Giving Up the Gun

Music by Ezra Koenig, Rostam Batmanglij, Chris Tomson and Chris Baio / Lyrics by Ezra Koenig / Produced by Rostam Batmanglij

Music Video

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Versions

  • Giving Up the Gun
  • Giving Up the Gun (Extended Mix)
  • Giving Up the Gun (Dub)
  • Lovely Gun
  • Gun (Track)
  • Lyrics

    Your sword’s grown old and rusty

    Burnt beneath the rising sun

    It’s locked up like a trophy

    Forgetting all the things it’s done

    And though it’s been a long time

    You’re right back where you started from

    I see it in your eyes

    That now you’re giving up the gun

    When I was 17

    I had wrists like steel

    And I felt complete

    But now my body fades

    Behind a brass charade

    And I’m obsolete

    But if the chance remained

    To see those better days

    I’d cut the cannons down

    My ears are blown to bits

    From all the rifle hits

    But still I crave that sound

    CHORUS

    I heard you play guitar

    Down at a seedy bar

    Where skinheads used to fight

    Your Tokugawa smile

    And your garbage style

    Used to save the night

    You felt the coming wave

    Told me we’d all be brave

    You said you wouldn’t flinch

    But in the years that passed

    Since I saw you last

    You haven’t moved an inch

    CHORUS

    I see you shine in your way

    Go on, go on, go on

    CHORUS