This song, and most Clash songs have to be seen as a part of ( and a response to ) the time and place that they were written in. If you were'nt in England in the mid to late '70's it's really hard to imagine how bleak a place it was. There simply were NO jobs. No way to stand up and have any pride and the Government was completely out of touch with both its young citizens and its ever increasing minority population. Taken in that context, most of the songs of the Clash ARE about war; it's just that the war is metaphorical. The war is poor vs rich, young vs old and most importantly lower class against middle and upper class. London Calling is the closest thing to an actual manifesto we ever got out of the clash. What they're sayng is that they ARE London (the youth and the artists and the agitators ) and they are calling out to the apathy of the rest of the country (zombies of death ?) It's a fantastic song, and I'm not sure that they ever equalled this mix of passion and clarity of message again.
This song, and most Clash songs have to be seen as a part of ( and a response to ) the time and place that they were written in. If you were'nt in England in the mid to late '70's it's really hard to imagine how bleak a place it was. There simply were NO jobs. No way to stand up and have any pride and the Government was completely out of touch with both its young citizens and its ever increasing minority population. Taken in that context, most of the songs of the Clash ARE about war; it's just that the war is metaphorical. The war is poor vs rich, young vs old and most importantly lower class against middle and upper class. London Calling is the closest thing to an actual manifesto we ever got out of the clash. What they're sayng is that they ARE London (the youth and the artists and the agitators ) and they are calling out to the apathy of the rest of the country (zombies of death ?) It's a fantastic song, and I'm not sure that they ever equalled this mix of passion and clarity of message again.