In our apocalyptic age it’s hard to remember that the media has always peddled stories of impending doom. When Joe Strummer wrote this song in 1979, he recalled later, “I read about 10 news reports in one day calling down all variety of plagues on us,” including both an impending ice age and the sun zooming in. The Three Mile Island disaster had just occurred, hence the nuclear error. As for London drowning, the Thames Barrier, built to protect the city from storm-heightened high tides, was underway, and the papers were full of stories about the devastation it could prevent.
The video was shot on Cadogan Pier on the Thames on a rainy night in December 1979. Released as a single in the UK, the song reached only No. 11, but you know a song is iconic when both Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen have covered it in concerts.
I’m sure London is a lot classier now than it was in the depths of Thatcherism, but I’m not sure it’s classy enough for this rendition by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
