Lyrics for You and Whose Army? as interpreted by shut

You and Whose Army? Lyrics
Come on, come on
You think you drive me crazy, well
Come on, come on
You and whose army?
You and your cronies
Come on, come on
Holy Roman empire
Come on if you think
Come on if you think
You can take us on
You can take us on

You and whose army?
You and your cronies

You forget so easily

We ride tonight
We ride tonight
Ghost horses
Ghost horses

We ride tonight
We ride tonight
Ghost horses
Ghost horses
Ghost horses

Oh, so sad
Oh, so sad
Oh, so sad
Oh, so sad

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deadeye093
03-20-2002

Rated 0 
Some people (the one with the cronies) seem waaaay too overconfident of their abilities, and would just love to try to overtake and drive crazy the other, obviously extremely stronger ones. The speaker, obviously very confident himself, taunts and makes fun of the other side by sarcastically calling them the "Holy Roman Empire", and he also asks them "You? And whose army?" making fun of them, saying that their "Army" is "You and your cronies". So, the speaker is gonna completely crush the other side. He's gonna ride out on ghost horses to completely and utterly decimate them.

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greenplastic
04-28-2002

Rated 0 
basically, it's just thom saying he's better than people. and he's right. he is.

great song to sing drunk at parties. people will be very impressed you know the lyrics, trust me..

best song ever.

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Beowulf_Xtreme
05-19-2002

Rated 0 
Talking out to people who are overly-confident with themselves and their cronies. And the speaker will always triumph because he has something they don't, represented by ghost horses.

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SNYder
05-25-2002

Rated 0 
Originally Released: June 2001
Found on: Amnesiac

This song premiered during the Kid A tour 2000 and was a crowd favorite. It featured Thom sitting at piano and Colin playing an upright bass. Towards the end of the song, the full band comes in and the song really takes off. The version that was played at the Sundance Festival is indeed the studio version that will appear on Amnesiac.

From Jam!: Here's a novelty: guitars! Yorke's voice is pushed way up front, and the track begins with him loudly inhaling. The full band gradually joins the mix, and it all ends with an almost gospelly, piano-led denouement. The lyrics, which seem to taunt authority into cracking down on the rabble, could have been given a completely different meaning had they been set to more triumphant music. (You can practically hear Bono delivering a song like this without a shred of irony). But here, Yorke sounds defeated, as if even he's not confident that an insurgency would succeed.

Review from SXSW by Allstar: "You and Whose Army?" slightly recalled OK Computer in that Yorke's yearning vocal cry of "Come on, Come on, Come on…" repeated over and over somehow felt a tad like "Karma Police." A crunching organ and string section drives the track, which falls under lilting and poetic.

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kaisute
05-30-2002

Rated 0 
SNYder, I noticed when it said add your comments, it then says "WHAT DOES THIS SONG MEAN TO YOU" I would like to highlight that last part, what does it mean to you. Not the band, to you. so unless you are thom yorke or another member of the band please don't put what it means to the band on here. Thank you.

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chairman_mao
05-30-2002

Rated 0 
the first two lines "come on...crazy" were references to the voices in thom's head. after that the song took on a different meaning and was directed as a taunt toward tony blair.

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chairman_mao
05-30-2002

Rated 0 
oh...and for kaisute...it can be argued that the ultimate goal of this site is to post what the true meanings of these songs are (hence the whole "songmeanings" part in www.songmeanings.com). thus, while it is interesting to hear what it means to others on a personal level, there should be the option to post what the true meaning of a song is without having to be a member of radiohead.

after all, if i say "fuck you" but then just randomly decide that i want it to mean "love you," that really doesn't change the fact that i initially said "fuck you"....which i don't think you would interpret as a term of endearment.

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radiocakedoves
06-11-2002

Rated 0 
This song is proof that Radiohead has a sense of humor. However FUCKING GREAT this song is, it was meant as a joke! The contradiction between the music and lyrical content is actually funny! It's an Antagonistic Lullaby.

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ReActor
07-10-2002

Rated 0 
SNYder's comments are my favourites. They may not actually be his, but they're very helpful and insightful, and I see no reason why he should stop posting them.

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ruben
07-29-2002

Rated 0 
Kid Rock Is GAY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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kill_me_killroy
08-02-2002

Rated 0 
historical inevitability:

all of those who have rode on the crest of greed and power b4 tony blair and all his cronies (ie the holy roman empire) have all fallen to the same fate of chocking on it, and soon so will tony and Mr P* G.W.bbuusshh, and all the armies in the world will not stop it and all the cronies will only speed it up. they have all forgotten the passts mistakes.

Thom’s voice is the sound of historical inevitability, it is the ghost horse.

there’s a picture on the amnesiac booklet, of america covering the globe but above it a huge mushroom cloud- that was drawn for this song.


i like to think anyway.


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UnemployedDaysleepe
09-02-2002

Rated 0 
im not sure why but i've always seen this as a song about standing alone against your own madness (well i guess it could be the first lines), and succoming to it, no matter how much you try to convince yourself you can change. ( HOLY Roman Empire)

you and your cronies means just that, but its the madness taunting you, it's that part of yourself that forces you to have friends because you cant stand to be alone with it and you know it is more powerful than you'll ever be by yourself.
i mean you and whose army, (well why not my own?) it seems like your world has turned against you.
you forget so easy, but the madness doesn’t, it lives in your actions and is defined by your mistakes, you never change, and because of that, in a short while you wont exist. Your life will have a life of its own, dragging your corpse along with it.
-but i do see how it could be seen as a song about how affluent western nations take advantage poorer less developed ones that are powerless to stop it, and why the meaning of a song about how crazy you are would be deliberatly changed by the writer (if that was true.)


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jooky
09-11-2002

Rated 0 
the true meaning of this song is almost totally unknown, unfortunately. to really know what is going on, you need some pretty badass speakers (not loud thumping speakers, very crisp sharp speakers). some kind buds don't hurt either, but you need to blast the song insanely and listen very carefully. as far as im concerned, very very loud and very very stoned is THE way to listen to any radiohead now. every page with lyrics for this song is accurate until it gets heavier. then they just stop with the lyrics or can't hear what he's really telling you. the story is about confident resistance (from reference to romans.. back when uprisings against the romans occured). when it gets loud, they start to lose the fight they were so eager to fight, and they beg them to stop while trying to convince them that they're civilized, not barbarians. at the very end, you hear the "roman"'s answer: they don't stop attacking and kill him. this song blew all of us away last night as four of us realized the true mindbogglingly amazing shit in this song after packing up the ol bong a few times. try it, it's now my favorite radiohead song - but maybe i'll find yet another favorite tonight ;)

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motionpicturesndtrck
10-15-2002

Rated +2 
wow, radiohead. i cant even explain my love for them. all their songs refelt emotions.. i dont think any of them need an explaination.. its about feelings, when i lay down and turn on amnesiac, ok computer, kid a, or the bends, i just get completely tuned in to my emotions. i think about things ive nevere thought about, and i feel things i never thought were there. radiohead is the only band thats ever done that for me. cant wait till their new cd comes out ive been waiting forever!

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UnemployedDaysleepe
04-09-2003

Rated 0 
I CANT BELIEVE NOBODY HAS COMMENTED ON THIS LATELY. i mean how much more appropriate can a song be for "our current situation"
jesus people come on
also, it reminds me of my citizen insane t-shirt
people are aware but not all that bothered... a strangers' hands... I am citizen insane.

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Pobo
04-18-2003

Rated 0 
To humor UnemployedDaysleepe, I'll comment on this song, but first, what do you mean by "how much more appropriate can a song be for "our current situation""? Are you saying the USA is just bullying Iraq, or that Iraq is taunting USA to strike them?

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cherrybomb
06-30-2003

Rated 0 
I think that all of Radiohead's songs can be read in many many different ways, and they are all right. Just because the band did not originally intend for the song to be interpreted that way does not mean that your take on the song is not correct. I mean, I tend to read Radioheads songs on a political level, but mostly because I am a vocal liberal. If you are a hopeless romantic, it makes sense to read the songs as more personal. So everybody be nice, K?

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hobart
06-21-2004

Rated -1 
He's taunting us. We (i.e. the US and England) may be confident now, with our tanks and helicopters and cruise missiles that we can use to beat the crap out of third world countries, but when has that mattered. It's pretty scary thinking about it now, but America will fall... it might be a reaaally long time, but it is a physical impossibility for it to go on infinately. Just try imagining a world with out western civilization...

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eggbertgilligan
10-23-2004

Rated 0 
I thought it was denouncing Tony Blair and his "New Labour". To me it sounds like a well masked protest song, only given away by the "You and your cronies" line.

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deryk
11-05-2004

Rated 0 
I found this that I think is rather interesting:

"He was himself, he mused, a "ghost horse." He¹d evolved into a different man, a better man than he would¹ve believed he could be before this journey began. He knew what the real treasure was. Life, exploring, learning."

It's from a story by Dave Creek called "Ghost Horse" and could explain the line at the end.

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my nothing
11-23-2004

Rated 0 
Hmm... This is an anti-blair song. Thom has said it himself, not sure where or when but he has. I love citizen insane, while we're on the subject, but i used to think that he/she was Kid A. So is Kid A that creature with the huge teeth and eyes? I fucking love him too!

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movielicious
12-09-2004

Rated 0 
First thing that came to mind when I heard this song was the film Adaptation. I don't know..it just reminded me of it. It's totally mellow and it sounds like maybe something from a musical. :)
As for it being anti-blair..um ok. To me, it's just a cool song. quite lovely. lol

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Detective
03-25-2005

Rated 0 
I think Thom was being hounded by evil spirits, And this song was relavant to that

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GabeTron
04-23-2005

Rated 0 
I always thought the lyrics were "Most are still here" instead of "Ghost horses." Otherwise it sounds like he's saying "ghost HAAARRR.....ses." Sounds like a soft "M" there rather than a hard "G" anyway. Plus, it makes *slightly* more sense in the context of the song. Anyone agree?

Alot of people seem to think that a huge majority of Radiohead's songs are politically charged... I believe that Thom leaves much of his lyrics ambiguous on purpose. An artist, in many cases, will try to convey emotions rather than a pointed argument. This is a good example of one of those types of songs.

Cherrybomb seems to understand that. I think Thom wrote this song with his feelings behind it, not necessarily a concrete issue.

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alexhuxley
07-23-2005

Rated +1 
The Holy Roman Army did not exist at the time of the Romans; it was around during the 16th to 18th centuries or thereabouts. It was a footnote in history, because the nations that sprang out of its dominion, or predated it, are far more respected and well-remembered. Additionally, it's a running joke that this 'empire' was neither holy nor Roman, nor an empire. A crony is an old friend. It's a double entendre: the friend can be old, as a firned, or old in age. Inlike a comrade, buddy, pal, crew -- this word implies, decrepitude. Finally, the ghost horses, and the repeated invitation to 'come on' to me signify a false, transparent threat. The loose structure of the song and the simplistic composition tell me it's more the product of a mood than a specific idea, like 'Bones', for example. I think Yorp or Yorke was stewing over a real confrontation, and, very much like Radiohead -- at odds with the frat-boy instinct to want to fight. The song was the upshot; a self-mocking upshot of carrying a pair of testicles and a male ego, despite carrying the mantle of man-boy hero, as Radiohead clearly does. The lack of attention paid to the song, in terms of composition, layering, mixing, etc. -- tell me it's there as a confession, not expression.

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