Lyrics to
Stay Free

This version of Stay Free was released by The Clash in 1978.

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

we met when we were in school
never took no shit from no one, we weren’t fools
the teacher says we’re dumb
we’re only having fun
we piss on everyone
in the classroom

when we got thrown out i left without much fuss
an’ weekends we’d go dancing
down streatham on the bus
you always made me laugh

got me in bad fights
play me pool all night
smokin’ menthol

i practised daily in my room
you were down the crown planning your next move
go on a nicking spree
hit the wrong guy
each of you get three
years in brixton

i did my very best to write
how was butlins?
were the screws too tight?
when you lot get out
were gonna hit the town
we’ll burn it fuckin’ down
to a cinder

cos years have passed and things have changed
and i move anyway i wanna go
i’ll never forget the feeling i got
when i heard that you’d got home
an’ i’ll never forget the smile on my face
‘cos i knew where you would be
an’ if you’re in the crown tonight
have a drink on me
but go easy…step lightly…stay free

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The Clash has released many songs over the years besides Stay Free. 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 Stay Free by The Clash

When you decide to study the lyrics to Stay Free, you're looking at the words, verses and background chorus from the 1978 song by The Clash. Some of the lyrics to Stay Free 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 Stay Free 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 Stay Free" means the words set to the music of Stay Free, 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 Stay Free and the lyrics to Stay Free 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 Stay Free, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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