“The Guns of Brixton” appeared in 1979 on London Calling, the only Clash ditty written and sung by Paul “the cute one” Simonon. If a man writes only one song, but it is one of the greatest songs ever written, how should we rate his talent? I dunno, but there’s actually a boxed set devoted to the music of Kansas.
Guns of Brixton-Arcade Fire. Indie death version!
People in the Middle/Guns of Brixton-Spearhead. Pop reggae!
New Year’s Day (U2)/ Guns of Brixton (Clash)-Bedouin Soundclash. Ska!
Guns of Brixton/Jam-Eric McFadden. An extended jam version.
Guns of Brixton-Art Vandelay. The Seinfeld tribute band version!
Guns of Brixton/Dub Be Good To Me-Beautiful Girls. The dream dub version, complete with the Beats International tune that sampled the bassline!
Guns of Brixton-Moe. The strange alt-rock version.
Guns of Brixton-Die Toten Hosen. Acoustic German punk!
Guns of Brixton-Ruder than You. The what-if-Billy-Idol-did-ska version!
Guns of Brixton-Nouvelle Vague. Lounge!
The Guns of Brixton-The Clash. The original! (You Tube link.)
Crystal Frontier/Guns of Brixton-Calexico. The TexMex version.
Guns of Brixton-Jeff Klein. The shouting-in-the-background, I-wish-I-were-Nick-Cave version!
What’s Your Number-Cypress Hill. The hijacked by rap version!
Guns of Brixton-Bandits. The one with the Jerry Garcia-ish solo!
Guns of Brixton-Dropkick Murphys. The Scotpunk version!
Guns of Brixton-Me and My Guitar Player. (You Tube link). Two kids you’ll never hear of again!
Return to Brixton-The Clash. The sequel is never quite as good. Remember when Jay-Z rapped over a song from “Oliver!” after he did “Hard Knock Life”?
