The Philosophy of Modern Song: London Calling with a voice you never expected

Posted on February 7, 2026 by Tony Attwood

 

By Tony Attwood

This series takes a look at the songs Bob Dylan wrote about in his work “The Philosophy of Modern Song,” the book that he wrote following the award of the honorary doctorate.  It’s not a review of the book as such, since the book is a review in itself, but rather it has become a review of the songs within the book, and includes a recording of each song in case there are any in Bob’s book which you have never heard.

Details of other songs from Dylan’s book “The Philosophy” which have been covered within Untold Dylan are given at the end of this article.  Here, I take a look at and listen to “London Calling”, and with a diversion toward the end into “London’s Burning” for reasons that may not become fully apparent at this time.

The Clash

As a Londoner born and bred (I was brought up in Tottenham, London N17 just in case you are interested, which on reflection you probably aren’t) I still have an affinity with many things London, even though I now live in a little village out in the countryside some 80 miles out of London).  But somehow this doesn’t do much to me.

Maybe this is because I have never seen London as a unity – for me the north London has been London, while the East End, “south of the river”, the West End, these have all been other worlds, inhabited by other people who are not really “Londoners”.  (They probably think the same about me).  In short as a Londoner, I perceive no unity in the concept of London.   And although concepts such as “don’t go south of the river after dark” are of course prejudiced and utterly out of date, they still exist in my head.

So likewise “London Calling” means nothing much to me lyrically, and I can’t quite see why Bob would be drawn to that simple thump thump thump of a beat without rhythmic variation.

But – and this is a very big BUT – some of the covers have been something else….  even if this doesn’t appeal too much at the start do give this recording a chance

And to my surprise, there have even been some instrumental cover versions – a surprise because I really didn’t think there was enough in the song to do anything with, instrumentally.

But while many artists have found themselves utterly trapped by the beat of the song, just occasionally someone has been able to take the essence of the music and find somewhere else to go….

There are, of course, some valiant efforts to take the song somewhere else, such as the one below played on a ‘cello, which, after getting going, really does take us to new places.  But then, having listened to it once, at first I couldn’t imagine myself listening again.   Except… reviewing this little article I did, played it again, and began to think, I have a couple of friends who might enjoy this….

And maybe this is all my fault, for what I seem to be demanding is a real reinterpration of the original piece so that it says something new to me, rather than leaving me thinking “oh that’s London’s Burning,” which of course it isn’t.   (“London’s Burning” is a round – a musical form in which different singers start the song two bars after each other, and somehow everything fits together.  In England we all learned it in primary school).

And maybe that is always the problem – if a song somehow relates back to something in the past, that past memory can interfere with an appreciation of the current music.

But that cello solo is still in my head, and that is now going to be played again.   If you just played it for a few seconds and ventured forth, and assuming you have a couple of minutes to spare, do try it again.

As for why Bob put this in his Philosophy… well, yes music calls from all sorts of places and in all sorts of ways.

Previously in this series

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