The Clash's London Calling is among the greatest rock albums of all time. (Rolling Stone ranked it number eight.) The album is chock full of great songs, but this morning I'm thinking about "The Guns of Brixton."

When they kick out your front door
How you gonna come?
With your hands on your head
Or on the trigger of your gun

When the law break in
How you gonna go?
Shot down on the pavement
Or waiting in death row.

Written in 1979, the song foreshadowed Brixton's later racial unrest, largely brought about by police brutality and poor economic conditions. Re-reading the lyrics today, the song makes me think of folks like Cory Maye (about whom Orin blogged here). Windypundit's Mark Draughn, who suggested this lyric, has more thoughts on the song here.

Back to the music, this isone of the few Clash classics written by Clash bassist Paul Simonon. It became a staple of their live performances (like this one). Snippets of this song, and virtually everthing ever recorded by the Clash, are available here.