Lyrics to
Guns on the Roof

This version of Guns On The Roof was released by The Clash in 1978.

Our The Clash Songs profile has Guns On The Roof lyrics from 1978 and most if not all of the lyrics by The Clash that we have here at Decade Lyrics.

Here's more interesting things in songs and lyrics tied to The Clash or about the 1970s in general.

I swear by Almighty God
To tell the whole truth
And nothing but the truth

Guns guns
They torture all the women and children
Then they’ve put the men to the gun
‘Cos across the human frontier
Freedom’s always on the run

Guns guns a-shaking in terror
Guns guns killing in error
Guns guns guilty hands
Guns guns shatter the lands

A system built by the sweat of the many
Creates assassins to kill off the few
Take any place and call it a court house
This is a place where no judge can stand

Sue the lawyers and burn all the papers
Unlock the key of the legal rapers
A jury of a billion faces
Shouted out condemned out of hand

Guns guns, and nobody’s kidding
Guns guns, or foolin’ around
Guns guns, the violence is singing
Guns guns, a silence the sound

‘N I Iike to be in Aferica
A-beatin’ on the final drum
‘N I like to be in U.S.S.R.
Makin’ sure these things will come
‘N I like to be in U.S.A.
Pretending that the wars are done
‘N I like to be in Europa
Saying goodbye to everyone

Guns guns there’s guns on the roof
Guns guns they’re made to shoot

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The Clash has released many songs over the years besides Guns On The Roof. 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.

If you're a fan of the music of the 1970s looking for more songs from 1978 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and Guns On The Roof by The Clash

The lyrics to Guns On The Roof are just the words, phrases, verses and chorus that The Clash used when the song was created in 1978. The lyrics to Guns On The Roof have both easy-to-spot meanings and hidden metaphors that have been discussed by the music press and fans, but only The Clash and any collaborators know all of the inspirations for the song.

If you like etymology or breaking apart phrases and words, it is easy to understand the lyrics to Guns On The Roof by The Clash. 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 Guns On The Roof" means the words set to the music of Guns On The Roof, 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 Guns On The Roof and the lyrics to Guns On The Roof 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 Guns On The Roof, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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