Possibly my favourite song from the anti-almost-bloody-everything
Leeds lads
Gang Of Four. The target of choice (really, no pun intended!) this time is the
United States'
gun manufacturers
ArmaLite, makers of
automatic weapons for the
military, and for any
Joe Sixpack in the U.S. who decides he needs an
assault rifle for hunting
game,
home defence, and ringing in the
new year. This time though, the focus is on
terrorism and
counter-terrorism in
Northern Ireland
Musically, the song is reasonably different from most of the 'Four's stuff; there is a distinct absence of the sharp stabs of
guitar that typify most of their tunes. The spoken parts are reminiscent of
Anthrax (Their song, not the
lame band), but the
Armalite Rifle in the chorus and the
Damage lines at the end are sung with a wonderful
harmony of back up singers. The guitar has an enjoyable ringing
quality, and the whole song is amazingly
upbeat, given it's reasonably depressing lyrics. The drums are quite a treat, starting with a military march and then relaxing into a half-open
hi-hat splash beat which fits in excellentely with the structured
bassline and they both provide a perfect counterpoint to the guitar.
The song was originally released as the B side to
Damaged Goods, which was released in 1978 and can be found on the
Fast label
compilation Mutant Pop from 1980. A different, more refined version of the song made an appearance on the
Yellow EP of '79, and is probably the easiest version to find. Your best bet to get a hold of it is to get the
Entertainment! re-issue (which includes the Yellow EP), or the Gang of Four compilation
100 Flowers Bloom. As to which version's better, it's hard to say. The music is better and the song is performed faster on the later Yellow version, but the singing is superior on the early version and the performance flows more cohesively, even if some of the lyrics are a bit harder to understand. I think I prefer the early version more.
ARMALITE RIFLE
Armalite Rifle
Police and
IRA(1)
Armalite Rifle
They use it every day
Breaks down easy
Fits in a pram
A child could carry it
Do it no harm
Armalite Rifle
And the
holy trinity
Used against you
Like
Irish jokes on the
BBC
Armalite Rifle
Police and IRA*
Armalite Rifle
They use it every day
Rifle does harm
Shoots for
miles
If it gets you in the arm**
Destroy your insides
Armalite Rifle
Police and IRA*
Armalite Rifle
Used every day
(One
chord solo, followed by a one note
solo)***
It'll do you
damage
It'll do you harm
It'll
blow your head off
It'll
blow your guts out****
I
disapprove of it
And so does
Jon(2)*****
It'll do you damage
It'll do you damage
Damage
Damage
Damage
Damage
Damage
* In the Yellow version 'IRA' is changed to '
UDA' (
Ulster Defence Association).
** In the Yellow version, 'If it gets' is changed to 'If a bullet gets'.
*** Solos are different in the Yellow version.
**** Yellow version is 'blow your legs off'.
***** In the Yellow version 'Jon' is changed to 'Dave' (
Dave Allen, the
bassist for the band).
(1):
Irish Republican Army (vicious bunch or
terrorists. Mind you, the English have no business being there)
(2): Jon King is the
vocalist in Gang of Four, so it's kind of odd that he mentions himself like that.
This song is hardly mentioned on the
internet, let alone having the
lyrics up anywhere, so I had to
transcribe it myself. If you think something's wrong, /msg me.
I don't want to sound too anti-guns, but nobody bar the
army needs a fucking machine gun.