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Staying Fat Lyrics
I rely on (bitter cold)
I depend on (arctic snow)
A pair of trainers (I've got mine)
Could make a god of the two of us (I want yours)
I exist on (apropos)
I insist on (arctic snow)
A change of clothing (will fill the void)
Could lift us into fidelity (will suck you in)
The sound keeps you hemmed to the past
The walls are coming in again
The streets grid alone from the door
You gotta spin the fucking treadle...
I rely on (bitter cold)
I depend on (arctic snow)
The manmade fibres (I've got mine)
That are the stuff of my birthright (I want yours)
I decide on (apropos)
I retreat from (arctic snow)
The dregs of discourse (will fill the void)
For a new world order (will suck you in)
The sound keeps you hemmed to the past
The walls are coming in again
The streets grid alone from the door
You gotta spin the fucking treadle...
In a pile of days between no oceans
All the kids are rioting
There's no art in a broken head
All the kids are staying fat
And I'm air-kissing, back-slapping
Check the body for valuables
It's called progress
Come on, pilgrim, sing to the pyres
It's called progress
If they want to kill themselves
Then buy them the gowns
It's called progress
Progress
I depend on (arctic snow)
A pair of trainers (I've got mine)
Could make a god of the two of us (I want yours)
I insist on (arctic snow)
A change of clothing (will fill the void)
Could lift us into fidelity (will suck you in)
The walls are coming in again
The streets grid alone from the door
You gotta spin the fucking treadle...
I depend on (arctic snow)
The manmade fibres (I've got mine)
That are the stuff of my birthright (I want yours)
I retreat from (arctic snow)
The dregs of discourse (will fill the void)
For a new world order (will suck you in)
The walls are coming in again
The streets grid alone from the door
You gotta spin the fucking treadle...
In a pile of days between no oceans
All the kids are rioting
There's no art in a broken head
All the kids are staying fat
Check the body for valuables
It's called progress
Come on, pilgrim, sing to the pyres
It's called progress
If they want to kill themselves
Then buy them the gowns
It's called progress
Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.
I understand 'pwincess's POV, and I agree. All is said. The end. Ben xx.
I actually, like a dork, emailed Kele from the band awhile ago... and asked about the Sleater-Kinney reference. He wrote back:
"yes i love sleater kinney. they are one of my favourite bands, and i know oxygen. the thing about staying fat is that it was a demo of ours, we didnt ever think it was going to be released. i was stuck for words so i just freestyled that sleater kinney thing, thinking i would change it when we rerecorded it. because we had no time it ended up being a bside to banquet and it travelled the world. im really bummed cos i wanted to chnage it properly, but alas. no one seems to have noticed but i think its a bit shoddy, i would like to apologise to them if i ever meet them. kx"
mate, how did you contact kele?
mate, how did you contact kele?
It is not "Then buy them the gowns" but "Then buy them the gallows". What use is a gown if you want to kill yourself? Listen carfully and it does sound alot more like gallows than gowns too.
ooooooooh the sound is fantastic. Bloc Party u are gonna be BIG. Any time soon u are gonna be appreciated properly for this amazing music u are making. Pure genious. sigh
yep very cool song
this song is awesome. Insanely awesome. wow. love the guitar parts.
i have no idea what this song means, but it sucks me in when i listen to it. its awesome.
Obviously modernization, industry and so on. I think the arctic snow is about how before how having a freezer was done by extremely rich people keeping a box full of ice brought back from a strange land a few centuries ago, but is now commonplace.
"The sound keeps you hemmed to the past The walls are coming in again The streets grid alone from the door You gotta spin the fucking treadle..."
That verse reminds me a bit of TS Eliot's bleak views on the industrial revolution, especially the lines about the streets. A treadle was something in a mill at that time, so he's saying industry's gotta keep going. All about progress being made - synthetic overtaking natural, in the same way the early 20th Centry modernist poets said it.
Great song!! I really like bloc party's songs like this that are either b-sides or from the ep
probably my favorite song in the world. i think it might be about joining cults, about kids joining cults. the bit in the end, "if they want to kill themselves then buy them the gowns" makes me think of the kkk, hale bopp suicide cult, etc.