Clampdown

"Clampdown"
Single by The Clash
from the album London Calling
B-side	"The Guns of Brixton"
Released	1980
Recorded	August–September 1979, November 1979 at Wessex Studios
Length	3:50
Label	CBS ES 486
Songwriter(s)	Joe Strummer and Mick Jones
Producer(s)	Guy Stevens
The Clash singles chronology
"London Calling" (1979) "Clampdown" (1980) "Train in Vain" (1980)

"Clampdown" is a song by the English rock band the Clash from their 1979 album London Calling. The song began as an instrumental track called "Working and Waiting".^[1] It is sometimes called "Working for the Clampdown" which is the main lyric of the song, and also the title provided on the album's lyric sheet. Its lyrics concern those who have forsaken the idealism of youth and urges young people to fight the status quo.^[2] The word 'clampdown' is a neat cover-all term the writers adopted to define the oppressive Establishment, notably its more reactionary voices who were to be heard throughout the 1970s calling alarmingly for "clampdowns" by government and law enforcement on strikers, agitators, benefits claimants, football hooligans, punks and other perceived threats to the social, economic and moral wellbeing of the UK.

In 1980 "Clampdown" was released as a single backed with "The Guns of Brixton" in Australia. The single was not released in any other territories, with the exception of US promos.