Police On My Back by The Equals

Album: Baby, Come Back (1968)

License This Song

lyrics

Songfacts®:

Originally released on the Baby, Come Back album in 1968, the song enjoyed a revival in the manner of Junior Murvin's "Police And Thieves" when UK punk band The Clash recorded a cover of the song in 1980 for their Sandinista! album. "We used to play the Equals' version on the tour bus, Mick was the first one to play it to me" said bassist Paul Simonon. "We recorded it at the Power Station, just the three of us, me, Mick (Jones, guitarist) and Topper (Headon, drummer). Paul put his bit on later in Wessex," noted singer Joe Strummer.

There was a slight problem with recording in New York as no record store in NYC had a copy of the album, so Clash aide Kosmo Vinyl had to bring a copy of the LP over from London to help the band remember the lyrics.
This song was cited by some critics in reviews of the Sandinista! album as the most Clash-sounding song on the album - with the irony being that it's a cover! The song was a live standard for the band from 1981 until their breakup.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

More Songfacts:

I Feel For YouChaka Khan

Chaka Khan's hit "I Feel For You" was written and originally recorded by Prince four years before she covered it.

Without YouNilsson

The song "Without You," a hit for Nilsson in 1972 and Mariah Carey in 1994, was written and originally recorded by Badfinger in 1970.

Like A PrayerMadonna

Madonna's hit "Like A Prayer" debuted in a Pepsi commercial, but Pepsi pulled the ad the next day when the controversial video appeared. Madonna got to keep her $5 million endorsement money.

Birds Of A FeatherBillie Eilish

Listen carefully and you'll hear the sound of birds in "Birds Of A Feather" by Billie Eilish. Her brother/producer Finneas couldn't resist putting them in, but he kept them real quiet in the mix.

RadioactiveImagine Dragons

Imagine Dragons lead singer Dan Reynolds says their 2012 hit "Radioactive" is "a song about having an awakening; kind of waking up one day and deciding to do something new, and see life in a fresh way."

Let Me Blow Ya MindEve

2001 was when collaborations between rappers and singers became commonplace, leading to a new Grammy category: Best Rap/Sung Collaboration. The first winner was "Let Me Blow Ya Mind" by Eve and Gwen Stefani. This was before Stefani put out her first solo album.