Come on, come on
You think you drive me crazy
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
Ghost horses



Lyrics submitted by shut

Track duration: 03:11

"You and Whose Army?" as written by Thomas Yorke, Jonathan Richard Guy Greenwood, Edward John O'brien, Philip Selway, Colin Charles Greenwood

Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.

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You and Whose Army? song meanings
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  • +1
    My Interpretation:This song touches on themes of death. That's the crux of it. However looking at it more carefully, we see political aspects.

    mentions of an army, cronies and the "holy" roman empire

    considering the army, well, most governments have armies. in this song the army does not sound like a force of protection, more like a force to fear. a tyrannical, power-hungry force. clearly, they're not good if they're being challenged "come on, come on..."

    i find "cronies" here to have a sort of sinister malevolent implication. criminal.
    the people in a comfy position in the government.

    the holy roman empire reference, as pointed out by alexhuxleyon was neither holy nor Roman, nor an empire. this seems to be a sort of clever jab at the government, who probably feel as if they are as powerful and important as the roman empire, even going so far as being seen as "holy".

    Finally, the most important element: the Ghost Horses.
    this to me makes me think of the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
    Conquest, War, Famine and Death: 4 things governments are capable of (and do commit).

    "you forget so easily" could mean anything.
    it could be directed to people who don't realize the government is this malevolent, or it could be directed to the government, telling them that they either a) forget that they are people or b) forget that the people have power to fight back.

    this makes me think that the song could also be some sort of protest song, tying in with point b.

    anyways, that's my take.
    Flag miguelvegaon April 21, 2013   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation:I think this song is clearly about Masada. Story goes that about 900 Jewish rebels holed up in a mountaintop fortress and held off the entire Roman army until the Romans finally breached the walls, to discover that all the Jewish rebels had committed suicide.

    If you read the lyrics it is told from the point of view of one of the rebels... they are in a hopeless situation but still defiant.
    Flag stovernyon April 04, 2013   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I reckon this music talks about politics.

    I live in Rio de Janeiro and Thom's words before singing it here were "this is for you when America tries to fuck you up"

    I already had this on my mind, but after hearing he saying this I just felt like this song is some kind of "stand up and fight" anthem. Even though Tom sings with such a dull voice - I guess he's trying to simulate the inner knowledge that we know that we can fight for our rights, but our inner voice is yet too sleepy to do something.

    But we know it anyway.

    I wish my whole country could be able to understand that we can't fight any armies... and stopping with the "forget so easily"'s... :/
    Flagged praychon February 02, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:well, even tho some are right...its hard to know what they really meant, i believe it is actually about war, the way most of the world creates factions of war to fight one another. They make a judgment about the stupidity of the whole thing,the uselesness of it, "cronies" thats all we are in fights, "whose army?" because we hide behind a supposed cause...the ghost horses in the indian spirituality represent a higher being that surpass humans, in many ways, a model for humans, they honour the environment, not like us

    "oh so sad"....true....and the music just comes to prove that..........
    Flag grendel2000on March 02, 2011   Link
  • 0
    Song Meaning:This song is definitely about or at least inspired by the English writer Christopher Marlowe's play: Dr Faustus.
    In the play, Faustus, Agree to sell his soul to the devil, Mephistopheles, getting 24 years of omnipotense in return.
    Faustus lives happely with his powers, but in the end he realises what he has done. He is now facing endless agony and pain in hell.

    On the final night,Fausts awaits the devil to come and get him. He says the latin phrase: "O lente, lente currite noctis equi!"
    Which means: "O slowly, slowly run, you horses of the night" - I think that is is where the line "ghost horses" comes from.

    "You and whose army?
    You and your cronies"
    This probably refers to Fausts waiting for the devils to come get him. although he seems to be much more confident in the song.

    The song ends with the repetition of "Oh so sad" - this corresonds very well to what has happend to Faustus.

    Only thing i can not get to fit is the part about the holy roman empire.

    Flag CountingSheepon March 01, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Thom is singing "Lonestar state", not "ghost horses" at the end of the song. Listen closely. It's hilarious.
    Flag ashort4on February 14, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:correction.......... "I think it's also interesting to use the placement of a song to help you understand what it might mean in the context of the other songs...for instance looking at pulk doors and I Might Be Wrong when thinking about the meaning of you and whose army, because it is in between them."

    Flag peoplewithhandson May 30, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I personally think this song is a taunt to humanity from a superior being, maybe a cruel being, a mean spirited god, the devil, or Descartes "evil genius". We got caught in the "trap door" we can never come back from on the prior song and now he's taunting us, tortured souls...and we cant do anything about it.
    Flag peoplewithhandson May 30, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:it's interesting to look at all of radioheads albums from ok computer and on as concept albums. Now i've listened to kid A thousands of times and i personally cannot see how it is about the first human clone, but I do believe it is a concept album...and Amnesiac to me is its sequel. Both albums having dark themes, amnesiac to me being the darker of the two....anyway I'm not going to tell what i believe the concept of kid A and amnesiac truly to be...because its sort of a personal story for each listener which helps make radiohead that much more awesome. Try listening to both kid A and Amnesiac and imagine it to be a linear cohesive story song by song from beginning to end and see what story you find for yourself. Even if that wasn't radioheads intention I think it's fun as hell to do. I think it's also interesting to use the placement of a song to help you understand what it might mean in the context of the other songs...for instance looking at pulk doors and knives out when thinking about the meaning of you and whose army, because it is in between them.
    Flag peoplewithhandson May 30, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I was sitting in history class today and we talked about the affairs of Henry IV and the Pope in the "HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE".

    Henry continually was pissing off the Pope by adding his own "CRONIES" to the clergy instead of more deserving people. Henry knows that the Pope doesn't not have the military might to attack him, so he ignores the Popes grievances, as if to say, "YOU AND WHOSE ARMY?" "COME ON IF YOU THINK YOU CAN TAKE US ON".

    The Pope could be responding in the next verse, saying, "YOU AND WHOSE ARMY?" "YOU AND YOUR CRONIES." The Pope knows that Henry has forgotten that he has a very unique type of power. "YOU FORGET SO EASY." So then the Pope finally does attack, but not with an army-GHOST HORSES. The Pope attacks by kicking the Empire out of the Roman Catholic Church. The Empire falls into chaos. OH,SO SAD.

    Henry crawls to the Pope, begging for forgiveness.

    I know this might be a stretch it is just the product of a wandering mind.
    Flag wbarry770on March 26, 2009   Link

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