One of the all-time great Joe Strummer intros to a song: “This is a public service announcement…with guitars!”
I was never a big fan of Combat Rock but I always loved this song (much in the same way that I’ve never been able to come around to Sandinista but still really dig “Police On My Back”). I recently watched Don Letts’ Punk Attitude documentary again and when this song came on, I was determined to find the 7″ single. It is one my favorite late-era Clash songs. You can’t deny that punchy rhythm and Strummer’s dark political rant. The B-side — “First Night Back in London” — was never actually released on album. It is one of those interesting Simenon songs, always a little off-kilter, but still good nonetheless. “First Night Back in London” was supposed to be included on the original incarnation of Combat Rock, a double-album (ala Sandinista), called Rat Patrol at Fort Bragg, which was ultimately scrapped, remixed, and cut down to a single disc.
There has been a bit of a gap in my posts here. Mostly this is due to my trip to London that started last Wednesday. In spite of almost having the entire thing sabotaged by American Airlines who cancelled our flights at 6 pm the night before we were supposed to leave at 8 am, everything went splendidly. I actually was able to learn a lot about the UK publishing world from some fellow colleagues who were more than gracious with their time. There are some very intelligent folks over there who believe in publishing and they are coming up with really creative ideas.