Utopia

What a beautiful but to me, sinister song. It may well be about genetic engineering, etc, but from the first, I've always imagined another interpretation.... I imagine that this song is being sung by a woman, who, for whatever reason, was kidnapped long ago as a child, taken to a laboratory along with other children and experimented upon. The scientists' work concerned fusing a human's brain into a transglobal network (internet) that taps into all connected systems be they computer, telecommunications, surveilance or otherwise. To handle and disseminate this mass of information, the human brain was chosen as the interface between the network and the enduser (the scientists and whoever they are working for - I imagine some Big Brother (fascist) type state organisation). They were successful in making her part of the system. However, in order to cut out distractions and limit insight into what she was, she has been made to lose most of her sense of self and been told/modified to believe that she is not supposed to feel or sense anything outside the world of her intended function, thus this vagueness over what she sees, feels and remembers (as indicated by the lyrics in the first part of the song). Her function is to propogate Utopia through her job as the Fascist's eyes and ears to the world. However, there is one aspect from her previous life that they have failed to erradicate and that was her love for her childhood pet dog. She remembers the joy, love and togetherness of their relationship and so she speaks of her desire to bring that into her present, for her not to be alone but have again in some sense, that companionship and love she remembers, eternally. Perhaps the saddest lines are the last ones, where she indicates that she does actually know what she is and what was done to her. I get such a feeling of resignation and powerlessness from those lines.
As I listen to the song, I visualise her, the screen filled with her sleeping face, as if dreaming. Then as the song progresses, the camera pans out and by the latter part of the song, you see that she is in fact immobile, in a perspex box, wires trailing from her head and machinery all around her manned by scientists as they continue their work, oblivious of her thoughts and feelings. It is ironic to me how the song sings of Utopia yet the for the subject and for the world, living in a fascist, Big Brother-type state it is in fact a Distopia.......

Whether intentional or not I take a spiritual view of the song.

'Live like me again and again'

Sounds like I am an eternal soul that goes on for all time.

'I'm wired to the world'

We are all wired to the world. We are part of the human race but we are also part of the planet as a whole. We are all interconnected and each affect eachother with our actions.

Fascist Baby - While we should live in a Utopia, we live in a fake world because life has become too materialistic. Like we all have to dress and look a certain way instead of just being ourselves.

They have meant it to be about genetic engineering but I see subliminal messages in there. Its odd that sometimes the song writers convey a message that they did not intend to but its very clear to me. The lyrics could be interpreted any number of ways but I know which one I like best.

Regardless of all that I love the song. Its one of their very best. Alison is a goddess.

On "A Trip to Felt Mountain" (the movie that comes on the bonus CD with Felt Mountain) Alison says what Utopia is about:

Quote: "Utopia's about genetics and cloning and the idea that – I mean, I'm not saying that this is right, but I'm playing with the idea that if we're all striving to sort of be perfect and we want other people to look perfect, and we have this sort of body type that we're supposed to aspire to, basically what I'm saying is that that is a form of fascism."

And, yes, Violet Yoshi, it was inspired by the Sci Fi film Solaris. Here's Alison Goldfrapp's quote from X-ray Magazine, issue 12:

"The original Solaris is typical of a certain type of cinema being made around 67/68: real psychological thrillers. They're all about the idea of what it means to be human, the struggle of being human and what that is, love and death. All the basics, and usually quite depressing ! It's the quest for what it means to be human and about the idea of memory. It's almost too difficult. It directly influenced my song "Utopia". I'm interested in sci-fi and genetics and the idea of immortality. The sea in Solaris is this whole undulating living organism, like a brain. The hero loses his girlfriend. But she takes on another existence. He's lost in space but he's also lost in his mind. Everything is an analogy for human emotion. It's a visual thing. I'd really like to see the remake, I've heard it's not that bad. George Clooney wouldn't spring to my mind as the lead, but I suppose they've got to put a star in it or it wouldn't have gone anywhere ! There's not much action or dialogue. It's all in the lurking atmosphere."

I'm not a superbrain. I got this information from goldfrapp.com/msgboard/showthread.php .

Eugenics has never sounded so good. :)

Christ, man, is it really necessary to put up individual remixes of the same songs? And multiple entries for the same mix? You do know that remixes generally have the same lyrics as the original, right? And that you can edit your own entries rather than making a new one if you want to change something?

Cooooel!

Awsome! Truely amazing work of hers, and I can't wait to hear her next album. Best wishes to a great artist, Goldfrapp.

this albulm is so different to the second one, i love the french caberet feel, its amazing, amazing voice,

Though I can't work out what it's about at all, I think it's definitely the best song on the album!

Goldfrapp are awesome. They are very underrated in my opinion and are very different to the current music scene. They set themselves apart from the crowd, I don't think intentionally, I feel it's about the music for them. I applaud Alison, she brings a sexy feel to every song.