Shoot You Down

You know it
You show it
And the time has come
To shoot you down
What a sound
When the day is done
And it all works out

I'd love to do it and you know you've always had it coming

You know it
You show it
And the time has come
To shoot you down
What a sound
When the day is done
And it all works out

I'd love to do it and you know you've always had it coming

I never wanted
The love that you showed me
It started to choke me
And how I wish I'd said no, too slow
I couldn't take that too fast
I want you to know

You know it
You show it
But I can't back down
It's far too late
I can't wait
Now the time has come
It'll all work out
And when this thing is done
It'll leave no doubt
So when you've had your fun
Will you all walk out ?

I'd love to do it and you know you've always had it coming
I'd love to do it and you know you've always had it coming
I'd love to do it and you know you've always had it coming

Lyrics by:
Squire / Brown

Music by:
Squire / Brown

Written:
1987

Personnel:
John Squire (guitar)
Ian Brown (vocals)
Gary Mounfield (bass)
Alan Wren (drums, backing vocals)

Producer:
John Leckie

Engineer:
Paul Schroeder

Available on:
The Stone Roses (4.10)
The Stone Roses (10th Anniversary Edition) (4.13)

First live performance:
In 1989

Details:
Shoot You Down, the last song to be finished on the debut LP (excluding the ending for I Am The Resurrection), is the most relaxed song on the debut, with the lead guitar and rhythm having a Merseybeat feel; the stop-start nature of the song has precedent in The Beatles' 'Ask Me Why'.

'Ask Me Why' was originally released in the UK as the B-side of The Beatles' single, 'Please Please Me.' It was also included on their first UK album, 'Please Please Me.'

The lyric repeatedly reminds the listener that something is 'coming', which has obvious biblical connotations with the Second Coming of Christ and the Last Judgement. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus warned His disciples and the people to be awake and prepared for the day of Judgement; thus the listener knew that they always "had it coming". "When the day is done" is not referring to the passing of any normal day but rather to the end of time, when God's plan will "all work out"; "what a sound" alludes to the apocalyptical nature of the Second Coming of Christ.

But God will shoot them with arrows;
suddenly they will be struck down.
He will turn their own tongues against them
and bring them to ruin;
all who see them will shake their heads in scorn.
(Psalm 64: 7 - 8)

Modal analysis (by Steve Davidson):

This one starts off in C Ionian and changes to C Dorian very briefly over the F7 chord. The change takes place over this lyric. "And the time has come to shoot you down" - over the word "come" this is the change to the F7 chord, so it is at this point that there is the modal change to C Dorian. If you're wondering, "Dorian is a minor mode, but the key centre is C major. How does that work ?", here's the answer. The key centre is always C in this song. So when it changes to the F7 chord, this chord is actually the fifth (V) chord of Bb major. But because the key centre stays with the note C, then you have to view the C note in relation to the Bb major scale. So you will find that C is the second note of the Bb major scale. And the second mode of that scale is Dorian mode. So you end up with a modal change from C Ionian to C Dorian. Here's the notes:

C Ionian C D E F G A B C

C Dorian C D Eb F G A Bb C

Notice the F7 chord can be constructed from the C dorian mode. F7 notes F A C Eb. This can't be said for the notes of C Ionian. The rest of the song is in C Ionian apart from the very last 2 chords at the end. It is a C major chord, but Mani implies C mixolydian mode by playing the notes F, G, C and Bb. The Bb note being the one that gives it away. Squire then follows suit by playing a C7 chord, and this confirms the tonality. C Mixolydian mode notes:

C D E F G A Bb C

Again, the C7 chord notes are C E G Bb. This should show which scale the chord comes from.

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