Safe European Home

The Clash

Well, I just got back and I wish I'd never leave now (where'd ya go?)
Who dat Martian arrival at the airport, yeah? (where'd ya go?)
How many local dollars for a local anesthetic? (where'd ya go?)
The Johnny on the corner wasn't very sympathetic (where'd ya go?)

I went to the place where every white face
Is an invitation to robbery
And sitting here in my safe European home
Don't want to go back there again

Wasn't I lucky, wouldn't it be loverly? (where'd ya go?)
Send us all cards, have a laying-in on Sunday (where'd ya go?)
I was there for two weeks, so how come I never tell, now? (where'd ya go?)
That natty dread drink at the Sheraton hotel, yeah (where'd ya go?)

I went to the place where every white face
Is an invitation to robbery
And sitting here in my safe European home
Don't want to go back there again

They got the sun, and they got the palm trees (where'd ya go?)
They got the weed, and they got the taxis (where'd ya go?)
Whoa, the harder they come, the home of ol' bluebeat (where'd ya go?)
I'd stay and be a tourist but I can't take the gunplay (where'd ya go?)

I went to the place where every white face
Is an invitation to robbery
And sitting here in my safe European home
Don't want to go back there again

What?
Rudie come from Jamaica, Rudie can't fail
Rudie come from Jamaica, Rudie can't fail
Rudie come from Jamaica, 'cause Rudie can't fail
Rudie come From Jamaica, Rudie can't fail (European home)
Rudie, Rudie, Rudie, Rudie, Rudie, Rudie can't fail (European home)
Rudie, Rudie, Rudie, Rudie, Rudie, Rudie can't fail (European home)
Rudie, Rudie, Rudie, Rudie, Rudie, Rudie can't fail (European home)
Rudie, Rudie, Rudie, Rudie, Rudie, Rudie can't fail (European home)
Rudie, Rudie, Rudie, Rudie, Rudie, Rudie can't fail (European home)
Rudie, Rudie, Rudie, Rudie, Rudie, Rudie can't fail (European home)
Rudie, Rudie, Rudie, Rudie, Rudie, Rudie can't fail (European home)
Rudie come From Jamaica, Rudie can't fail (explosive European home)
Rudie, Rudie, Rudie, Rudie, Rudie, Rudie can't fail (twenty-four track European home)
Elder come and a-Rudie go, no one knows where the policeman's go


Lyrics submitted by aebassist

Safe European Home Lyrics as written by Mick Jones Joe Strummer

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

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Safe European Home song meanings
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11 Comments

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  • +3
    General Commenteither
    -they had a bad experience and the song is to be taken at face value
    - they are poking fun at brits tendency to be insular and 'whine' when they are on holiday in some sunny paradise
    - they are demonstrating the frustrating divide between blacks and whites

    or all of the above!!
    boozmon January 19, 2005   Link
  • +3
    General CommentThis song is about the harsh reception that Strummer and Jones had on their song writing trip to Jamacia, and they wrote this song also to talk about the painful reality that white people get to go on vaction in the poor global south while non-whites in the global south can only go north in search of work. " why i never tell that natty dread drinks at the sheraton hotel" is talking about the segregation of tourist areas in jamacia-no locals allowed in unless they are working. (plus they could never afford to drink there anyway)
    philtheanarchiston October 10, 2006   Link
  • +1
    General Commentyeah it IS about when strummer and jones went to jamaica expecting it to be all chillin out smokin weed in the sun and they found that everyone wanted to rob them and didnt want them there.
    they were doing a radio show with mickey dread i think, or maybe that was later...anyway its definatly about their bad experiences in jamaica.
    joeytheboyon March 21, 2005   Link
  • +1
    General CommentThis is a great song — besides the fact that I can't hear the first ten seconds and not wish for a mosh pit, I love it because it's sarcastic and cynical and enraging and inspiring . Yes, it's *definitely* about racism and boorish closed-minded tourism — an "insular" mindset, if you want to call it that, like @philtheanarchist did. I think he and @boozm are the only ones who got it right, and the comments saying it's about how [they had a bad time because everyone wanted to take their money] not only miss the point, but reflect a blind-by-choice attitude at best, or flat-out racism at worst. I was reminded of this song when I was thinking about donald trump's fucking Muslim ban — another move to enforce his racist rhetoric, calculated to capitalize on the fury he's been selling to the half of a country who was already scared, and now he's got them whipped into a frenzy of finger-pointing and bullshit that pretty much translates to "keep 'em down where they belong!" And anyone who says he's just "trying to keep us safe" is just covering their ears and stabbing their own fingers into their eyes and refusing to see that this is the road to fascism.

    And the only way to fight the man who would be king is to keep your eyes open so you can SEE injustice and DO something against it — not just walk by and say it's ok, or snap your fingers and say it's "a good song" about a bad trip.

    The whole point of The Clash was political — they wrote songs about what made them angry — they called out injustice where they saw injustice — and to say that this song is about how "Joe an Mick dint have no fun in Jamaica" is just demonstrating ignorance as to what the whole movement was about and it misses the whole point of a powerful song from a band that inspired musicians and fans on every continent, changed rock & roll, blew up protest songs completely, and whose sounds and ideas formed a legacy that continues to influence generations of rockers in their time and to this day.
    Gillianizmoon February 02, 2017   Link
  • 0
    General Commentwheeeeeeeeeeeere'd you go?

    I love the drum hit in the beginning and from there it's just pure fucking RAWK
    DaMajishaNon June 20, 2003   Link
  • 0
    General Commentaww paul and topper weren't too pleased that they didnt get to go =[
    xSiddersxon September 05, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General CommentWhat a song to open an album with!
    ShakerMaker1994on June 05, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General CommentThey recycled the "Rudy Can't Fail" line for one of the songs on London Calling
    willttedon January 11, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General CommentNice
    Connor67Officialon July 08, 2019   Link
  • -2
    General CommentI think this song is about Strummer/The Clash's visit to Jamaica...well, from the lyrics it sounds like that EX: "natty dread", "every white face is an invitation to robbery" meaning whites are robbed because they think they're rich, "they got the weed" everyone knows they like to smoke the reefer over there, "rudy rudy rudy can't fail" rudy means rude boys...rude boys are in Jamaica

    so I'm assuming Strummer/The Clash had a bad experience over there
    DaMajishaNon June 20, 2003   Link

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