London Calling (song)



London Calling is a song by English punk band The Clash, the song was released as a single off of the band's third album London Calling. The song was inspired by the Philadelphia nuclear meltdown in 1973. The song is known as one of the greatest rock songs off all time, Rolling Stone placed it at #15 of the 500 Greatest Songs of all time and ranked #42 on VH1's 100 Greatest songs of the 80s.

Writing processing
The song was written by Joe Strummer and Mick Jones, the title of the song is a reference to the BBC World Service's station identification which is "This is London calling..." the Identification was used during World War II to contact with other countries that have been occupied. The song makes references to English history and concerns about the world like with the line "London is drowning / And I live by the river" it says that if the River Thames floods most of Central London would flood. The song references Beatlemania (a movement revering to the popularity of the Beatles) with the line "Now don't look to us | Phoney Beatlemania has bitten the dust".

Recording
"London Calling" was recorded at Wessex Studios in London, England in 1979, the song was produced by Guy Stevens and engineered by Bill Price.

Artwork
Like the cover of the album itself, the song's single cover shows a girl and a boy playing several records including The Beatles's Please Please Me, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols, The Rolling Stones debut, The Clash debut, Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited and finally the Elvis Presley debut LP.