“Bye Bye Badman”

by The Stone Roses

Lyrics by Ian Brown

Song by John Squire 

Released early 1989 on The
Stone Roses LP) 

Produced by:John Leckie

Band line-up: 

Ian Brown: Vocals 

John Squire: Guitar 

Mani: Bass 

Reni: Drums 

A song written by Ian Brown
about the French student riots of 1968, Ian Brown said “Imagine a protester
singing [it] in a policeman’s face during the Paris riots. Then you’ll
get some idea what it’s about.” Indeed, the song seems to be a call
for revolution disguised in a gentle strolling guitar song. 

The cover painting on The Stone Roses is called “Bye Bye Badman”, and the things that John
Squire has put into the Pollocked mosaic make sense when you know what
the song is about. There is a French flat clearly visible and Ian Brown
said he was told that the students used lemons to cancel out the effects
of CS gas – hence the lemons. Ian mentions this at Blackpool
1989 too, chucking lemons into the audience and shouting “Suck ’em – you
don’t get your eyes watered with CS gas, it’s true!”. 

the Roses’ Paris gig in 1989, a CS gas canister went off during “Waterfall”,
a moment the Roses probably enjoyed. 

to Johnny Marr of the Smiths in his guitar style. The Roses never played
it live, possibly due to the amount of guitar tracks on the record being
too hard to reproduce effectively.Ian Brown still drops references to the Paris riots today, the first track on Unfinished Monkey Business
being “Under The Paving Stones – The Beach”, which was what the student
protestors were meant to have said when they dug up the pavements in Paris
and found sand underneath.

LYRICS:

Soak me to my skin

Will you drown me in your
sea

Submission ends and I begin

Choke me, smoke the air

In this citrus-sucking sunshine
I don’t care

You’re not all there 

Every backbone and heart
you break

We’ll still come back for
more

Submission ends it all 

Here he comes

Got no questions, got no
love

I’m throwing stones at you,
man

I want you black and blue
and

I’m gonna make you bleed

Gonna bring you down to
your knees

Bye bye badman

Bye bye 

Choke me smoke the air

In this citrus-sucking sunshine
I don’t care

You’re not all there 

You’ve been bought and paid

You’re a whore and a slave

Your dark star holy shrine

Come taste the end… you’re
mine 

Here he comes

Got no questions, got no
love

I’m throwing stones at you
man

I want you black and blue
and

I’m gonna make you bleed

Gonna bring you down to
your knees

Bye bye badman

Bye bye 

I’ve got bad intentions

I intend to

Knock you down

These stones I throw

Oh these French kisses

Are the only way I’ve found 

I’ve got bad intentions

I intend to 

Knock you down

These stones I throw

Oh these French kisses

Are the only way I’ve found