Lyrics to
Four Horsemen

This version of Four Horsemen was released by The Clash in 1979.

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Well they were given the grapes that go ripe in the sun
That loosen the screws at the back of the tongue
But they told no one where they had begun-four horsemen

They were given all the foods of vanity
And all the instant promises of immortality
But they bit the dust screamin’ insanity!-four horsemen

One was over the edge, one was over the cliff
One was lickin’ em dry with a bloody great spliff
When they picked up the hiker he didn’t want the lift
From the horsemen

But you!
You’re not searching, are you now?
You’re not looking anyhow
You’re never gonna ride that lonely mile
Or put yourself up on trial
Oh, you told me how your life was so bad
An’ I agree that it does seem sad
But that’s the price that you gotta pay
If you’re lazing all around all day
Four horsemen coming right through
Four horsemen and they’re pissing by you
They make you look like you’re wearing a truss
Four horsemen and it’s gonna be us

Well they gave us everything for bending the mind
And we cleaned out their pockets and we drank ’em blind
It’s a long way to the finish so don’t get left behind
By those horsemen

And they gave us the grapes that went ripe in the sun
That loosen the scews at the back of the tongue
But we still told nothing ’bout what was to come
Four horsemen

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The Clash has released many songs over the years besides Four Horsemen. The Clash released songs from 1977 to 1993 spanning across albums like The Clash, Give 'em Enough Rope, London Calling, Sandinista!, Combat Rock, Cut The Crap, and Super Black Market Clash. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by The Clash.

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About Lyrics and Four Horsemen by The Clash

When you decide to study the lyrics to Four Horsemen, you're looking at the words, verses and background chorus from the 1979 song by The Clash. Some of the lyrics to Four Horsemen have clear meanings and some contain metaphorical references. Like most songs, only The Clash and their collaborators know the full story behind any of the their songs.

You can understand the lyrics to Four Horsemen if you take apart the structure of the words. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to Four Horsemen" means the words set to the music of Four Horsemen, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by The Clash. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to Four Horsemen and the lyrics to Four Horsemen are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of The Clash who came here looking just for the lyrics to Four Horsemen, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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