Mick Jones’ favourite song from ‘London Calling’: “It wasn’t intended to be hidden”
Even the most committed punk naysayer embraced The Clash. Offering a more direct rock ‘n roll that averted The Sex Pistols’ cartoon nihilism and The Damned’s snotty theatre, The Clash’s take on the punk wave never felt too far away from The Jam or any of the pub rock acts like Dr. Feelgood who inspired them.
As John Lydon was conjuring Metal Box‘s subterranean post-punk and Machine Gun Etiquette saw The Damned explore their penchant for garage psych, The Clash grew to greater critical and commercial stature with 1979’s London Calling.
Expanding their creative frontiers with elements of rockabilly, R&B, ska, and pop, The Clash garnered new audiences that had previously avoided punk like the plague. Coupled with their overt politicisation, they were gifted the mantle “the only band that mattered”, rankling some in punk who found their social critique overly earnest and open reach for the mainstream distasteful.
In 2009, Clash lead guitarist Mick Jones unveiled a short-lived Rock ‘n’ Roll museum in London’s Chelsea Space Gallery showcasing his vast collection of music memorabilia. At its opening, Jones played a solo set, performing three of his favourite cuts from the band’s heydey. Kicking things off with ‘Train in Vain’, Jones’ selection from London Calling also happens to be a fan favourite.
For such a lauded track, it almost didn’t make the final album. Recorded at Wessex Studios, its manager recalled ‘Train in Vain’s curious initial omission from the tracklist: “‘Train in Vain’ was the last song we finished after the artwork went to the printer… A couple of Clash websites describe it as a hidden track, but it wasn’t intended to be hidden. The sleeve was already printed before we tacked the song on the end of the master tape.”
Jones himself gave shed further light to MTV in 2007: “…originally we needed a song to give to the NME for a flexi disk that NME was going to do. And then it was decided that it didn’t work out or decided the flexi disk didn’t work out so we had this spare track we had done as a giveaway. So we put it on London Calling but there wasn’t time because the sleeves were already done.”
Due to its lack of a title, for a long time, fans referred to the song as ‘Stand By Me’, and has often been speculated to be a riposte to the Slits’ ‘Typical Girls’, Jones having split up from Viv Albertine shortly before writing the track. Speaking in 2009, Albertine gave some recognition wrapped in barbed ambiguity: “I’m really proud to have inspired that but often he won’t admit to it. He used to get the train to my place in Shepherd’s Bush, but I would not let him in. He was bleating on the doorstep. That was cruel.”
The Clash would only get bigger eventually, playing stadiums in America at the peak of their Combat Rock era, and Jones was dismissed before 1985’s underwhelming Cut the Crap, teaming up with Don Letts for the Big Audio Dynamite project. A song beloved by many that nearly was destined for an NME flexi disc, ‘Train in Vain’ still stands as a document for a band at the cusp of big things.
