Clampdown

"Clampdown" is a song by the English rock band the Clash from their 1979 album ''London Calling''. The song began as an instrumental track called "Working and Waiting". It is sometimes called "Working for the Clampdown" which is the main lyric of the song, and also the title provided on the album's lyric sheet. Its lyrics concern those who have forsaken the idealism of youth and urges young people to fight the status quo. The word 'clampdown' is a neat cover-all term the writers adopted to define the oppressive Establishment, notably its more reactionary voices who were to be heard throughout the 1970s calling alarmingly for "clampdowns" by government and law enforcement on strikers, agitators, benefits claimants, football hooligans, punks and other perceived threats to the social, economic and moral wellbeing of the UK.

In 1980 "Clampdown" was released as a single backed with "The Guns of Brixton" in Australia. The single was not released in any other territories, with the exception of US promos.

Analysis of lyrics

"Clampdown" was written by Joe Strummer and Mick Jones.

The song's lyrics, written by Joe Strummer, refers to the perceived failures of capitalist society. The wearing of the "blue and brown" refers to the color of the uniforms that are mostly worn by workers. This idea goes along with lyrics that refer to "young believers" who are brought and bought into the capital system by those "working for the clampdown" who will "teach our twisted speech." Alternatively it could be suggested that the blue and brown refer to shirt colours, the fascist Blueshirts of 1930s Ireland and the Brownshirts of the early Nazis in Germany. Strummer wrote,

:''The men in the factory are old and cunning''
:''You don't owe nothing, so boy get running!''
:''It's the best years of your life they want to steal!''
:''You grow up and you calm down and you're working for the clampdown.''
:''You start wearing the blue and brown and you're working for the clampdown.''
:''So you got someone to boss around. It makes you feel big now...''

These lyrics are seen to refer to how one gets caught by the capital economic system and its ethos of work, debt, power, position and conformist lifestyle. Strummer, who proclaimed himself a socialist, also uses the song's closing refrain to highlight this mindset as a potential trap and offers a warning not to give oneself over to "the clampdown". This is emphasized in the coda by Jones' repetition of the words "work" and "more work" on the beat over Strummers breathy repetition of the phrase "working for the clampdown". This reaffirms the idea that Strummer saw "the clampdown" as a threat to all who get caught up in the modern economic wage-hour system. Bass player and Clash co-founder Paul Simonon, in an interview with the '' LA Times'', spoke about the opportunities available to him in the early 1970s U.K. after he finished his secondary education:

Strummer, like Simonon, spent time on the dole, but Strummer did not come from a lower-class family. In the same interview with the ''LA Times'' Strummer said,

Strummer's father was a British diplomat, and Joe was sent away to boarding school where he detested "the thick rich people’s thick rich kids". Strummer said,

Later verses suggest an alternative in revolution, a theme common throughout Joe Strummer's songwriting. This point of view also points to the lyric "You start wearing the blue and brown" as supporting their cause. The barely audible lyrics at the beginning of the song were deciphered by Clash fan Ade Marks, and first published in ''Q'' magazine's Clash special :

:''The kingdom is ransacked, the jewels all taken back''
:''And the chopper descends''
:''They're hidden in the back, with a message on a half-baked tape''
:''With the spool going round, saying I'm back here in this place''
:''And I could cry''
:''And there's smoke you could click on''
:''What are we going to do now?''

Analysis of music

The song is mostly in the key of A major, with a key change to E major in the bridge.

The coda features a bouncing dance, alternating between G and F# chords as the riff slowly fades, featuring Strummer's ad libs and the repeated lyric based on "work".

Cover versions

"Clampdown" was later covered by Rage Against the Machine at their first live show in 1991, as well as during a show in Antwerp, Belgium, on 2 June 2008. It was also covered by Indigo Girls and can be heard on '' Rarities'' (2005) as well as the Clash tribute album '' Burning London: The Clash Tribute'' (1999). The song was also covered by The Strokes (at their Oxegen and T in the Park appearances in July 2004), Poster Children

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