Issue No. 40 of Johnny Be Good features one of 45 songs from the book, Anatomy of a Song: The Oral History of 45 Iconic Hits That Changed Rock, R&B and Pop, by Marc Myers. Read John Pearson's review here. Order from Amazon here. Listen to the book on Libro (9 hours, 34 minutes). Each blog will spotlight a song from the book and a guest blogger’s color commentary. Click here to subscribe. Each issue of Your Weekly Staff Meeting will highlight the latest blog.
A Psalm 40 Call for Help!
Today’s blogger: Jason Pearson
Song: #40 of 45
Title: “London Calling"
Musicians: The Clash
Released: December 1979
MY FAVORITE NOTES & QUOTES:
"If you ain't thinkin' about man and God and law, then you ain't thinkin' about nothin'," Joe Strummer once proclaimed, setting the stage for The Clash's masterpiece, "London Calling"—ranked #15 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
View the video of “London Calling,” by The Clash.
WHERE WERE YOU WHEN YOU FIRST HEARD THIS SONG?
When the track was released in 1979, I was a 9-year-old immersed in Christian rock, with Petra, The Imperials, and Amy Grant dominating my playlist. It would take another eight years before The Clash's urgent call would become the soundtrack to my mixtape for teenage angst.
Years later, as founder of Blender magazine in New York City, I witnessed over 2,500 live performances. While I never saw Strummer himself perform (he died in 2002), I had the privilege of seeing other Clash members live. I also interviewed founder Mick Jones.
I APPRECIATED THIS:
The song's genesis, in North London's converted St. Augustine's Church, seems prophetic given its biblical undertones.
"London is drowning/And I live by the river" wasn't just about the Thames potentially flooding central London (a fear that prompted the Thames Barrier's construction). The flood served as a powerful metaphor for societal collapse: police brutality, Cold War tensions, environmental catastrophes, and heroin addiction.
The biblical resonance grows stronger with the parallel to Noah's flood—where "there was no one righteous, not even one." The song's title cleverly references the BBC World Service's WWII identification: "This is London calling..."
Joe Strummer (1952-2002) was the lead singer and his own words reveal a deep vulnerability: "We felt that we were struggling about to slip down a slope or something, grasping with our fingernails. And there was no one there to help us." The desperation echoes Psalm 40's cry for divine rescue.
Unlike John Lennon's famous "more popular than Jesus" declaration, The Clash rejected messianic status with this:
"Now don't look to us
Phony Beatlemania has bitten the dust."
They created culture-changing art while openly acknowledging their flaws—drug abuse, personal conflicts, and classic rock 'n' roll excess.
The song's finale features an S.O.S. in Morse code, a final desperate plea fading into silence.
The album cover, designed by Ray Lowry as an homage to Elvis Presley's debut, captures bassist Paul Simonon destroying his coveted Fender Precision Bass at New York's Palladium on Sept. 20, 1979, after bouncers wouldn't let the audience stand up during the show.
This image of controlled chaos, described by Q magazine as "the ultimate rock 'n' roll moment," was later immortalized both as a Banksy mural on cubicle rage and also on a UK postage stamp—perhaps the ultimate irony for a counter-cultural masterpiece.
The bass guitar, permanently scarred from that moment of rebellion, now rests in the Museum of London—a fitting testament to how even the most anti-establishment art can become sacred artifact.
Read more about the song in Scott Timberg’s Nov. 1, 2016, interview with Marc Myers for Salon: “Why ‘London Calling’ matters: ‘It’s incredibly in touch and ahead of its time for British punk.’ Salon speaks to the author of Anatomy of Song about The Clash's great song and the band's famous album cover.” The song, “London Calling” was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2007.
THIS ISSUE'S COMMENTARY BY Jason Pearson
Our guest blogger, Jason Pearson, was recently interviewed about his documentary film, "Spares: Second Chance Stories of Frozen Embryos." View the 20-minute film here (free).
JASON PEARSON cut his teeth in the music industry creating album art for David Bowie, Nine Inch Nails, Aphex Twin, Gil Scott-Heron, and a bunch of artists you’ve never hear of. He was the co-founder of Blender Magazine which was sold to Dennis Publishing. Blender was the first digital publication to be included in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian and the Victoria & Albert Museums. Blender was named Ad Age magazine of the year.
Hidden inside the Tommy Hilfiger Building in NYC, Pearson co-launched an interactive agency developing creative for clients including: Nike, Mercedes, Disney, Levi’s, Coke, and Apple. Blender and its sister publication, Maxim, were sold to Quadrangle Capital Partners.
Pearson then moved to California and founded Online Giving, an innovative technology platform for nonprofits. Online Giving was successfully acquired by Starwire, a Sequoia Capital investment start-up. Pearson is the co-founder at Pearpod, a creative media company serving a mixture of clients. Jason is also an oil painter and exhibits his work in galleries and was also named one of “New York Magazine’s 60 Digital Visionaries” and also named to the “Samsung Braintrust.” He has won numerous creative awards, including the Gold One Club Award.
Today, Jason describes himself as a “Visual Engineer” and the founder of FiveHive Studios—a new entrepreneurial venture into artificial intelligence and film-making, “Innovating the way good stories are told.” Jason has worked on 80 Hollywood films. View his latest documentary film, "Spares: Second Chance Stories of Frozen Embryos." View the 20-minute film here (free).
Jason and his wife, Melinda, are the parents of John and Joanne Pearson's five favorite grandkids! He also was guest blogger for Song #2, "K.C. Loving" (aka Kansas City). Thank you, Jason!
NEXT UP: Song #41 of 45, “Brother John/Iko Iko,” by the Neville Brothers
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It all started in 2023, when John Pearson read and reviewed a "fun" book, Anatomy of a Song: The Oral History of 45 Iconic Hits That Changed Rock, R&B and Pop, by Marc Myers. Read John's review here. Order from Amazon here. Listen to the book on Libro (9 hours, 34 minutes).
John is grateful to our guest bloggers: John Ashmen, Dick Nelson, Suzy West, Dave Barton, Patsy Barton, Paul Palmer, Bill Butterworth, Jim West, Melinda Schmidt, Jason Pearson, Gary Rea, Callista Dawson, John Walling, Ed Barrett, Larry Beatty, Skye Matlock, Scott Anderson and others we have forgotten to mention here! Click here to subscribe to this blog and enjoy the toe-tapping musicians in each weekly blog post—reminding you of these iconic songs of yesteryear.