Song of the Day 4/30: The Clash, “Rudie Can’t Fail”

They clearly weren’t singing about Giuliani, who doesn’t do much except fail. He did, however, use this tune as his intro song at campaign rallies when he ran for president in 2008. He failed at that, too.

“London Calling” included a couple of Jamaican covers (“Revolution Rock,” “Wrong ‘Em Boyo”), but this one is a Joe Strummer/Mick Jones original. It’s filled with allusions to Jamaican music, from the title, a lyric from Desmond Dekker’s “007 (Shanty Town),” to the line about the “doctor born for a purpose,” a song by Dr. Alimantado. The No. 19 bus is the one Strummer rode to the studio, which is where the song was born during a jam session. The Clash rarely performed it live, mainly because the song loses a lot without the Irish Horns, but Strummer revived it with the Mescaleros.