Straight to Hell

"Straight to Hell" is a song by the Clash, from their album Combat Rock. It was released as a double A-side single with "Should I Stay or Should I Go" on 17 September 1982 in 12" and 7" vinyl format (the 7" vinyl is also available as a picture disc). Writing and recording "Straight to Hell" was written and recorded towards the very end of the Clash's New York recording sessions for Combat Rock. Mick Jones' guitar technician Digby Cleaver describes the sessions as "a mad, creative rush" that occurred on 30 December 1981, the day before the Clash was due to fly out of New York on New Year's Eve 1981. Joe Strummer reflected on this creative process in a 1991 piece about the track: Lyrical themes "Straight to Hell" has been described by writer Pat Gilbert as being saturated by a "colonial melancholia and sadness".