Here are a few of my favorite tunes that evoke the power of sirens.
Kris Dollimore's intense vaulting up and down his guitar neck in The Godfathers's great early single "This Damn Nation" sounded to me and my friends like a call to arms. We thought that the Godfathers were going to save rock and roll there for a while. (Alas.)
The Godfathers, "This Damn Nation," single (1986)
Mick Jones's lead in the Clash's streak through Eddy Grant's "Police On
My Back" stirringly channels the anxiety and dread that a pursuing siren
can create.
The Clash, "Police On My Back," Sandinista! (1980)
And speaking of paranoia, as an acid-addled John Lennon was plunking
away on a keyboard at his house in Weybridge one afternoon in August of
1967, a passing police siren inspired the opening notes of a song that
became his obscure, iconoclastic, nose-thumbing, and wounded "I Am The
Walrus."
The Beatles, "I Am The Walrus," b-side (1967)
To my great disappointment, the fine folks at the Harry Fox Agency, Inc., UMG, and UMPG Publishing have blocked the video of Public Enemy's "Lost At Birth." The intense, convulsive opening salvo from Apocalypse 91...The Enemy Strikes Black (1991) is one of my all-time favorite siren jams.
Too bad. Stream it here. WARNING: If you've never heard it, listen in a controlled environment.
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Yeah, I forgot about R.E.M.'s "Leave"...
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