Men Without Hats

The Safety Dance

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The Safety Dance Lyrics

We can dance if we want to
We can leave your friends behind
'Cause your friends don't dance
And if they don't dance
Well, they're no friends of mine

Say, we can go where we want to
A place where they will never find
And we can act like we come
From out of this world
Leave the real one far behind

We can dance
(Danser!)

We can go when we want to
Night is young and so am I
And we can dress real neat
From our hats to our feet
And surprise 'em with the victory cry

Say, we can act if we want to
If we don't, nobody will
And you can act real rude and totally removed
And I can act like an imbecile

And say, we can dance, we can dance
Everything's out of control
We can dance, we can dance
They're doing it from pole to pole
We can dance, we can dance
Everybody look at your hands
We can dance, we can dance
Everybody's taking the chance
Safety dance
Oh well, the safety dance
Ah yes, the safety dance

We can dance if we want to
We've got all your life and mine
As long as we abuse it, never gonna lose it
Everything'll work out right

I say, we can dance if we want to
We can leave your friends behind
Because your friends don't dance
And if they don't dance
Well, they're no friends of mine

I say, we can dance, we can dance
Everything's out of control
We can dance, we can dance
We're doing it from pole to pole
We can dance, we can dance
Everybody look at your hands
We can dance, we can dance
Everybody's taking the chance

Oh well, the safety dance
Ah yes, the safety dance
Oh well, the safety dance
Oh well, the safety dance
Oh yes, the safety dance
Oh, the safety dance, yeah
Well, it's the safety dance
It's the safety dance
Well, it's the safety dance
Well, it's the safety dance
Oh, it's the safety dance
Oh, it's the safety dance

Submitted by

numb On Jun 22, 2001

We can dance if we want to
We can leave your friends behind
'Cause your friends don't dance
And if they don't dance
Well, they're no friends of mine

Say, we can go where we want to
A place where they will never find
And we can act like we come
From out of this world
Leave the real one far behind

We can dance
(Danser!)

We can go when we want to
Night is young and so am I
And we can dress real neat
From our hats to our feet
And surprise 'em with the victory cry

Say, we can act if we want to
If we don't, nobody will
And you can act real rude and totally removed
And I can act like an imbecile

We can dance if we want to
We've got all your life and mine
As long as we abuse it, never gonna lose it
Everything'll work out right

I say, we can dance if we want to
We can leave your friends behind
Because your friends don't dance
And if they don't dance
Well, they're no friends of mine

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When in doubt, ask the crowd

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Sirboloski

2022-01-13 09:05:38

james10841

2018-11-17 20:01:38

Deloreanfan

2015-02-21 08:23:41

numb

Submitter

2001-06-22 13:34:03

66 Meanings

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by dadawoman

16y ago

Hi, just found out this in the wiki: "The writer/performer, Ivan Doroschuk, has explained that "The Safety Dance" is a protest against bouncers stopping dancers pogoing to 1980s New Wave music in clubs when Disco was dying and New Wave was up and coming. New Wave dancing, especially pogoing, was different from Disco dancing, because it was done individually instead of with partners and involved holding the torso rigid and thrashing about. To uninformed bystanders this could look dangerous, especially if pogoers accidentally bounced into one another (the more deliberately violent version of pogoing is slam dancing). The bouncers didn't like pogoing so they would tell pogoers to stop or be kicked out of the club. Thus, the song is a protest and a call for freedom of expression. It has been claimed that the meaning of the song can be found in similarities between "Safety Dance" and "Safe to dance". Other lyrics in the song include references to the way pogoing looked to bouncers, especially "And you can act real rude and totally removed/And I can act like an imbecile".

Doroschuk denies two common myths about the song. First, it is not a call for safe sex. Doroschuk says that is reading too much into the lyrics. Second, it is not an anti-nuclear protest despite the nuclear imagery at the end of the video. Doroschuk says that he considers Men Without Hats "a punk band with one hit song" and that as such they were "anti- everything". [edit]

+10

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by Cami99 12y ago

Okay, I never thought it was a song about promoting safe sex, but I did think it was a song about him trying to convince her that it was safe and not a big deal to have sex. If I were Doroschuk, I don't think I'd mention THIS deeper meaning at an interview. And if you replace the word dance for sex in the lyrics (despite the fact that it isn't grammatically correct) it makes a lot of sense in correspondence with such a premises. Of course I wouldn't challenge your input, I'm sure it's accurate, but just thought I'd...

by Slightly_Shinobi

21y ago

They went over this song on that True Spin show. This song is a tribute to slam dancing. I know, doesn't seem like a song someone would slam dance to, but slam dancing was a big controversial thing at the time this song was made, and they wrote a song about what they thought.

"Say, we can go where we want to A place where they will never find And we can act like we come from out of this world Leave the real one far behind "

Acting what most people would think totally insance, ramming into eachother mindlessly and calling it a dance.

"Say, we can act if we want to If we don't nobody will And you can act real rude and totally removed And I can act like an imbecile "

It's not exactly teh friendliest form of expression. You act like a rude imbecile, basicaly kicking the crap out of the person next to you, but everyone has a good time.

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by emuInAmuumuu

14y ago

Well at least our songs knew how to spell correctly back in the day.

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by ImagineBillly2 12y ago

LOL x 10000000

by Philemon_Crowley

20y ago

Exactly, it's about slamdancing. The singer talks about how his girl should leave her friends in the moshpit "'Cause your friends don't dance and if they don't dance, Well, they're no friends of mine" The whole thing about "safety dance" is sort of "anti-slam dancing", how if you did the "Safety Dance" you wouldn't take someone's eyeball out ("everybody look at your hands" = Watch where you're dancing!) I don't see anything about nukes in there...

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by maggot brain

19y ago

I cannot believe I have found a bunch of people discussing this song(over a period of years I grant you).Fantastic.I have the picture disc of this somewhere as well as all other albums.Not just a catchy pop tune, it is full of lovely little puns & ironies

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by Cami99

12y ago

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by Owl---

24y ago

Not to be picky, but it's "we're doin' it from POLE to POLE" I have the music video and you can plainly see the "P" formed with his lips. I'm also not too sure about the "Francois", either; although that IS hilarious in the video.

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by namron 14y ago

It's not "Francois" it's "dancer" which means dance in french

by wicka_wicka

21y ago

Dansez is, like that one guy said, the Vous form of danzer, to dance. Vous danzez would be basically saying "you dance" to a person you do not know (formal). Saying simple DANSEZ! would imply a command, hence:

And we can dance... [you] DANCE!

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by mcbucfan

21y ago

Guys, this song is about Nuclear War. The lead singer is from Canada and was VERY much against the Reagan US. The analogy from Pole to Pole is correct. The US was going to blow up the world from Pole to Pole. If you were with the US you were ok, if you were against, then that was it for you. That's about it. There is a website that specifically details the meaning of this song as told by Ivan (lead singer).

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by kmk_natasha

20y ago

This song is about moshing. Slightly_Shinobi got it right.

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