in the Supermarket lyrics by Clash, The

It's a metaphor for suburban life. He's saying that growing up in the suburbs can lead to a kind of identity crisis because basically when you live there you have no identity(according to him, that is). So it is kind of depressing.

@aebassist I think you're spot on

@aebassist haha! Just seen this tread is 13 years old!

Cover art for Lost in the Supermarket lyrics by Clash, The

It's all about consumerism being empty. We live for it, we got our giant hit Britney(tm) albums, and we all love Bacardi(tm)!! Yeah! Whoops where's our culture.

Cover art for Lost in the Supermarket lyrics by Clash, The

I think this song is about being lonely or trying to find sumone to be with or sumthing along those lines. You can c it in such lines as... "I wasn't born so much as I fell out, Nobody seemed to notice me"
and "The kids in the halls and the pipes in the walls, Make me noises for company" and "Long distance callers make long distance calls, And the silence makes me lonely" as well as other lines.

The whole part with the getting lost in a supermarket is kinda a metaphor for the writers life. if your lost in a supermarket, your trying to find someone you kno the person u came in with, in this song, the writer kind of is saying how he's lost in the world and he's just trying to find someone he can relate to or sumone who will give him attention.

I dont kno how much sense that just made but i hope u got what i was trying to say. anyway, The Clash rule! R.I.P. Joe Strummer and Topper Headon

Topper Headon is alive....

Not Valid

No disrespect but he really shouldnt be considering how he lived :P Honestly it's unfair that people like Jonny Rotten still exists and Joe Strummer doesnt.

Not Valid
Cover art for Lost in the Supermarket lyrics by Clash, The

the supermarket is his happy place, like where he use to go get high or somthing, his life led him there, but its lost his effect, and he doesnt know what to do anymore

Cover art for Lost in the Supermarket lyrics by Clash, The

Essentially to all of the meanings that previous posters have gotten from this song, I think that this song is about insecurity and confusion of who you really are. It's really well-written and one of my favorites from The Clash. Very well done.

Cover art for Lost in the Supermarket lyrics by Clash, The

P.S. - I also love this song, it really struck a cord with the theme of lonliness, and again, Mick's voice suits it perfectly.

Cover art for Lost in the Supermarket lyrics by Clash, The

Mick Jones' phrasing is just masterful here. Interesting that so many comments took the title literally, because the voice does have a very childlike perspective. Oh, and interesting typo: <i>I came in her for that special offer</i> if you know what I mean

Cover art for Lost in the Supermarket lyrics by Clash, The

this song was actually written by joe strummer, he was writing for mick jones' perspective, imagining what it was like to live his childhood and all that.

This song was written by Mick Jones for Joe Strummer (this has been firmly established by many sources and interviews throughout the years). It is a song about the constant struggle between mass-consumerism and self-identity that we as humans deal with everyday between those two volitle poles. It can be extremely hard to find your own "personality" when you are constantly contradicted and junxtaposed by our cultural standards and enviromental happenings. Metaphoric? Definately. Classic Song from a Classic Band? You better believe it.

Not Valid

Sorry, Joe Strummer for Mick Jones.

Not Valid
Cover art for Lost in the Supermarket lyrics by Clash, The

Mick Jones wrote this song while living when he was broke and had to live with his grandmother. I believe in a recent Rolling Stone he talks about this. Anyway, here he is, this hipster punk musician in a popular band, and he has to share a flat in the suburbs and just wallow in the lameness.