I Love You Too, Death

Death comes to pick up the narrator. The narrator doesn't fight him and is glad to go. Maybe because of depression

"Who is much more than a friend, but never by my side?"

Death. Whoo-hoo

"All beginnings are an end, in the blackness there’s a light"

First glimps of heaven's gates?

"Try to memorize your smell it reminds me of a field"

Maybe, because death has a scythe ^^

"Take your hand against my own if theres some finger i can grip"

The narrator invites death to take him

"I cant touch you only once you always leave me wanting more"

Tired of life? Flirting with death? Dude, this line gives me goosebumps

"Let me know when I'm in love let me die when I'm in love"

I kind of read this line independently from the rest of the song. The "story" is over, I think, this is a statement: Let me live until i'm comtended with my life, you can let me die then. Don't let me end up like the guy in this story.

I absolutely love this song

In this next episode of Existential Mind Wandering with MGMT, we will be discussing loss. Life and death, two sides on the coin of love. Either you or your love flips it just once. If you flip, hope for death, for you're better dead than the one left living. If it lands on life, you're already half-dead, tormented by the wait, "feet within the house...toes just past the door". You can't leave to join your love. Not yet.

The title is a clever double meaning:

Love you too, Death = I love death, because death will finally reunite me with my deceased love.

Love you to death = I will love you (my partner) until I am dead, and consequently, my longing may very well cause my death.

So "let me die when I'm in love," it's less painful that way.

This song acts as a wonderful interlude from the 3rd MGMT record to the new album, Little Dark Age. The concept of this track echoes throughout LDA.

I think it's about someone who's trying to make the most of the time he has left with his terminally ill lover. The song goes backward in time. The first part, which is disconnected and disorienting, takes place after her death. The second part, which is much more cohesive, mostly takes place while she's still alive, though the last few lines go back to the present.

"Who is much more than a friend, but never by my side?"

She's gone, but he can feel her presence still.

"All beginnings are an end, in the blackness there’s a light"

Maybe she's in a better place now.

"Maybe you will only read one or two letters at the most Shipping crates might line the streets, every stranger is a ghost"

He's grieving for her and it's distorting his perception of the world. He doesn't read anymore, he doesn't talk to anybody, they might as well be ghosts to him.

"Cashiers won’t deduct the pain, loneliness sleeps on the couch Only noticing the stain once the color’s faded out"

I'm envisioning him, grieving and lonely, going to get something from the store, coming back, and noticing a stain on the couch where she spilled something a long time ago and just breaking down in tears.

Now the second part, where the guitar starts to fade in. This takes place while she's still alive, as I said earlier:

"Let’s go camping in the cold, make a fire, buy a tent Envision leather getting old, re-send pigeons that were sent"

They want to make the most of the time they have together and have fun. He keeps imagining what it would be like to grow old with her, but it can't ever happen.

"Try to memorize your smell, it reminds me of a field"

Self-explanatory. Sometimes a smell is the most vivid way to remember a person or place.

"Crickets clearer than a bell have all their guts recast in steel Birds don’t cry when echoes quit, they trail off into the fog"

These lines reference nature being silenced or altered in some way, which makes me think they're referring to her being hooked up to tubes in the hospital. Her guts have been "recast in steel."

"Autumn hurts far less than sticks, knowing winter’s five feet tall"

The little things really can't bother him anymore after this.

"Generations of defeat all assuming you're the worst They never tied the cans to the back end of a hearse"

Older people like to look down on younger generations. Here he's calling out a possible parental figure for judging him when that person didn't have to go through the grieving process he's enduring.

"I’ve come to terms with what I have, what’s been given, what’s been asked Turn my back against the sea, and beg the serpent for a dance"

He's accepted that soon she'll be gone for good, but on some level he's still praying desperately for a miracle recovery.

"But in the red dirt muddy towns, celebration of the dark Children walking hand in hand with the pygmies in zee park"

Life is still going on outside. No one cares about their private tragedy

"So keep my feet within the house, and stick my toes just past the door"

After she's gone, he becomes a hermit and stays at home.

"Let me know when I’m in love, let me die when I’m in love"

He doesn't think he'll be able to love anyone more than her, and he envies her being able to die while in love.

Hmmm..

Well..

...they're still tripping. That's all I got. :)

I picked up on "children walking hand in hand with pygmies in zee park."

There's a band called Chrome from the mid-70's that were experimental' post-punk, psychadelic rock (which MGMT is trying to recreate) that has a song called "Pigmies in Zee Park" off their album "Alien Soundtracks"

Interesting.

Love the new direction. These guys are the new Bowie, the only other really big band that's dared to be this experimental is Radiohead.

Does Ben sing this one or Andrew?

This song might be the most beautiful song MGMT has written. I think this song is open to many, many interpretations. I first envisioned it very abstractly as an invitation to an alien to feel what we feel, as humans. But my view has changed to something much less more abstract as of late, having been heartbroken by my ex. I think the song is an expression of growth and decay in relationships, and it's about how we feel as the cycle repeats itself. This song evidences how far Andrew's writing has come, and how far their music production skills have evolved; the lyrics are brilliant and the emotions this song radiates are overwhelming.

"Who is much more than a friend, but never by my side? All beginnings are an end, in the blackness there’s a light"

Having a connection with someone that is much deeper than just friendship would indicate. Deciding not to capitalize on that connection, but holding out hope that one day it might work.

"Let’s go camping in the cold, make a fire, buy a tent Envision leather getting old, re-send pigeons that were sent"

Wanting to get back together again. Notice the uplifting sound, and how the sound "sparks a fire" after the second line. Imagining the future of the relationship, but then realizing that the signals being sent to each other haven't changed from the first go around. How will this time be any different?

"Turn my back against the sea, and beg the serpent for a dance But in the red dirt muddy towns, celebration of the dark"

One lover turning their back on the other, and leaving, but wanting them to come back. The lover doesn't return, and the lonely one cries in pain. A long, enveloping "celebrations" is sung out to comfort you, while you cry in pain. MGMT understands your pain, and they want to take it away from you.

"I can’t touch you only once, you always leave me wanting more So keep my feet within the house, and stick my toes just past the door"

This can't be the end. We've always needed each other. I'll keep close by, just close enough to welcome your return.