> Straight to Hellhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQwm1v1R-qM
>
> "Straight to Hell" is a song by The Clash, from their album Combat
> Rock. It was released as a double 'A' side single with "Should I Stay
> or Should I Go?" on September 17, 1982 in 12" and 7" vinyl format (the
> 7" vinyl is a picture disc).
>
> The song is a typical Clash condemnation of the wrongs that they saw
> in the world as they wrote the song. The first verse refers to the
> shutting down of steel mills in Northern England and the alienation
> and racism suffered by immigrants despite their attempts to integrate
> into British society. The second verse concerns the abandonment of
> children in Vietnam who were fathered by American soldiers during the
> Vietnam War. The third verse contrasts the American Dream as seen
> through the eyes of an Amerasian child with a dystopian vision of
> American reality. The final verse considers the plight of immigrants
> throughout the world. Due to this difficult subject material, as well
> as the slow, aching beat, the song is one of the most downbeat tracks
> in the Clash's history.
>
> The reference to "Amerasian Blues" describes the abandonment of
> children fathered by American soldiers stationed in Vietnam during the
> Vietnam War: an Amerasian child is portrayed as presenting an absent
> American father, "papa-san," with a photograph of his parents,
> pleading with his father to take him home to America. The child's plea
> is rejected. "-san" being a Japanese rather than Vietnamese honorific
> the reference must be either an error or meant ironically.
>
> When Strummer sings of a "Volatile Molotov" thrown at Puerto Rican
> immigrants in Alphabet City as a message to encourage them to leave,
> he is referring to the arson that claimed buildings occupied by
> immigrant communities – notably Puerto Rican – before the neighborhood
> was subject to gentrification. Hence, the ironic reference to "dead-
> head," the removal of dead flowers to encourage further blooming, at
> the end of the verse.
>
> The last line of the song, "King Solomon never lived 'round here,"
> condenses at least three attributes associated with the biblical
> figure of King Solomon: his love of dance (thus referring back to the
> singing and dancing of immigrants throughout the song), his purported
> wisdom and justice, and finally the promise of a return from exile to
> a land or, as Strummer would suggest, a world of peace and prosperity.
>
> The song, whose full version lasted 7 minutes (which can be found on
> the Clash on Broadway box set or Rat Patrol from Fort Bragg (bootleg)
> - the double album that Combat Rock was going to be), had a lingering
> violin background that distinguished it from most other Clash songs.
>
> The music for the song has also been sampled by M.I.A. for "Paper
> Planes", the eleventh track on her 2007 album Kala"
>
> Paper Planes http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sei-eEjy4g