40 years of The Clash’s biggest anthem ‘Should I Stay or Should I Go Now’
Of the 197 songs that The Clash mustered up in their recording career, ‘Should I Stay or Should I Go Now’ happens to be the one that has received the most air time. It has transcended the clutches of punk that spawned it and became a musical touchstone for general indecision. Kids have heard this song long before they have any idea who The Clash are or what the Spanish callback entails. With this in mind, it might not be the most definitive Clash track, but the fact it became a huge hit typifies them as a band. Unlike a lot of their peers, they could offer up polished pop.
Combat Rock might have been a decidedly pointed album, but ‘Should I Stay or Should I Go Now’ stands beside it. The Clash might have been a band drenched with profound intent, however, if you ask any punk gig goer of the era, they will tell you that the beauty of the band was the raw energy that they could extoll. Thus, once more, it is worth noting that this classic might not epitomise what they were all about, but it certainly upholds one half of the bargain when it comes to the clamour of melodious rock riffage.
As Mick Jones said about his starring creation: “It wasn’t about anybody specific and it wasn’t pre-empting my leaving The Clash. It was just a good rockin’ song, our attempt at writing a classic … When we were just playing, that was the kind of thing we used to like to play.” It’s that simple attitude that makes the track soar. It doesn’t aim much higher than offering up an absorbing jam and the love of the radio has responded in kind.
Nevertheless, The Clash being The Clash, it isn’t all that straightforward either. After all, there aren’t many clean-cut western rock hits that throw some Spanish into the background. If the whole thing seems frenzied on this front, then that is merely a reflection of the frenetic flow of casual ideas in the studio. “On the spur of the moment, I said ‘I’m going to do the backing vocals in Spanish’,” Joe Strummer recalled.
Continuing: “We needed a translator so Eddie Garcia, the tape operator, called his mother in Brooklyn Heights and read her the lyrics over the phone and she translated them. But Eddie and his mum are Ecuadorian, so it’s Ecuadorian Spanish that me and Joe Ely are singing on the backing vocals.” This clever touch doubles down on the notion of duality. Illuminating that the song might not be so much about indecision over something specific, and more so about the flipping coin we all face, giving it a dollop of universality and visceral relatability.
Now, 40 years on, it says a lot about the track’s transcendence that Stranger Things used it as a touchstone of escapism in the series four soundtrack. It is, in short, a little time capsule of the era, and whether you were listening back then or throwing it back in the present, it packs a beautiful punch of carefree rock.