In early 1980 singer Joe Strummer was approached by Jack Nitzsche, who was assembling the soundtrack and score to the William Freidkin movie Cruising, starring Al Pacino. Nitzsche asked Strummer to provide a heavy Rock song to the soundtrack. That evening Strummer arrived back at his flat in London to learn that a parking attendant in the area had been stabbed in an argument over a tiny amount of money (apparently five pounds). This incident inspired the lyrics to "Somebody Got Murdered." In the end, the song wasn't used in the Cruising score, so it went on the Sandnista! album.
Rather than write a straight-up Rock song, guitarist Mick Jones was inspired by the poignant sadness of the lyrics to experiment with the sounds, using a synthesizer on the recording and also singing the main vocals.
The guard dog that can be heard barking on the recording is drummer Topper Headon's dog, Battersea. "We wanted a guard dog sound," he remembers. "My dog wouldn't let anyone hit me, so we went into the studio, I held onto him and every time we wanted him to bark Joe would thump me!"
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