Elvis Ate Dynamite

In two minutes fifty-nine.

Today’s installment of Black Coffee and Electric Guitars features a very un-Clash-like Clash song, “Hitsville U.K.,” from the 1980 triple album, Sandinista! 

The song’s lyrics epitomize the DIY spirit of early punk rock, but it has a very different sound, with organs and marimbas front and center. Nonetheless, it’s pretty straightforward and fun to play on guitar.

The version I found online uses just four chords: C, F, G and Am. 

The opening verse is:

C                     F                 C

They cried the tears, they shed the fears

F           C        F    G

Up and down the land

           C               F           C

They stole guitars or used guitars

           F            C               Am

So the tape would understand

F                   G                  C       F

Without even the slightest hope of a 1000 sales  

                  G                                F

Just as if, as if there was, a hitsville in U.K.

                                C          F        G            C

I know the boy was all alone, til the hitsville hit U.K.

The remaining verses follow that same basic pattern. For example verse two:

C        F   C

They say true talent

         F          C       F     G

Will always emerge in time

           C           F             C

When lightning hits small wonder

      F              C         Am

Its fast rough factory trade

      F                             G

No expense accounts, or lunch discounts

     C               F

Or hyping up the charts

       F                    G                                    C        F

The band went in, ’n knocked ’em dead, in 2 min. 59

                                C                    F            G       C

I know the boy was all alone, til the hitsville hit U.K.

And then the outro repeats these lyrics until the end: 

 C           F               C

Now the boys and girls are not alone

F                           G     C

Now the hitsville’s hit U.K.

So why this song? 

As I’ve mentioned before, my late brother John turned me on to the Clash way back when, and one persistent memory I have is driving around in his car running errands in the early summer of 1981 when “Hitsville U.K.” came on the radio. To be honest, up to that point I didn’t quite know what to make of Sandinista!, because I was mostly familiar with their self-titled debut album and London Calling, which were quite different. But John loved it, and I still remember him raving about while we drove around the suburbs. Anyway, John’s praise for Sandinista! opened my mind to what the Clash really stood for, which was constant change and challenging old ways of thinking. And that, really, is the essence of the Sandinista! album. 

Mick Jones once joked that Sandinista! had “a lot of marimbas for a punk album,” and that’s true, but that’s what made the Clash so much better than the average punk band. So, thanks, John, for an important musical lesson.