Comments: 2

• JjI think the Magnificent Seven is an allusion to the Wild West movie, yes, in that Strummer wrote the song in New York, USA, and due to the reference “like cowboys do in tv land!”
  I think it’s a song about the drudgery and wage-slave-labor trap of the capitalist “the magnificent seven” 7 days of the week: hence it starts with “ring ring, seven am/ move yourself to go again”. Or it could be the magnificent 7am… when workers rise for their work day.
  Then followed with references to the failed attempts at righting societal wrongs, such as the exploitation of workers, and the assassination of MLK. “Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi went to the park to check out the game”, as they tried to join “the game”, but instead “they were murdered by the other team,” the other team being racism and capitalism, “who went on to win 50 nil.” The following line, for me, is the point of the whole song: “you can be true, you can be false/ but you’ll be given the same rewards.” And when Strummer says, “Socrates and Mulhouse Nixon,” both came the same way, through the kitchen,” meaning they were reared in the “kitchen” of western culture, and that whether your Plato the Greek or… (a tv dog actor), history will remember the most popular, and that’s it. Great song.
• David L. from Denver, CoI seriously doubt the song title was inspired by the movie of the same name. I believe the title is a reference to The Magnificent Seven bridges of London, bridges that cross the Thames river, some of which date back more than 150 years. People that live on the south side of the Thames are deemed as being from, “the wrong side of the river.” Also know as poor people. The song is largely about the drudgery of going to a job every day, crossing over the river into, “acceptable society.” What evidence do you have that the movie title has inspired the song title?

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