Joe Strummer’s unsigned handwritten lyrics to the song “All the Young Punks,” one page on the reverse of an 8.5 x 13 CBS Recording Studios track split sheet, no date but circa 1978. Strummer pens three verses, making several strikethroughs and emendations in the process, in full: “I was hanging about down the Market St. / Kos I spent a lotta time on my feet / When I saw some passing yobbos / and we did chance to speak / Well I knew how to sing / an they knew how to pose / an one of em had a Les Paul / Heart attack machine / No one pays to ride on this rock n' roller coaster/ we went out an got our name in small print on the posters / ‘course we got a manager / an though he aint the mafia / a contract is a contract / when they get em out on yer / Face front you got the future / shining like a piece of gold / but I swear as we get closer / it looks more like a lump of coal / but it's better than the factory / that's no place to waste your youth / I worked there for a week once / but they soon gave me the boot.” Strummer adds an alphabet to the lower portion, striking through six of the letters and writing above four, “Bo,” “Co,” “Master,” and “Post.” Reverse of page bears notations in another hand. In very good condition. ‘All the Young Punks (New Boots and Contracts)’ was the tenth and final song on Give ‘Em Enough Rope, the second full-length album from The Clash, and the first to be released in the United States, preceding their self-titled debut by a full year. Upon its American release, the song title was changed to ‘That's No Way to Spend Your Youth,’ similar to a line found in the last verse, before ultimately changing back. In keeping with the album’s contemporary themes of societal and global hardship, this is a fantastic set of original lyrics penned in the hand of The Clash’s lead vocalist. Pre-certified REAL.
