London's Burning (The Clash song)

"London's Burning" is a song by The Clash from their eponymous debut album. It is the eighth track in the U.K. version of this album, and the seventh track in the U.S. version, from 1979.

It is sung by Joe Strummer (and Mick Jones, with Paul Simonon in the chorus), who starts the song shouting "London's Burning!" two times. The song continues talking about London's automobile traffic, where young people try to get their kicks driving around in their cars through the night, feeling bored and far from happy. This message is clearly seen in the next verse:

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
Than speeding around underneath the yellow lights

The song alludes to the boredom of TV and may also reflect the racial theme often treated by the band, notably in the first verse with the line: "Black or white turn it on, face the new religion".

The song's name came from popular nursery rhyme about the Great Fire of London (1666).

Strummer described his composition of the song and its meaning as follows:

I wrote it in an old sort of disused house, near the Westway. And then I went up to see Mick Jones in the block. That night we kind of whipped it into shape up in his flat. And it was kind of a like a quick one, you know, like ‘Think of it, write it, finish it.’ And it was all over quick. It’s just like not having anything to do. Like not having no place to go. And you just think of a desert. The only activity that I could see was like the moving lights going up and down the motorway like going down the subways and looking at the writing. It’s like Wednesday night and it’s the same as Thursday night or Friday night. I just felt the whole place was like bored as hell driving about and watching TV and stuff. So it’s like London is burning with boredom. I wrote it to get rid of that feeling. ^[1]

It was first recorded at CBS Studios London for the sessions for the debut album. Mick Jones' improvised guitar solo at the end of the song is not very typical for punk rock, which often has a minimalist attitude. An alternative version taken from the "White Riot" promo film in April 1977 was released on the B-side of the controversial "Remote Control" single in May 1977.