"Should I Stay or Should I Go" is a song by the English punk rock band The Clash, from their album Combat Rock. It was written in 1981 and featured Mick Jones on lead vocals. It became the band's only number-one single on the UK Singles Chart, a decade after it was originally released. In November 2004, it was ranked at 228 on Rolling Stones "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" list.[3] In 2009 it was ranked 42nd on VH1's program 100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs.[4]
Many rumours have arisen about the song's content, such as Jones' impending dismissal from The Clash or the rocky personal relationship between Jones and singer Ellen Foley,[5] but Jones himself says
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. -Mick Jones, 1991[6]
The Spanish backing vocals were sung by Joe Strummer and Joe Ely:
On the spur of the moment I said 'I'm going to do the backing vocals in Spanish,' ... 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. -Joe Strummer, 1991[7]
Releases [edit]
The single was reissued several times. It was first reissued in 1982, with a different cover as a double A-side with "Straight to Hell" and with "Cool Confusion" as its B-side. It was reissued again in 1983, with "First Night Back in London" on the side two, and then for a third time in 1991, with "Rush" by Mick Jones' group Big Audio Dynamite II as a double A-side, with a remix of "Bush" as its B-side (see the table below).[8]
| Year |
B-side |
Format |
Label |
Country |
Note |
| 1982 |
CBS logo etched into vinyl |
45 rpm 7" vinyl |
Epic ENR-03571 |
USA |
One Sided Single - Epic's Get the Hit - Special Low Price. |
| 1982 |
"Cool Confusion" |
45 rpm 12" vinyl |
Epic 07 5P-223 |
JP |
— |
| 1982 |
"Straight to Hell" (Edit) |
45 rpm 12" vinyl |
CBS CBS A13 2646 |
UK |
— |
| 1982 |
"Straight to Hell" (Edit) |
45 rpm 7" vinyl |
CBS CBS AII 2646 |
UK |
Picture disc. |
| 1982 |
"Inoculated City" |
45 rpm 7" vinyl |
Epic 14-03006 |
USA |
10 June 1982. |
| 1982 |
"First Night Back in London" |
45 rpm 7" vinyl |
Epic 34-03061 |
USA |
Released on 20 July 1982 |
| 1982 |
"Straight to Hell" |
45 rpm 7" vinyl |
CBS CBS A 2646 |
UK |
Released on 17 September 1982. |
| 1983 |
"Cool Confusion" |
45 rpm 7" vinyl |
Epic 34-03547 |
USA |
Released on 27 January 1983. |
| 1991 |
- "Rush (Dance Mix)" (Big Audio Dynamite II)
- "Protex Blue" (The Clash)
|
45 rpm 12" vinyl |
CBS / Sony |
UK |
A-side
- "Should I Stay or Should I Go" (The Clash)
- "Rush" (Big Audio Dynamite II)
|
Charts [edit]
- ^ http://www.archives80.com/musique/the-clash/45-tours/should-i-stay-or-should-i-go
- ^ http://www.allmusic.com/album/combat-rock-mw0000189491
- ^ "The RS 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". Rolling Stone. 2004-12-09. Retrieved 2007-11-22.
- ^ "100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs". Retrieved 2009-02-07.
- ^ "The Uncut Crap - Over 56 Things You Never Knew About The Clash". NME (London: IPC Magazines) 3. 16 March 1991. ISSN 0028-6362. OCLC 4213418. "'Should I Stay Or Should I Go' was written by Mick about American singer Ellen Foley, who sang the backing vocals on Meatloaf's Bat Out Of Hell LP."
- ^ Clash on Broadway Box Set liner notes (Liner notes). Sony Music Entertainment Inc.
- ^ Moser, Margaret (2000-05-22). "Music: Lubbock Calling (Austin Chronicle. 05-22-00)". The Austin Chronicle. Weekly Wire. Retrieved 2007-11-22. "I ran into them accidentally in New York when they were cutting 'Should I Stay or Should I Go' and Strummer said, 'Hey, help me with my Spanish.' So me and Strummer and the Puerto Rican engineer sat down and translated the lyrics into the weirdest Spanish ever. Then we sang it all. When you listen to 'Should I Stay or Should I Go,' there's a place in the song where Mick says, 'Split.' Me and Strummer had been yelling out the Spanish background lyrics and we had snuck up behind him as he was recording. We were behind a curtain, jumped out at him in the middle of singing, and scared the shit out of him. He looks over and gives us the dirtiest look and says, 'Split!' They kept that in the final version."
- ^ "Albums by The Clash - Rate Your Music". rateyourmusic.com. Retrieved 2007-12-31.
- ^ a b "The Irish Charts". IRMA. Retrieved 2008-10-02.
- ^ a b "Chart Stats - The Clash". chartstats.com. Retrieved 2008-11-18.
- ^ a b c d e "Various singles charts". lescharts.com. Retrieved 2009-01-15.
- ^ a b "Charts Surfer - UK, German and French charts". charts-surfer.de. Retrieved 2008-09-03.
References [edit]
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