Should I Stay or Should I Go

Though the composition was credited to the Clash, Mick Jones was its principal songwriter. Its melody and chord structure shared resemblance with "Little Latin Lupe Lu", which was written by Bill Medley in 1962 and provided a hit for his act the Righteous Brothers the following year, as well as for the Kingsmen in 1964 and Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels in 1966. Rumours have arisen about the song's lyrical content, such as Jones' impending dismissal from the Clash or the tempestuous personal relationship between Jones and American singer and actress Ellen Foley. "Should I Stay or Should I Go" was thought to be written by Jones about Foley, who sang the backing vocals on Meat Loaf's debut studio album Bat Out of Hell (1977). The Spanish backing vocals were sung by Joe Strummer and Joe Ely. In 1991, Strummer said: On the spur of the moment I said 'I'm going to do the backing vocals in Spanish'...We needed a translator so Eddie Garcia, the tape operator, called his mother in Brooklyn Heights and read her the lyrics over the phone and she translated them. But Eddie and his mum are Ecuadorian, so it's Ecuadorian Spanish that me and Joe Ely are singing on the backing vocals. ==Releases==

The song had various single releases. In North America, the American record label Epic Records released one edition with "Inoculated City" as its B-side in May 1982. Another edition by Epic with "First Night Back in London" as its B-side, released in July 1982, a decade after its original release, reaching number one on the UK Singles Chart. In that same year, Jones told NME journalist James Brown that he included Big Audio Dynamite II's "Rush" in the single re-release to promote his newer band. A live recording of the song was included on the album Live at Shea Stadium, which featured a concert performed on 13 October 1982 in New York City. The song's music video from that performance was included on the DVD The Clash Live: Revolution Rock. Both discs were released on 6 October 2008. ==Critical reception==

NME journalist Adrian Thrills in 1982 gave the double A-side single release "Straight to Hell"/"Should I Stay or Should I Go" four-and-a-half stars out of five. Despite "Should I Stay or Should I Go" having received more radio airplay, Thrills stated that the single's other A-side track "Straight to Hell" was "the reaffirmation that there is still life in The Clash." In November 2004, the song was ranked number 228 on "Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". In 2009 it was ranked 42nd on VH1's program 100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs. Scholar Theodore Gracyk wrote in 2007 that the song "is not [as] overtly political" as most of the band's other songs, especially from the album Combat Rock, which carries the song. Gracyk also wrote that new listeners familiar with the song, who then wished to buy Combat Rock or a compilation album containing the song, would be surprised by the band's "strong critique of dominant Western values". Vulture writer Bill Wyman in 2017 ranked the song number 19 of all the band's 139 songs. ==Music video==

The video for the song was made by Don Letts. It consists of the band's USA tour with images of their visit to New York City, where the band were filmed driving in an open-topped Cadillac to a gig; there, Joe Strummer is featured performing in sunglasses and a Davy Crockett hat and Mick Jones in a red jumpsuit and beret. The concert was at Shea Stadium on 13 October 1982, in the band's second night opening for the Who. ==Opening riff similarity==

Twitter users accused One Direction's 2012 hit single "Live While We're Young" of copying the song's opening guitar riff. According to Alexis Petridis of The Guardian, the guitar is played twice between the riff with the plectrum stroking the strings, while it is pressed. One note in the chord is changed, which Petridis surmised was probably to avoid paying any royalty to the Clash. ==Charts==

Original release Reissue Weekly charts Year-end charts Decade-end charts ==Certifications==