Lightning Strikes (Not Once But Twice)
Last Gang in Town
(Strummer/Jones)
Everybody's looking for last gang in town
You better watch out for they're all comin' around
The sport of today is exciting
The in crowd are into infighting
When some punk sees some rock-olla
It's rock and roll all over
In every street and every station
Kids fight like different nations
And it's brawn against brain
And it's knife against chain
But it's all young blood
Flowing down the drain
The Crops hit the Stiffs
An' the Spikes whipped the Quiffs
They're all looking 'round
For the last gang in town
Meanwhile down in black town
Those old soul rebels are haingin' around
An' when some punk come alooking for sound
Rastaferi goes to ground
The white heart flipped his pocket dipped
'Cos a black sharp knife never slips
And they never say to one antoher
That tomorrow we might kill our brothers
Down from the edge of London
The rockabily rebels came
From another edge of London
Skinhead gangs call out their name
But not the Zydeco kids
From the high rise
Though they can't be recognized
When you hear a cajun fiddle
Then you're nearly in the middle
Of the last gang in town
Atom secrets, secret leaflet
Have the boys found the leak yet?
The molehill sets the wheel in motion
His downfall picks up locomotion
The people must have something good to read on a Sunday
The leader's wife takes a government car
In the dark to meet her minister
But the leader never leaves his door ajar
As he swings his whip from the Boer War
He wore a leather mask for his dinner guests
Totally nude and with deep respect
Proposed a toast to the votes he gets
The feeling of power and the thought of sex!
Now the girl let the fat man touch her
Vodka fumes and the feel of a vulture
The driver waited in the embassy car
The fat man's trap was set for capture
So the girl let the thin man touch her
Mixing questions, drunken laughter
The ministry car was waiting there
A minister knows his own affair
The people must have something good to read on a Sunday
Summon up the mas! Play on the pan!
Staring dreads are jerking their locks
As the white star liner sank in the docks
But on the drummers face, there is a look of dread
As he drums away 400 years of dread
The dancer man-in the power of mas
Is smoking ti the mighty sparrow's blast
But you better be careful
You still got to watch yourself
You wanna be crazy
So you wanna go crazy
Let's go crazy
So you wanna be crazy
Then let's go crazy
Let's go crazy
The lawful force are here of course
For special offenders for the special court
But the young men know when the sun has set
Darkness comes to settle the debt
Owed by a year of S.U.S. and suspect
Indiscriminate use of the power of arrest
They're waiting for the sun to set
The mighty observer who keeps his cabinets hot
A great meeting of rhythm and face
A humming of values and a children's place
But the sticks man gives the copper good excuse
To shut off the ganja and control the juice
To control the juice
So you wanna go crazy? Then let's go crazy
So take it on crazy! So they get all crazy
Bricks and bottles corrugated iron
Shields and helmets carnival time
'N moa ambassa, sledgehammer sound
Ray symbolic from jamdown town
Life Is Wild
(Strummer/Rhodes)
Hey anybody got a cigarette?
Has anybody got a cigarette
Haven't you declared a disaster zone
Ho! Your car is a total wreck
And I just can't go back home
My girl if she had the dope
We'd get the messieurs on the phone
I still got to get up and go home
Don't start driving on my headstone
Go!
Life is wild life is free
Make him want to stop, gonna fall on me
Life is wild life is free
Make him want to stop, gonna (???) me
Here's to all of my kindred souls
He got a life but ain't got no style
Well heard that your story goes
You nearly broke down after half a mile
Hey that is the way it goes
You better keep a note on file
You'll have to reap what I suppose
Gets you a floor and a (???)
Life is wild life is free
Make him want to stop, gonna fall on me
Life is wild life is free
Make him want to stop, gonna (???) me
Somebody got a cigarette?
A guitar or a blank cassette
Hey! The last thing he'd expect in his bar
Gonna chart the rise of my star
Life is wild life is free
Make him want to stop, gonna fall on me
Life is wild life is free
Make him want to stop, gonna (???) me
Lightning
Strikes (Not Once But Twice)
(The Clash)
Now lightning strikes in old
New York
It may be dark but I wanna talk
It might rain, it might snow
Too many things I got to know
If this is spring than it's time to sing
Never mind the l'il birdies wing
Look out, look out, old New York
New York's coming an' New York talks
Hey! Strike! Not once...
Strike! But twice!
Get out your money - peel a slab
Roll some notes an' hail a cab
Drive in church drive in back
Drive down Seventh in a tank
Take in the sights, feel the breeze
See New York's one and only tree
It can be found in Garbage park
But don't inspect it after dark
Strike! New York! Lightning!
Not once but twice
Accidental hike in the transit strike
Roller skate or ride a bike
Three to a car, Brooklyn Bridge
You won't get far if you're privileged
Graffiti Jack sprays in black
An Englishman can he read it back?
Deli Joe he ought to know
He runs the gang on Pastrami Row
Strike! Lightning strike!
Because glass to glass, street to street
Buildings touch St. Peter's feet
From car to bar, prez to shah
Everything is in the jar
The 4 winds blow cos the 4 winds know
Takes a special hustle to make a roll
Honey girl on her feet
I wish everything to make her sweet
Strike! Twice! OK so roll!
From Harlem! Strike one!
Harlem slum to penthouse block
On every door I already knocked
There wasn't anybody that I didn't leave alone
Somebody lying under every stone
Everything that a man could need
In a bag down by my knee
That looks good, this ain't got seeds
Cheaper than booze down in the bowery
Lightning strike! Old New York!
Everything's light! Strike!
Hey ho such a night
I'll see y'all when the lightning strike
A polaroid caught in the act
You're married too and that's a fact
But I won't peek and I won't squeek
Down by the trucks on Christopher Street
It's Cuban Day - Oi Vey
Chinese New Year let's call it a day
Tootsie! Hey Chi man!
That melody is Puerto Rican
Hey Chi man is what he's speaking
An' there's the road down into London Town
Where many cars get broken down
It's the Westway from Ladbroke Grove
Runs down to Old Hounslow
Just thought I'd mention the new extention
That run's down the 59th street intersection
Did you hear the news y'all?
London Town on the Broadway!
Living In Fame
(Dread/The Clash)
(Not available)
London Calling
(Strummer/Jones)
London calling to the faraway towns
Now that war is declared and battle come down
London calling to the underworld
Come out of the cupboard, all you boys and girls
London calling, now don't look at 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 is zooming in
Meltdown expected the wheat is growing thin
Engines stop running but I have no fear
Cos 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 highs
Except for that one with the yellowy eyes
The ice age is coming the sun is zooming in
Engines stop running the wheat is growing thin
A nuclear error but I have no fear
Cos 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
an' after all this, won't you give me a smile?
I never felt so much a' like...
London's Burning
(Strummer/Jones)
London's burning! London's burning!
All across the town, all across the night
Everybody's driving with full headlights
Black or white turn it on, face the new religion
Everybody's sitting 'round watching television!
London's burning with boredom now
London's burning dial 99999
I'm up and down the Westway, in an' out the lights
What a great traffic system - it's so bright
I can't think of a better way to spend the night
Then speeding around underneath the yellow lights
London's burning with boredom now
London's burning dial 99999
Now I'm in the subway and I'm looking for the flat
This one leads to this block, this one leads to that
The wind howls through the empty blocks looking for a home
I run through the empty stone because I'm all alone
London's burning with boredom now...
London's burning dial 99999
Gonna scrape the trouble off my boots!
As they were dancing in the evening
And the light shone through the trees
This girl my eye was following
Asked the band to play her a beat
Singin' she'd do that long time jerk
She hit me where it hurts
Ohhh your heart
Now my heart will burst
Oh no
Ah, but it took me back to that wonderland
I witnessed long ago
Babbling words of preachers
Sayin'- "Don't bury me no more"
Ohh...
And I've forgotten how to worry
And I don't know how to run
Against the odds I realize
This struggle could be won!
We dance
Long time jerk
She did it to me first
Ohhh my heart
With that long time jerk
Ah! Say..... Do that long time jerk
Bring on those tapes from the past
They make you look better in a mirror
Feel that long time jerkin'
Between the taker and the giver
Feel that...
Long time jerk
She hit me where it hurts
Oh I felt my heart
Now my heart will burst
I've forgotten how to worry
And I don't know how to run
Against the odds I realize
This struggle could be fun!
Oh, through lanes and streets and houses
And reversing rush of time
She made me re-invent the world
Before inventing time
(Before inventing time)
Long time jerk
Oh, she hit me where it hurts
Ohhhhh my heart
Long time jerk
Long, long, long, long, long
Long time
Long time jerk
Look here!
What d'you think you're
Gonna be doin' next year?
No lie...
How you know you're not
Gonna up and die?
No doubt...
Soon enough your friends
Will find you out
Take care...
You know you might not have
Too much time to spare
I say...
How long have you been acting
Up this way?
One knows...
When you gonna get
Your own floorshow
I'm hip...
And you could use a button
On your lip
Look here
What d'you think you're
Gonna be doing next year
I'm hip!
Come with me. I won't hide
We're going on a ride
We meet each day, use time to see
While we're young and almost free
I've got to lose this skin I'm imprisoned in
Got to lose this skin I'm imprisoned in
Do not turn or hate to see
All the things you think we've got
Do not turn or hate to see
What happened to the wife of Lot
We're alone or so they say
We're not on our own in that way
When we're alone it's real tough going
We can take a part in someone else's play
Come with me, I thought he said
But that's not him anymore, he's dead
What's it like to be so free
So free it looks like lost to me
Lost in the
Supermarket
(Strummer/Jones)
CHORUS
I'm all lost in the supermarket
I can no longer shop happily
I came in her for that special offer
A guaranteed personality
I wasn't born so much as I fell out
Nobody seemed to notice me
We had a hedge back home in the suburbs
Over which I never could see
I heard the people who lived on the ceiling
Scream and fight most scarily
Hearing that noise was my first ever feeling
That's how it's been all around me
CHORUS
I'm all tuned in, I see all the programmes
I save coupons from packets of tea
I've got my giant hit discoteque album
I empty a bottle and I feel a bit free
The kids in the halls and the pipes in the walls
Make me noises for company
Long distance callers make long distance calls
And the silence makes me lonely
CHORUS
And it's not hear
It disappear
I'm all lost
Yeh, you must treat your lover girl right
If you wanna make lover's rock
You must know a place you can kiss to make lovers rock
'Cause everybody knows it's a crying shame
But nobody knows the poor babie's name
When she forgot that thing that she had to swallow
You Western man, you're free with your seed
When you make lovers rock
But woops! there goes the strength that you need
To make real cool lovers rock
'Cause a genuine lover takes off his clothes
And he can make a lover in a thousand go's
An' she don't need that thing that she had to swallow
Magnificent
Dance, The
(The Clash)
Don't you ever stop
Long enough to start
Take your car out of that gear
Don't you ever stop
Long enough to start
Get your car out of that gear
Magnificent
Seven, The
(The Clash)
Ring! Ring! It's 7:00 A.M.!
Move y'self to go again
Cold water in the face
Brings you back to this awful place
Knuckle merchants and you bankers, too
Must get up an' learn those rules
Weather man and the crazy chief
One says sun and one says sleet
A.M., the F.M. the P.M. too
Churning out that boogaloo
Gets you up and gets you out
But how long can you keep it up?
Gimme Honda, Gimme Sony
So cheap and real phony
Hong Kong dollars and Indian cents
English pounds and Eskimo pence
You lot! What?
Don't stop! Give it all you got!
You lot! What?
Don't stop! Yeah!
Working for a rise, better my station
Take my baby to sophistication
She's seen the ads, she thinks it's nice
Better work hard - I seen the price
Never mind that it's time for the bus
We got to work - an' you're one of us
Clocks go slow in a place of work
Minutes drag and the hours jerk
"When can I tell 'em wot I do?
In a second, maaan...oright Chuck!"
Wave bub-bub-bub-bye to the boss
It's our profit, it's his loss
But anyway lunch bells ring
Take one hour and do your thanng!
Cheeesboiger!
What do we have for entertainment?
Cops kickin' Gypsies on the pavement
Now the news - snap to attention!
The lunar landing of the dentist convention
Italian mobster shoots a lobster
Seafood restaurant gets out of hand
A car in the fridge
Or a fridge in the car?
Like cowboys do - in T.V. land
You lot! What? Don't stop. Huh?
So get back to work an' sweat some more
The sun will sink an' we'll get out the door
It's no good for man to work in cages
Hits the town, he drinks his wages
You're frettin', you're sweatin'
But did you notice you ain't gettin'?
Don't you ever stop long enough to start?
To take your car outta that gear
Don't you ever stop long enough to start?
To get your car outta that gear
Karlo Marx and Fredrich Engels
Came to the checkout at the 7-11
Marx was skint - but he had sense
Engels lent him the necessary pence
What have we got? Yeh-o, magnificence!!
Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi
Went to the park to check on the game
But they was murdered by the other team
Who went on to win 50-nil
You can be true, you can be false
You be given the same reward
Socrates and Milhous Nixon
Both went the same way - through the kitchen
Plato the Greek or Rin Tin Tin
Who's more famous to the billion millions?
News Flash: Vacuum Cleaner Sucks Up Budgie
Oooohh...bub-bye
Magnificence!!
FUCKING LONG, INNIT?
Mensforth Hill
(The Clash)
(Not available)
Working for the devil
You'll have to pay his tax
That means going to see him
Down among the racks
You do his work so fine
He'll remember you
Worried for my friend
As he shows me round the flat
Where I don't wanna find him
His lips an' eyelids black
He don't believe my speech
That lines can and should be drawn
Lke if he had a shotgun
The barrels would be sawn
Swallowed by the river
Swollen by the rains
That leakin' ol' computer
Of fingerprints and names
Swimming in the river
That floods the neighborhood
I would call to you
But it would do no good
Voting for the law
That's the general occupation
First comes the public safety
Second comes the nation
You won't believe me now
But there's been some illumination
The wisest cops have realized
They fucked the operation
Cooking up the books
A respected occupation
The anchor and foundation of multi-corporations
They don't believe in crime
They don't know that it exists
But to understand
What's right and wrong
The lawyers work in shifts
'N speaking of the devil
He ain't been seen for years
'Cept every 20 mins
He zooms between me ears
I don't believe in books
But I read all the time
For ciphers to the riddles
An' reasons to the rhymes
Midnight to
Stevens
(Strummer/Jones)
I SEARCHED THROUGH THE DRINKERS
EACH PROPPED OVER HIS GLASS
I RAN THROUGH EACH BAR
UNTIL I FOUND GUY AT LAST
GUY YOU'VE BEEN TO THE DOCTOR
NO I DON'T THINK IT WISE
TOOK ONE OF HIS PILLS
BOILED THE BLOOD IN MY EYES
WHEN YOU PLAYED THE MASTER MIX
TO THE COMPANY MAN
TOOK THREE MILLION WORLDWIDE
TO MAKE HIM UNDERSTAND
YOU DON'T WORK FOR PEANUTS
BUT THEY'LL PUSH YOU TOO
IT'S THAT COMPANY TRICK
WE'RE ALL JUMPING THROUGH
BET YOU AIN'T HAD NO FOOD NOW
SINCE YOU LAST WENT TO SLEEP
THE WILD SEED THAT WAS SOWED
WILL TAKE FOREVER TO REAP
WHAT DAYS AND NIGHTS THOUGH
ROCKING OUT OF HAM YARD
OH SKIP THAT FANDANGO
BRING THE BLUES BACK DOWN HARD
THOUGH CHUCK WOULD NEVER ADMIT IT
AT THE DOOR OF THE JAIL
THERE STOOD GUY STEVENS
AND HE WAS WAVING THE BAIL
GUY YOU'VE FINISHED THE BOOZE
AND YOU RUN OUT OF SPEED
BUT THE WILD SIDE OF LIFE
IS THE ONE THAT WE NEED
Movers And
Shakers
(Strummer/Rhodes)
The boy stood in the burning slum
Better times had to come
Fate lay in the hands that clap
The muscles that move & the power that raps
He went up on money street
Waving an poping to the beat
Off his wits an on his feet
He worked a coin from the cold concrete
Movers & shakers come on you got what it takes to
make it
Movers an shakers come on even if you have to fake it
Where the highway meets the lights
With a red bandanna & rapid wipes
He shines Glass and he cleans chrome
He'll accept what he gets thrown
This man earns cos its understood
Times are bad and he's makin good
Down on him but he's got it beat
He's working coin from the cold concrete
Movers & shakers come on....etc
And when I see you down & I say
That aint no way through that aint no way through
Movers & shakers come on....etc
Way back in some city heat
When a friend was anybody with food to eat
It was lousy life with a leaking roof
We got up to find that truth
Make a drum from a garbage can
Allow your tongue to be a man
When the beat propels you off your seat
You got it made in the cold concrete
Movers & shakers come on!
The sheik he drove his cadillac
Shareef
Rockin the casbah
Rock
He thinks it's not kosher
Fundamentally he can't take it
You know he really hates it
Really, really hates it
North And South
(Strummer/Rhodes)
And so we say
We ain't got life
Don't want a cardboard cut-out
Don't want a plastic knife
Now I know, time can march
With it's chargin' feet
Now I know, words are only cheap
It's gonna be a burn out
All around this town
The South is up
But the North is down
There's gonna be a killin'
Of a woman and a man
Trying to feed that child
Without a coin in their hand
And so we say
Have you no use
For eight million hands
And the power of youth
Now I know, time can march
With it's chargin' feet
Now I know, words are only cheap
It's gonna be a burn out
All around this town
The South is up
But the North is down
There's gonna be a killin'
Of a woman and a man
Trying to feed that child
Without a coin in their hand
It's gonna be a burn out!
And so we say
We ain't diggin' no graves
We're diggin' a foundation
For a future to be made
Now I know, time can march
With it's chargin' feet
Now I know, words are only cheap
It's gonna be a burn out
All around this town
The South is up
But the North is down
There's gonna be a killin'
Of a woman and a man
Trying to feed that child
Without a coin in their hand
It's gonna be a burn out!
