"Tommy Gun"
Single by The Clash
from the album Give 'Em Enough Rope
Released	24 November 1978
Format	7" vinyl
Genre	Punk rock
Length	3:16
Label	CBS Records
Writer(s)	Joe Strummer/Mick Jones
Producer(s)	Sandy Pearlman
Chart positions
#19 (UK)
The Clash singles chronology
"'(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais" (1978)	"Tommy Gun'" (1978)	"English Civil War" (1978)

"Tommy Gun" was London punk rock band The Clash's seventh single, and the first single taken from their second album Give 'Em Enough Rope. Joe Strummer said that he got the idea for the song when he was thinking about terrorists, and how they probably enjoy reading about their killings as much as movie stars like seeing their films reviewed. ^[1] While Topper Headon mimics the sound of gangster movie shootings with quick snare hits and the guitars are full of distortion and feedback, Strummer's sarcastic lyrics (I'm cutting out your picture from page one/I'm gonna get a jacket just like yours/And give my false support to your cause/Whatever you want, youre gonna get it!) condemn rather than condone violence: at the end of the song he sings, If death comes so cheap/Then the same goes for life! A collection of various CD singles In music, a single is a short recording of one or more separate tracks. ... The Clash were an English rock band active from 1976 to 1986. ... Give Em Enough Rope is The Clashs second album. ... November 24 is the 328th day (329th on leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday. ... A music genre is a category (or genre) of pieces of music that share a certain style or basic musical language (van der Merwe 1989, p. ... Punk rock is an anti-establishment music movement beginning around 1976 (although precursors can be found several years earlier), exemplified and popularised by The Ramones, the Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Damned. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Columbia Records is the oldest continually used brand name in recorded sound, dating back to 1888. ... A songwriter is someone who writes the lyrics to songs, the musical composition or melody to songs, or both. ... John Graham Mellor (August 21, 1952 – December 22, 2002) better known as Joe Strummer, was the co-founder, lyricist, rhythm guitarist and lead singer of the English punk rock band The Clash, and later The Mescaleros. ... For the Spooky Tooth and Foreigner guitarist, see Mick Jones (Foreigner). ... In the music industry, a record producer (or music producer) has many roles, among them controlling the recording sessions, coaching and guiding the musicians, and supervising the recording, mixing and mastering processes. ... Sandy Pearlman was the original producer, manager and a songwriter for the Blue Öyster Cult. ... A record chart, also known as a music chart, is a method of ranking music according to popularity during a given period of time. ... The Clash were an English rock band active from 1976 to 1986. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday. ... English Civil War is a song by The Clash, featured on their second album Give Em Enough Rope, and released as a single. ... The Clash were an English rock band active from 1976 to 1986. ... Give Em Enough Rope is The Clashs second album. ... John Graham Mellor (August 21, 1952 – December 22, 2002) better known as Joe Strummer, was the co-founder, lyricist, rhythm guitarist and lead singer of the English punk rock band The Clash, and later The Mescaleros. ... Topper Headon Nicholas Bowen Headon (born May 30, 1955, in Bromley, Kent, England), better known as Topper Headon (because of his resemblance to the cartoon monkey), was the drummer for the English punk rock band The Clash. ... A kind of trap used in trapping. ...

In the liner notes of the recently released Singles Box, Carl Barat (frontman of the Dirty Pretty Things and formerly of The Libertines), says that "Tommy Gun" was important for music at the time because it let people know what was going on in the world-it talked about real issues. He says, "It's [Tommy Gun] a product of the volitile climate of the late seventies - all those references to terrorist organizations like Baader-Meinhof and The Red Brigade. It's like a punk rock adaptation of The Beatles' "Revolution."^[2] Singles Box is a compilation album by The Clash. ... Carl Ashley Raphael Barât (born June 6, 1978) is the frontman and lead guitarist in the band Dirty Pretty Things. ... Dirty Pretty Things is the band fronted by former member of The Libertines, Carl Barât. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, inclusive. ... RAF Logo The Red Army Faction (in German: Rote Armee Fraktion; RAF), also known as the Baader-Meinhof Gang, was postwar Germanys most active radical leftist paramilitary group, which is widely regarded as a terrorist organization. ... Red Brigades (Brigate Rosse) is a terrorist group located in Italy. ... Punk rock is an anti-establishment music movement beginning around 1976 (although precursors can be found several years earlier), exemplified and popularised by The Ramones, the Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Damned. ... The Beatles were an English rock band from Liverpool. ... Revolution is a song by The Beatles, written primarily by John Lennon and attributed to Lennon-McCartney. ...

Lyrics

[1]

References

This article is uncategorized. Please help improve this article by adding it to one or more categories, so it may be associated with related articles (how?). Please remove this tag after categorizing, but not before. This page has been tagged since January 2007. Singles Box is a compilation album by The Clash. ... Image File history File links Information_icon. ...