LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-FEB 12, 2019…IT WAS 1980, AND THE CLASH RELEASED THE SINGLE ‘TRAIN IN VAIN(STAND BY ME)’ B/W ‘LONDON CALLING’. ‘TRAIN IN VAIN’ WOULD BE THE THIRD AND FINAL SINGLE TAKEN FROM THE ALBUM ‘LONDON CALLING’.
LITTLE KNOWN FACT, THE WORDS “TRAIN IN VAIN” ARE NEVER SUNG IN THE SONG. THE PREDOMINATE LYRIC IS “STAND BY ME” BUT THAT’S THE TITLE OF A FAMOUS SONG BY BEN E. KING. THE TITLE OF THE SONG COMES FROM THE TRAIN RHYTHM IN THE SONG, AS WELL AS BEING A REFERENCE TO TAMMY WYNETTE’S HIT SONG ‘STAND BY YOUR MAN’ (“YOU SAY YOU STAND BY YOUR MAN,TELL ME SOMETHING I DON’T UNDERSTAND”).
THIS WAS THE FIRST TOP 40 HIT FOR THE CLASH. THE ONLY OTHER WAS ‘ROCK THE CASBAH’
HERE’S THE CLASH PERFORMING THE SONG LIVE AT THE LEWISHAM ODEON
