“Lost in the Supermarket” by The Clash is my favorite Clash song. The song has layers and depth that I have only gotten to experience after listening to it over and over and over again. The fast-paced hi-hat that introduces the song forces me to pay close attention while the other instruments showcase the far-reaching influences that make the song interesting as a musical composition.
However, my strongest connection with “Lost in the Supermarket” has always been that it brings up memories of going to the grocery store when I was younger. On trips to the supermarket with my dad, I would occasionally go to another aisle and, as a result, I would get lost. As soon as the line in the chorus, “I’m all lost in the supermarket” is sung, I visualize walking past every aisle in the store, searching for my dad and fearing that I might never see him. At this point in the song, I am emotionally invested and want to hear what more it has to offer.
“Lost in the Supermarket” is from the perspective of someone searching for meaning and purpose in a commercially driven culture that has nothing to offer him or her. The subject matter is somewhat standard, but “Lost in the Supermarket” has so much more to offer than other punk fare of the time. The song makes you pay attention, because it doesn’t scream its message at you. Rather than the anger-fueled lyrics of a Sex Pistols song, there is concern, confusion, and longing written into “Lost in the Supermarket.”
If you know some of the background of the song, you’ll know that Joe Strummer, the rhythm guitarist and lead vocalist, wrote the lyrics for Mick Jones, the lead guitarist and back-up vocalist. Strummer was inspired by the loneliness he imagined that Jones experienced growing up. Jones sang “Lost in the Supermarket,” which is one of the few songs he sang on the album. Thinking about the relationship between Jones and Strummer and how Jones was singing a song written for him by Strummer makes the song infinitely more interesting as well as endearing to me.
“Lost in the Supermarket” by The Clash is one of maybe five songs that give me goose bumps when I listen to it. I don’t like describing it in such a way, because when people say something gives them goose bumps, they rarely actually mean it. I get goose bumps whenever I hear the song, which is why “Lost in the Supermarket” is my favorite song ever, this week.
