Editing London Calling (section)

== Themes ==
The album's songs are generally about London, with narratives featuring both fictional and life-based characters, such as an underworld criminal named Jimmy Jazz and a gun-toting [[Jimmy Cliff]] aspirant living in [[Brixton]] ("[[Guns of Brixton]]").<ref name="Taylor"/> In the opinion of ''[[PopMatters]]'' journalist Sal Ciolfi, the songs encompass an arrangement of urban narratives and characters, and touch on themes such as sex, depression and identity crisis.<ref name=PopMatters>{{cite web |work=[[PopMatters]] |date=10 March 2004 |first=Sal |last=Ciofli |title=The Clash: ''London Calling'' > Album Review |url=http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/14505/clash-londonmft |access-date=22 February 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120607010747/http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/clash-londonmft |archive-date=7 June 2012 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}</ref> "Rudie Can't Fail" chronicles the life of a fun-loving young man who is criticised for his inability to act like a responsible adult.<ref name="rudie">Guarisco, Donald A. [{{AllMusic|class=song|id=t3298492|pure_url=yes}} "Rudie Can't Fail Review"]. [[AllMusic]]. Retrieved 18 February 2008.</ref> "Clampdown" comments on people who forsake the open-minded idealism of youth and urges young people to fight the [[status quo]].<ref>Guarisco, Donald A. [{{AllMusic|class=song|id=t3298496|pure_url=yes}} "Clampdown Review"]. [[AllMusic]]. Retrieved 18 February 2008.</ref> "The Guns of Brixton" explores an individual's paranoid outlook on life,<ref name="uncut67" /> while on "[[Death or Glory (song)|Death or Glory]]", Strummer examines his life in retrospect and acknowledges the complications and responsibilities of adulthood.<ref name="Gilbert259">Gilbert 2005, p. 259.</ref> "Lover's Rock" advocates [[safe sex]] and planning.<ref name="Spicer 1999">{{cite book|page=44|last=Spicer|first=Al|year=1999|title=Rock: 100 Essential CDs : The Rough Guide|publisher=[[Rough Guides]]|isbn=1-85828-490-2}}</ref>

Some songs have more widely contextualised narratives, including references to the "evil presidentes" working for the "clampdown", the lingering effects of the [[Spanish Civil War]] ("[[Spanish Bombs]]"), and how constant [[consumerism]] had led to unavoidable political apathy ("[[Lost in the Supermarket]]").<ref name="Taylor">{{cite book|last=Taylor|first=Steve|page=67|title=The A to X of Alternative Music|year=2006|publisher=[[Continuum Books|Continuum]]|isbn=0-8264-8217-1}}</ref> "London Calling", the album's [[London Calling (song)|title track]] and opener, was partially influenced by the March 1979 accident at a [[Nuclear reactor technology|nuclear reactor]] at [[Three Mile Island accident|Three Mile Island]] in [[Pennsylvania]]. It also discusses the problems of rising unemployment, racial conflict and drug use in [[Great Britain]].<ref>[https://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/6595860/london_calling "The RS 500 Greatest Songs of All Time: The Clash London Calling"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100409085334/http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/6595860/london_calling |date=9 April 2010 }}. ''[[Rolling Stone]]''. 9 December 2004. Retrieved 18 February 2008.</ref> According to music critic Tom Carson, "while the album draws on the entirety of rock and roll's past for its sound, the concepts and lyrical themes are drawn from the history, politics and myths associated with the genre".<ref name=RSreview/>