Lyrics to
London Calling

This version of London Calling was released by The Clash in 1979.

Visit the The Clash Lyrics profile at Decade Lyrics - it has the London Calling lyrics as well as the rest of the songs by The Clash.

Here's more interesting things in songs and lyrics tied to The Clash or about the 1970s in general.

London calling to the faraway towns
Now war is declared, and battle come down
London calling to the underworld
Come out of the cupboard, you boys and girls
London calling, now don’t look to us
Phoney Beatlemania has bitten the dust
London calling, see we ain’t got no swing
‘Cept for the ring of that truncheon thing

The ice age is coming, the sun’s zooming in
Meltdown expected, the wheat is growing thin
Engines stop running, but I have no fear
‘Cause London is drowning, and I live by the river

London calling to the imitation zone
Forget it, brother, you can go it alone
London calling to the zombies of death
Quit holding out, and draw another breath
London calling, and I don’t wanna shout
But while we were talking, I saw you nodding out
London calling, see we ain’t got no high
Except for that one with the yellowy eyes

The ice age is coming, the sun’s zooming in
Engines stop running, the wheat is growing thin
A nuclear error, but I have no fear
‘Cause London is drowning, and I live by the river

Now get this

London calling, yes, I was there, too
An’ you know what they said? Well, some of it was true!
London calling at the top of the dial
After all this, won’t you give me a smile?
London calling

I never felt so much alike alike alike alike

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The Clash has released many songs over the years besides London Calling. The Clash released songs from 1977 to 1993 spanning across albums like The Clash, Give 'em Enough Rope, London Calling, Sandinista!, Combat Rock, Cut The Crap, and Super Black Market Clash. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by The Clash.

If you're a fan of lyrics from 1970s songs looking for more songs from 1979 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and London Calling by The Clash

The lyrics to London Calling are the words, verses and chorus for the song released by The Clash in 1979. Elements of the lyrics to London Calling are both direct in meaning and also metaphorical with the real meanings of the song only known by The Clash and any collaborating writers working on the lyrics for London Calling back when it was created.

Some people have an interest in the etymology behind words and phrases. You can take apart the lyrics to London Calling by The Clash in a number of ways. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to London Calling" means the words set to the music of London Calling, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by The Clash. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to London Calling and the lyrics to London Calling are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of The Clash who came here looking just for the lyrics to London Calling, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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