Safe European Home The Clash

Safe European Home Album: Give 'Em Enough Rope (1978)
by The Clash

Safe European Home The Clash
Give 'Em Enough Rope is the second studio album by the English punk rock band the Clash, released on 10 November 1978 through CBS Records. It was their first album released in the United States, preceding the US version of the self-titled studio album.

Side One Song One "Safe European Home"

The meaning behind this song is made clear by a story The Clash have told about a writing trip to Jamaica gone wrong. Singer Joe Strummer and guitarist Mick Jones were sent to Jamaica for two weeks in December 1977 to write songs for their upcoming second album, which would become Give 'Em Enough Rope. The experience wasn't as positive as they'd have liked: "We must've looked like a strange pair to the locals... I'm surprised we weren't filleted and served on a plate of chips" noted Jones. "We went down to the docks and I think we only survived because they mistook us for sailors."

This feeling of alienation and struggling to stay alive in a very hostile environment far from home is evident in the lyrics, most obviously in the chorus ("I went to the place where every white face is an invitation to robbery").

The song also includes a reference to the Sheraton hotel in Kingston and the pair's regular trips to the cinema to watch the movie The Harder They Come ("Whoa, the harder they come, n' the home of ol' bluebeat").

Add in to this mix bassist Paul Simonon, who as the guy in the band most into reggae music, was furious that he wasn't invited out to Jamaica with the others. Even in the Westway to the World documentary, made over 20 years after the event, he still seems angry, stating: "yeah, that pissed me off."

It was during the sessions to record "Safe European Home" that drummer Topper Headon gained the nickname "The Human Drum Machine."

"(Producer) Sandy Pearlman called me The Human Drum Machine because I didn't make any mistakes on the album. It was a buzz to get a producer who got such a great drum sound" said Headon.

Singer Joe Strummer's improvised scat lines at the end of this track would later provide the title to a song on the follow-up album London Calling - the song being "Rudie Can't Fail".

An explosively punchy old-fashioned Punk Rock song, "Safe European Home" was always a live favorite for the band, even when they clearly weren't just sitting at home in Europe hating the world later in their careers.

In 1978 it was a punchy opening song, and then with the writing of "London Calling" it was shifted down the setlist but remained an ever-present. Strummer would also often play the song with his solo band the Mescaleros.

Huginn and Muninn
In Norse mythology, Huginn (Old Norse: "thought") and Muninn (Old Norse "memory" or "mind") are a pair of ravens that fly all over the world, Midgard, and bring information to the god Odin. Huginn and Muninn are attested in the Poetic Edda.

In the Poetic Edda, a disguised Odin expresses that he fears that they may not return from their daily flights. The Prose Edda explains that Odin is referred to as Hrafnaguð ("raven-god") due to his association with Huginn and Muninn. In the Prose Edda and the Third Grammatical Treatise, the two ravens are described as perching on Odin's shoulders. Heimskringla details that Odin gave Huginn and Muninn the ability to speak.

O'er Mithgarth Hugin and Munin both
Each day set forth to fly;
For Hugin I fear lest he come not home,
But for Munin my care is more.

Gylfaginning (chapter 38), the enthroned figure of High tells Gangleri (king Gylfi in disguise) that two ravens named Huginn and Muninn sit on Odin's shoulders. The ravens tell Odin everything they see and hear. Odin sends Huginn and Muninn out at dawn, and the birds fly all over Mithgarth before returning at dinner-time. As a result, Odin is kept informed of many events. It is from this association that Odin is referred to as "raven-god". The above-mentioned stanza from Grímnismál is then quoted.

In the Heimskringla book Ynglinga saga, a euhemerized account of the life of Odin is provided. Chapter 7 describes that Odin had two ravens, and upon these ravens he bestowed the gift of speech. These ravens flew all over the land and brought him information, causing Odin to become "very wise in his lore."

In the Third Grammatical Treatise an anonymous verse is recorded that mentions the ravens flying from Odin's shoulders; Huginn seeking hanged men, and Muninn slain bodies. The verse reads:

Two ravens flew from Hnikar’s [Óðinn’s]
shoulders; Huginn to the hanged and
Muninn to the slain.