Talk:Clampdown

26 April 2006
26 April 2006 - major additions, added an infobox. I don't know much about the single so I filled it in as best I could from the London Calling information. I added some lyrics interpretation. Only my second article, I think it's not bad!

OldMajor — Preceding unsigned comment added by OldMajor (talk • contribs) 00:29, 27 April 2006‎

The song has nothing to do with nazism. What is the source of that information? A comment on Songmeaning.com? C'mon... Fabiom (talk) 18:12, 28 December 2008 (UTC)

What does the word "Clampdown" mean, anyway?
213.61.64.74 11:39, 22 March 2007 (UTC)
 * Political repression. --TS 23:12, 17 June 2011 (UTC)

"Wearing blue and brown" = a reference to the German SS and SS?
The article states: I'm not sure about the British politicians ... but neither the SA nor the SS ever wore blue. The SS wore nothing but black, and the SA wore brown - no blue. I would erase the whole sentence. Objections? --Jochim Schiller (talk) 23:01, 17 March 2011 (UTC)
 * "Both the Nazi SS and SA wore blue and brown, as did many British politicians of the 1970s."

The entire "Nazi" interpretation is complete bollocks and has been tagged as such for three years now. Enough. I've removed it all. --TS 23:09, 17 June 2011 (UTC)


 * Business suits and such, is all it means. Huw Powell (talk) 02:27, 3 March 2014 (UTC)

references to wearing blue and bown in Clah song Clampdown
blue refers to the police and brown to Nazi brownshirts. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.14.184.29 (talk) 19:54, 28 December 2011 (UTC)

- The colors blue and brown can also be seen more generally as referencing the right (blue is traditionally "their" color in Europe, although the US now has switched the political connotations of it and red, traditionally connoting the left) and fascism. So this seems a plausible enough reading. And it works better with the lyrics than the current interpretation on the page, which makes no sense in connection with the rest of the verse. Currently, the section reads: "Later verses suggest an alternative in revolution, a theme common throughout Joe Strummer's songwriting. This point of view also points to the lyric "You start wearing the blue and brown" as supporting their cause." Compare this to the verse: You grow up and you calm down You're working for the clampdown You start wearing the blue and brown You're working for the clampdown So you got someone to boss around It makes you feel big now You drift until you brutalize You made your first kill now This seems to me to be about the loss of revolutionary fervor and a slide to the right, rather than about coming to support "their cause" (and who are "they" supposed to be in this interpretation?). PMartinLund (talk) 15:46, 11 November 2014 (UTC)

Harrisburg and Petersburg?
What's the significance of "Working hard in Harrisburg / Working hard in Petersburg"? Were those place names chosen arbitrarily? There are many places named Harrisburg and Petersburg, though the former usually refers to the capital of Pennsylvania. Both names are much more common in the US than elsewhere. --BDD (talk) 19:46, 25 February 2015 (UTC)