"The Guns of Brixton" is a song by the English punk rock band

the Clash The Clash were an English rock band formed in London in 1976 who were key players in the original wave of British punk rock. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they also contributed to the and new wave movements that emerged in the wa ...

. It was written and sung by bassist Paul Simonon, who grew up in

Brixton Brixton is a district in south London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th ce ...

, South London. The song has a strong

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

influence, reflecting the culture of the area and the reggae gangster film ''

The Harder They Come ''The Harder They Come'' is a 1972 Jamaican crime film directed by Perry Henzell and co-written by Trevor D. Rhone, and starring Jimmy Cliff. The film is most famous for its reggae soundtrack that is said to have "brought reggae to the world". ...

''.

Origins and recording

"The Guns of Brixton" was the Clash's first song to be composed and sung by Paul Simonon.Sweeting, Adam. (October 2004). "Death or Glory". ''

Uncut Uncut may refer to: * ''Uncut'' (film), a 1997 Canadian docudrama film by John Greyson about censorship * ''Uncut'' (magazine), a monthly British magazine with a focus on music, which began publishing in May 1997 * '' BET: Uncut'', a Black Enter ...

''. p. 67. By the time of ''London Calling'', Simonon had learned to play guitar and started contributing more to the songwriting.Rowley, Scott. (October 1999), ''Interview with Paul Simonon''. Bassist Magazine. :"You don't get paid for designing posters or doing the clothes", he said in an interview published by Bassist Magazine in October 1990, "you get paid for doing the songs." The band, separated from manager

Bernard Rhodes Bernard Rhodes is a designer, band manager, studio owner, record producer and songwriter who was integral to the development of the punk rock scene in the United Kingdom from the middle 1970s. He is most associated with two of the UK's best kn ...

,Gilbert 2005, pp. 212-213. had to leave their rehearsal studio in

Camden Town Camden Town (), often shortened to Camden, is a district of northwest London, England, north of Charing Cross. Historically in Middlesex, it is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Camden, and identified in the London Plan as o ...

and find another location. They began work on ''

London Calling ''London Calling'' is the third studio album by English rock band the Clash. It was originally released as a double album in the United Kingdom on 14 December 1979 by CBS Records, and in the United States in January 1980 by Epic Records. The C ...

'' during the summer of 1979 at the Vanilla Studios in

Pimlico Pimlico () is an area of Central London in the City of Westminster, built as a southern extension to neighbouring Belgravia. It is known for its garden squares and distinctive Regency architecture. Pimlico is demarcated to the north by London V ...

.Sweeting, Adam. "Death or Glory". (October 2004). ''

''. p. 58. The band quickly wrote and recorded demos, and in August 1979 entered

Wessex Studios Wessex Sound Studios was a recording studio located at 106a Highbury New Park, London, England. Many renowned popular music artists recorded there, including Sex Pistols, King Crimson, the Clash, Theatre of Hate, XTC, the Sinceros, Queen, Talk Tal ...

to begin recording the album. Produced by

Guy Stevens Guy Stevens (13 April 1943 – 28 August 1981) was a British music industry figure whose roles included DJ, record producer, and band manager. He was influential in promoting R&B music in Britain in the 1960s, gave the rock bands Procol Ha ...

, who at the time had alcohol and drug problems and whose production methods were unconventional,Gilbert 2005, p. 235. it was recorded within a matter of weeks, with many songs, including "The Guns of Brixton", recorded in one or two takes.Sinclair, Tom. (24 September 2004)
"The Best Album of All Time"
''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

''. Retrieved 23 August 2009. It was also revealed that while recording the lead vocals for the song, Simonon sang while staring directly at a CBS executive who had visited the studio during the sessions, giving Simonon the desired amount of emotion in his voice. A section of the song is sung by a very young Maria Gallagher, accompanied by her father

Mick Gallagher Michael William Gallagher (born 29 October 1945) is an English Hammond organ player best known as a member of Ian Dury and the Blockheads and for his contributions to albums by the Clash. He has also written music for films such as ''Extremes ...

on the

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

, as a reprise at the end of the song "Broadway" on the 1980 Clash album ''

Sandinista! ''Sandinista!'' is the fourth studio album by the English punk rock band the Clash. It was released on 12 December 1980 as a triple album containing 36 tracks, with 6 songs on each side. It crosses various genres including funk, reggae, jazz, g ...

Personnel

* Paul Simonon –

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

(studio),

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., drum kit, bass guitar ...

(live) * Mick Jones –

lead guitars Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featured ...

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...

Joe Strummer John Graham Mellor (21 August 1952 – 22 December 2002), known professionally as Joe Strummer, was a British singer, musician and songwriter. He was the co-founder, lyricist, rhythm guitarist and co-lead vocalist of punk rock band the Clash, ...

– rhythm guitar (studio), bass guitar (live) *

Topper Headon Nicholas Bowen "Topper" Headon (born 30 May 1955) is an English drummer, best known as the drummer of punk rock band the Clash. Known for his instrumental contributions to the drumming world, Headon was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fam ...

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

* Mickey Gallagher – organ

Lyrics and music

"The Guns of Brixton" predates the riots that took place in the 1980s in

but the lyrics depict the feelings of discontent in the area because of the heavy-handedness of the police, the

recession In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction when there is a general decline in economic activity. Recessions generally occur when there is a widespread drop in spending (an adverse demand shock). This may be triggered by various ...

and other problems at the time. The lyrics refer to a Brixton-born son of Jamaican immigrants who "feel like Ivan...at the end of ''The Harder they Come''", referring to Ivanhoe Martin's death in the 1972 film ''

''. Simonon was originally doubtful about the song's lyrics, which discuss an individual's paranoid outlook on life, but was encouraged to continue working on it by

. Although the Clash had written and performed previous songs that combined

with punk rock, "The Guns of Brixton" was the first Clash song that was created purely as a reggae song. The rhythm guitar line has a Jamaican

rocksteady Rocksteady is a music genre that originated in Jamaica around 1966. A successor of ska and a precursor to reggae, rocksteady was the dominant style of music in Jamaica for nearly two years, performed by many of the artists who helped establish ...

sound. According to Allmusic critic Rick Anderson, "No song on ''London Calling'' (or on any previous album) demonstrated their mastery of reggae as effectively as 'Guns of Brixton' did."

Return to Brixton

"The Guns of Brixton" was not initially released as a single, but a version of the song, taken from the remastered version of ''

'' and remixed by

Jeremy Healy Jeremy Healy (born Jeremiah Healy, 18 January 1962) is an English DJ and singer. He is a former member of 1980s pop group Haysi Fantayzee. Career Healy was born in Woolwich, South London. In the 1980s, with Paul Caplin and Kate Garner, he f ...

, was released by

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

as a

CD single A CD single (sometimes abbreviated to CDS) is a music single in the form of a compact disc. The standard in the Red Book for the term ''CD single'' is an 8 cm (3-inch) CD (or Mini CD). It now refers to any single recorded onto a CD of any si ...

7-inch vinyl In music, a single is a type of release, typically a song recording of fewer tracks than an LP record or an album. One can be released for sale to the public in a variety of formats. In most cases, a single is a song that is released separat ...

and 12-inch vinyl entitled "Return to Brixton" in July 1990 (catalog number 656072-2). It reached #57 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. CD single track listing #"Return to Brixton" — 3:47 #"Return to Brixton" — 6:55 #"Return to Brixton" (SW2 Dub) — 6:00 #"The Guns of Brixton" — 3:09

Live performances

"The Guns of Brixton" was a mainstay in the Clash's live set. When performing the song live, Simonon would switch instruments with Strummer because he was unable to play the bass line whilst singing lead vocals at the same time. A somewhat heavier, faster version than the one found on ''London Calling'' appeared on the 1999 live compilation '' From Here to Eternity: Live''.

Covers and samples

Norman Cook Norman Quentin Cook (born Quentin Leo Cook, 31 July 1963), also known by his stage name Fatboy Slim, is an English musician, DJ, and record producer who helped to popularise the big beat genre in the 1990s. In the 1980s, Cook was the bassist f ...

(also known as Fatboy Slim) sampled the bass line for

Beats International Beats International were a British dance music band and hip-hop collective, formed in the late 1980s by Norman Cook (later in his career known as Fatboy Slim) based in Brighton, East Sussex, England, after his departure from the Housemartins. A ...

's 1990 song "

Dub Be Good to Me "Dub Be Good to Me" is a song by British dub group Beats International featuring singer Lindy Layton, released on 24 January 1990 as the first single from their debut album, ''Let Them Eat Bingo'' (1990). It was written by frontman Norman Cook ...

", which became a #1 hit in the UK. Simonon, interviewed by Scott Rowley in October 1999 for ''Bassist Magazine'', said that he "was surprised that it became number one that was quite shocking. And the fact that it was my performance that they had lifted. The smart thing would've been to copy it and change it slightly, but they just lifted it straight off. So, really, I have done ''Top of the Pops'', but I met up with Norman

ook Ook, OoK or OOK may refer to: * Ook Chung (born 1963), Korean-Canadian writer from Quebec * On-off keying, in radio technology * Toksook Bay Airport (IATA code OOK), in Alaska * Ook!, an esoteric programming language based on Brainfuck * Ook, th ...

and we came to an arrangement which was much needed at the time. But I thought it was a really good idea and it was quite reassuring for that to happen to my first song." The

Blaggers ITA Blaggers ITA (formerly The Blaggers) were a British punk rock band founded in 1988. Main vocalist Matty 'Blagg' Roberts had previously fronted Oi! band Complete Control, who released an LP on ''Oi! Records'' in 1985 Blaggers ITA were noted for ...

covered the song as a single released in 1995.

Cypress Hill Cypress Hill is an American hip hop group from South Gate, California. They have sold over 20 million albums worldwide and have multi-platinum and platinum albums. They are considered to be among the main progenitors of West Coast and 1990 ...

sampled the bassline on "What's Your Number?" from the 2004 album '' Till Death Do Us Part.'' The song also features

Tim Armstrong Timothy Ross Armstrong (born November 25, 1965) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and producer. Known for his distinctive voice, he is the singer/guitarist for the punk rock band Rancid and hip hop/punk rock supergroup Transplants. ...

on guitar. The French band

Nouvelle Vague French New Wave (french: La Nouvelle Vague) is a French art film movement that emerged in the late 1950s. The movement was characterized by its rejection of traditional filmmaking conventions in favor of experimentation and a spirit of iconocla ...

released a cover on their debut album, in 2004; a snippet is used in the "Cafe Polski" sketches of the TV series ''

Harry & Paul ''Harry & Paul'' (originally titled ''Ruddy Hell! It's Harry & Paul'') is a British sketch comedy show starring Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 13 April 2007. Prior to broadcast it was trailed as ''The Ha ...

''.

Jimmy Cliff James Chambers OM (born 30 July 1944), known professionally as Jimmy Cliff, is a Jamaican ska, rocksteady, reggae and soul musician, multi-instrumentalist, singer, and actor. He is the only living reggae musician to hold the Order of Merit, t ...

covered the song on his 2011 ''Sacred Fire EP'', and 2012 album ''

Rebirth Rebirth may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Film * ''Rebirth'' (2011 film), a 2011 Japanese drama film * ''Rebirth'' (2016 film), a 2016 American thriller film * ''Rebirth'', a documentary film produced by Project Rebirth * ''The Re ...

'', produced by Armstrong.Rachel, T. Cole. (11 August 2011)
"Progress Report: Jimmy Cliff"
''

Stereogum ''Stereogum'' is a daily Internet publication that focuses on music news, reviews, interviews, and commentary. The site was created in January 2002 by Scott Lapatine. ''Stereogum'' was one of the first MP3 blogs and has received several award ...

''. Retrieved 16 December 2016. Will Hermes has called the cover "the sound of history circling in wondrous ways" because the song references Cliff's character

Ivan Ivan () is a Slavic languages, Slavic male given name, connected with the variant of the Greek name (English: John (given name), John) from Hebrew language, Hebrew meaning 'God is gracious'. It is associated worldwide with Slavic countries. T ...

from ''The Harder They Come''.Hermes, Will (2012)
Jimmy Cliff Rebirth
, ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'', 13 July 2012. Retrieved 16 December 2016.

released a cover of the song in 2016 Punk band

Anti-Flag Anti-Flag is an American punk rock band from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The band is known for its left-wing political activism. Their current members include Justin Sane (vocals, guitar), Chris Head (guitar), Pat Thetic (drums), and Chris Ba ...

recorded a cover of "The Guns of Brixton" with a

segue A segue (; ) is a smooth transition from one topic or section to the next. The term is derived from Italian ''segue'', which literally means "follows". In music In music, ''segue'' is a direction to the performer. It means ''continue (the next ...

into "

I Fought the Law "I Fought the Law" is a song written by Sonny Curtis of the Crickets and popularized by a cover by the Bobby Fuller Four, becoming a top-ten hit for the band in 1966. Their version of the song was ranked No. 175 on the ''Rolling Stone'' lis ...

" in 2011 for their Complete Control Recording Sessions.

Other legacy

* Reverend and the Makers frontman

Jon McClure Jon McClure (born 22 December 1981), known as The Reverend, is an English musician. He is the lead singer and frontman of Reverend and The Makers, and ex-vocalist of 1984 and Judan Suki. He says that the name "Reverend" became his moniker because ...

stated that his band's song "Nostalgia" from the album '' ThirtyTwo'' was "my attempt at a modern 'Guns of Brixton'". *

Brix Smith Start Brix Smith (born Laura Elisse Salenger) is an American singer and guitarist, best known as the lead guitarist and a major songwriter for the English post-punk band The Fall during two stints in the band (1983-1989, and 1994-1996). Acknowledging ...

(born Laura Salenger), a former member of the Fall and the ex-wife of

Mark E. Smith Mark Edward Smith (5 March 1957 – 24 January 2018) was an English singer, who was the lead singer, lyricist and only constant member of the post-punk group the Fall. Smith formed the band after attending the June 1976 Sex Pistols gig at the ...

, derived her name from the title of the song. *

Gilmore Girls ''Gilmore Girls'' is an American comedy-drama television series created by Amy Sherman-Palladino and starring Lauren Graham (Lorelai Gilmore) and Alexis Bledel (Rory Gilmore). The show debuted on October 5, 2000, on The WB and became a flagshi ...

referenced the song in the Season 2 episode E19, "Teach Me Tonight."

Sources

* *