| Franz Ferdinand – You Could Have It So Much Better Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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"The last message you sent Said I looked truly down That I oughtta come over And talk about it Well I wasn't down I just wasn't smiling at you" This is about how sometimes people just read you really wrong. He's mad at this person or girl, and doesn't want to deal with them right now for whatever reason. ----- "As I look at you now it seems That your slapping my back As if it's all alright But it's not I tried to get up But you're pushing me down Yeah you're pushing me down So I'll get up on my own" This is him saying 'screw this, I'm living my own life, f*** off'. It applies to both the person/girl he's talking about, and the broader, more political scope of the song later on. ----- "Now there's some grinning goon On my TV screen Telling us all that It's alright because She wears this And he said that If you get some of these It'll all be alright Yeah if you get some of these It'll all be alright'" This is about how corporations, governments, religions, and all other parts of the establishment tell you to just 'relax, take this TV, this flag, this bible, do what we say, and all your problems are solved'. ----- "Well I refuse To be a cynical goon Passing the masses An easy answer Because it won't be alright Oh no it won't be alright It won't be alright Unless you get up Come on and get up" This says that FF is refusing to be just another popular band; no, they're going to use their status and popularity to try and say something relevant, important, and actually helpful for people: That you need to get MAD, you need to love HARD, and you need to get up RIGHT NOW, and stop wasting your lives with this society's passivity. ----- "Well, I'm just a voice in your earpiece Telling you no Its not alright You know you could have it so much better You could have it so much better If you tried" This is probably the coolest verse in the whole song; it says they recognize that, "yeah, we're part of this corporate machine. We're a popular band, our music is 'Pushing you down', and it makes everything we say totally ironic. But still, despite that, our message has merit. Get the hell up and do something about all this. Do something with this life you're given. Love hard, screw the system." |
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| Franz Ferdinand – Auf Achse Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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"You see her You can't touch her You hear her You can't hold her You want her You can't have her You want to But she won't let you" You could say this is about a guy who's all over this girl, but she's spurning him. ----- 'Look what you've done', is a bit of introspection about how stupid it is that he's built his world around someone who isn't destined to be for him, and how he's coming to realize that 'she's not so special' to deserve all the attention he's given her. ----- "Now you wish she'd never Come back here again Oh, never come back here again" This is how the guy wishes she'd just get out of his head, even go away physically, because he doesn't have the strength to 'abandon' her. ----- He "Hangs from the cross" as an allegory for how she spurns him and finds other people. He'd do anything for her, go all the way to death's gates, but it's all for naught because his cause isn't worthy. She doesn't return his love, or perhaps even acknowledge how much pain and love there is in him. So his heart dies, metaphorically, never to rise again, because of his foolish investment in her. ----- "You still see her Oh and you hear her Ooh and you want her Oh you want to You see her You hear her You want her And you still want to" This means that he feels he's doomed to forever, until he finally dies, 'be upon his cross', suffering for her, thinking of her, and in love with her. It's about how torturous it is. ----- I honestly don't believe this is an actually religious song. To me, it is just a metaphor, an allegory, for something I think is far holier than religion: Love. Specifically, the often ignored beauty of unrequited love, which shares with the crucification of Jesus the state of being a truly beautiful thing that was ignored, ridiculed, and demonized at the time it happened by the people involved. |
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| Franz Ferdinand – Bite Hard Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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A brief introduction; This is my favorite song from the new album, and is one of the Franz songs I can really identify with. Because of that, I've spent a while interpreting it, and revising that, etc. So, here's my interpretation. My first post at SongMeanings too. :D ===== "You don't know I sing these songs about you You don't know the pseudonyms I assume You don't know the pseudonyms I assume For you" This is a Preface to the rest of the song. It gives us the setting; this is about a guy who is writing songs for a girl. However, he knows (or "assumes") that the object of his affection and subject of his songs has no idea they're about her. This could be a nod back to Alex himself (Lead singer, for those of you who don't know), and a nod to something more personal to him and deeper that reaches past the main plot of the song itself. ----- "Are you happier now that the gods are dying? Or do you dream of Heston with omniscient beard? You should be happier now with no one to pray to Or would you love to break your knees from begging and praying" This guy is talking to himself in this verse. He should be happier now that the woman that was a huge part of his life, almost akin to a religion, is gone. He should be happy that his destiny is his own...but of course, he's not. He longs for her, and he's trying to figure out a rational reason why. ----- "Bite hard It's a broken smile breaking their hearts Breaking their mind Bite hard It's a 505 Your engine's alive We ride together Bite hard Bite hard" The 'broken smile' here, is a bit complicated to understand. This is his own faked outward happiness, that he's trying to get to catch on. But the effort to suppress himself is breaking him, and finally he snaps. He gets in his car ('your engine's alive'), and drives, presumably to her, with only her in his mind ('We rid together'). Because he's so distraught, as MichaelSG suggested, he's probably all over the place, and maybe even drunk after all the partying this guy has been doing, or drinking he's done alone trying to get over her unsuccessfully. In a broader sense, this is the first time we hear the song's title. What it essentially means, is that he's acknowledging the fact that he has at least some feelings for her that he doesn't want, and that he just has to 'bite the bullet', not acknowledge them and in fact repress them, and hope they go away. By the end of the song, it's clear that he made the wrong choice. ----- "I may be lonelier now, but I'm happy alone - honest It ain't lonely alone - what would we talk about anyway? I never resort to kissing your photo - honest I just had to see how the chemicals taste now honey" This, again, is the guy trying to rationalize everything: his feelings of loneliness, and the fact that he 'resorts to kissing her photo'. The 'Honest' bits are particularly revealing, as he's being totally dishonest with himself, he knows it, but he's trying to wish it away by saying otherwise. ----- "Bite hard It's a broken smile breaking their hearts Breaking their mind Bite hard It's a 505 Your engine's alive We ride together We ride together We die together" This is essentially the same as the last chorus, except with the inclusion of the line 'We die together'. It implies that the guy is expecting to, or does, die due to his distraught state at the wheel. It exemplifies the song's whole message of how repressed feelings are extremely harmful, because not only does he love this girl, but he dies 'for her', after all he's said. ----- "Bite hard Bite hard Bite hard I never I never I never No, I never I just had to I just had to I just had to see now honey" This is just continued artistic paraphrasing of the rest of the song, particularly the verses. ----- "Bite hard It's a broken smile breaking their hearts Breaking their mind Bite hard It's a 505 Your engine's alive We ride together We ride together We die together" This is accordingly the same as the last two choruses, with no changes from the last. ----- In conclusion, the song is trying to say that biting the bullet never seems to work. Love is unconquerable, even when it is not shared with another, and woe to all those who try and stop it running it's course, including those who just want to stop the pain of a doomed crush, and move on. |
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