I have an interesting story about this song. The first time I ever heard (and subsequently fell immediately and madly in love with) The Clash I was 16 years old. My oldest step brother was serving in the Army at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri and one day my step mom had a wild hair to pile the family into the car and drive south across multiple states to surprise him with a visit. It was some time ago, but if I recall correctly, he wasn’t so happy to have us show up unexpectedly, but my stepsister and I sure were happy to walk into the barracks and receive such a warm welcome. We were the same age, young and silly, unabashedly strutting our stuff up and down the halls, fluttering our lashes at all the cute young soldiers.

Well, as it turned out, stepbro had a bunch of important stuff to do and couldn’t find much time to hang out with the fam. We ended up spending most our time at the motel. Luckily the hot weather kept my parents indoors because when my stepsister and I donned our suits and went for a swim in the outdoor pool, we drew a crowd of young soldiers who were there on leave. I don’t remember all of the details, but the interesting part of the story goes a little something like this...
   more »