It was first released in February 1978 as a single with the B-side "Jail Guitar Doors", the latter a re-worked version of a song from Joe Strummer's pub rock days.

The song was first played live at Mont De Marsan (Landes, France), in August 1977, and recorded the same year in the band's October and November sessions at CBS Studios.

Following an argument at the end of the band's Get Out of Control Tour, Paul Simonon and Mick Jones were not on speaking terms, leaving Joe Strummer as a middle-man, relaying instructions and insults from one to the other.

"[5] The middle part of the song is based on an old nursery rhyme, "Oranges and Lemons" ("You owe me a move say the bells of St.

[4][6] Paul Simonon told Uncut magazine in 2015 that the recording sessions on the song were strained due to an argument he had been having with Mick Jones: "I seem to remember that, when we did 'Clash City Rockers', him and me had had a row.