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Armalite Rifle Lyrics
Armalite rifle police and IRA
Armalite rifle use it everyday
Breaks down easy fits into a pram
A child can carry it do it no harm
Armalite rifle and the holy trinity
It's used against you for Irish jokes and the BBC
Armalite rifle please skew the aim
Armalite rifle use it everyday
The rifle does harm it shoots for miles
If a bullet gets you in the heart destroys your insides
Armalite rifle police and UDA
Armalite rifle use it everyday
It'll do you damage it'll do you harm
Blow your legs off blow your guts out
I disapprove of it so does dave
It'll do you damage it'll do you damage
Damage damage damage damage damage
Song Info
Submitted by
foreverdoomed On Mar 18, 2005
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I'm fairly certain that he's not saying "police duty eh" but "Police and UDA" which makes sense because that makes that particular lyric a counterpart to "police and IRA" -- it's worth recalling that "UDA" is the Ulster Defense Association, one of the Loyalist paramilitary opponents of the IRA.
Yeah, it's "police and UDA". Also, he says Dave on the official version but John on the demo version. There was both a Dave and a John in the group. Also on the demo version it sounds like that one line is "used against you...like Irish jokes on the BBC".
I think this song is aimed at the British state violence - 'like Irish jokes on the BBC'.
This is just a perfect execution of the deadpan rave-up. Drily funny, deadly serious, while rocking your pleasure points to delirium.
I agree with all the lyrical corrections except the versions I have definitely say "So does Dave." And I give full credit to those who hear Jon or John on their versions. Nobody's gonna mistake Dave for John.
Back in the days of singles/EP's the Gang definitely gave you yer money's worth. This, Capital, To Hell With Poverty, are probably all in their top 10 if not 6, yet not on any contemporary album, er CD.
i cant tell from the lyrics if this is pro-ira or anti. seeing as the band are from leeds, ill assume its anti. good song. i hear gwen stefani is covering a gang of four track for an upcoming tribute album, i wonder will she do this one..
I don't think it's pro or anti 'RA
it's not pro- or anti- any group in particular as much as anti-violence, and using Northern Ireland as an example.
By the way... I always heard "Irish jokes on the BBC" I could be wrong, though.
I think it's anti-Armalite rifles.
I think what Suburban kids says about the lyrics applies to the album version too.
The Armalite in the song is almost certainly the AR-18 which was chambered for the 5.56mm round, the design of this round is that it undergoes 'yaw' (i.e. tumbling) and fragmentation after impact. Even it 'just' gets you in the arm the bullet has the potential to scramble your insides as it is likely to perforate the limb and carry on yawing/fragmenting through the torso. Damage.
I think you mean AR15. And the nonsense about the bullets tumbling, hitting you in the arm of leg, and then proceeding to "scramble your insides" is a myth. It comes from early version of the rifle which were first used widely in Vietnam when they began replacing the M14. These early examples carried a 1:14 bbl (barrel) twist, meaning the bullet would spin one full rotation at 14" down the bbl. The standard M16 bbl was and is 16", meaning the bullet would only fully spin one time before it left the bbl. This is not nearly enough spin...
I think you mean AR15. And the nonsense about the bullets tumbling, hitting you in the arm of leg, and then proceeding to "scramble your insides" is a myth. It comes from early version of the rifle which were first used widely in Vietnam when they began replacing the M14. These early examples carried a 1:14 bbl (barrel) twist, meaning the bullet would spin one full rotation at 14" down the bbl. The standard M16 bbl was and is 16", meaning the bullet would only fully spin one time before it left the bbl. This is not nearly enough spin to properly stabilize a 69 gr. bullet, resulting in the bullet destabilizing mid-flight and tumbling. This effect resulted in very poor accuracy, but had a tendency to create some unusual-looking (but no more dangerous) wound cavities when it did hit some poor fella. But all the stuff about the bullet hitting you in the arm and tumbling through your body is rubbish.
As for the song/lyrics.. It comes across as typical misinformed anti-gun prattle.
To clear up the Jon/Dave confusion - there are two versions of this song. The original has the line "I disapprove of it - so does Dave" (referring to bassist Dave Allen). After Allen left the band, the line got changed to "So does Jon". (I think it's drummer Hugo Burnham singing on this track, could be wrong about that).