Cover art for Car Jamming by The Clash

Car Jamming

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May. 14, 19821 viewer10.5K views

Car Jamming Lyrics

[Verse 1]
Tonight they're closing up the world
And sweepin' smoke from cigarette
And what is that funky multi-national
Anthem rocking from a thousand
King Kong cassette decks

Then a shy-boy from Missouri
Boots blown off in a '60s war
Riding aluminum crutches
Now he knows the welfare kindness
Agent Orange colour blindness

As we works from door to door
The violence in the carpets
The error of his wife
Drives the slum-bum dweller
To grind his hunting knife
In homesteads of cigar box
The radios hive like bees
The body in the ice box has no date for freeze

[Chorus]
In a car jam

[Verse 2]
Selling is what selling sells
But only saints on the seven avenues
Can sell the seven hells
Fanning out the drug afflicted leperising zone
Once inside the executive
He never leaves his home
Gorillas drag their victims
Hyenas try to sue (in a car jam)
Snakes find grass in concrete
There is no city zoo (in a car jam)
By ventilation units the towers meet the streets (in a car jam)
The ragged stand in bags soaking heat up through their feet (In a car jam)
This was the only kindness
It was accidental too
[Chorus]
In a car jam

[Bridge]
Now shaking single engined planes are trafficking stereos from Cuba
Buzzed the holy zealot mass and drowned out Missa Luba
They drowned out Missa Luba
They drowned out Missa Luba
They drowned out Missa Luba
I thought I saw Lauren Bacall
I thought I saw Lauren Bacall
I swear
Hey fellas
Hey fellas
Lauren Bacall
In a car jam

Yeah I don't believe it
In a car jam (car jam)
Ah yeah positively absolutely

[Chorus]
In a car jam

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About

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Genius Annotation

Full of themes endemic to The Clash since their formation, Car Jamming is an anthem lamenting the continued, or worsening mistreatment of poor, downtrodden, and oppressed peoples in a world now in the grips of the Thatcher-Reagan administrations, which saw the highest unemployment rates in the UK since the Great Depression, the rise of the Moral Majority, and anti-immigrant sentiments, among other factors, all under the threat of thermonuclear war.

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Credits
Produced By
Mastered by
Lead Vocals
Lead guitar
Rhythm Guitar
Bass Guitar
Photography
Tape Operation
Copyright (c)
Manufactured by
Phonographic Copyright (p)
Record Company
Recorded At
Ear Studios - London, England / Electric Lady Studios - New York, NY / Warnford, Hampshire - England
Release Date
May 14, 1982
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