Ramalama (Bang Bang)

It's funny that some people comes up with so complicated theories about this song. It's just what LDux said: It's about creating music. The connection between the artist and his/her art.

"Oh the body swayed to music Oh the lightning glance"

That part is a quote from a poem called "Among School Children" by William Butler Yeats, a well known Irish poet:

"O body swayed to music, O brightening glance How can we know the dancer from the dance?"

Both, the song and the poem, are about the relation between the artist and art and also about the power of art to transfigure mortality.

WHAT?! only three ppl commented this? hmm, well i love this song it's my myspace song and my company song for dance hoo rah we r suppose to be like the ugly side to models which is what i think this song is totally about how the camera makes us vain and brain washes us

"Everybody smile, please Nobody pay no mind to me Finger in position on the switch A little flash photography"

and how models give up there heart

"Unzip my body, take my heart out"

Ok, my interpretation (or my friend's really) is completely different, and I think it fits better (even if it is extremely morbid and disturbing) she thinks, and I think she's on to something, that it's about torture and taking pictures of the victim...? don't attack me if you think I'm wrong please, but any thoughts to build on this?

WHAT?! only three ppl commented this? hmm, well i love this song it's my myspace song and my company song for dance hoo rah we r suppose to be like the ugly side to models which is what i think this song is totally about how the camera makes us vain and brain washes us

"Everybody smile, please Nobody pay no mind to me Finger in position on the switch A little flash photography"

and how models give up there heart

"Unzip my body, take my heart out"

the song trips me the f*ck out

I think differently than all of you and that it is about suicide

"flash photogrsphy" is an abstract reference to the falsh that comes from the gun when fired, because it also so "with a hammer, bang bang"

and also she gives the excuse that "nobody pay no mind to me" and thats usually a "reason" for suicide

i have to agree with vocalchik.

especially because of the lines: "If you can be good you’ll live forever; If you’re bad, you’ll die when you die"

and, "hearing only one true note"

• the only other person is the torturer...

"Lend to my ear a clear and a deafening sound"

• hoping for help to come...

plus, the beat does give a rather haunting feeling.

From interview

A lot of people in the US know you from the So You Think You Can Dance TV show, "Rama Lama (Bang Bang)" song. I was wondering how did that song come about, what was the idea behind it?

Roisin Murphy: When I'm on tour, we always say if the place is full, that it's ramalama, it's rammed, you know, rammed to the brim. So that's how we got the ramalama. And then I just heard this dong, dong, dong, dong, dong, dong, dah-dong, dong, and it made me think about that phrase. We just wrote a whole song about words and sounds and rhythm, and inside your body, what the rhythm is.

So it's about music

I love this song, and the routine by Wade Robson, AND the routine the dancers at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jersey perform during fright fest. But anyway, I think it's about surviving fame.

"Could the body close the mind down Stitch a seam across the eye"

• She's questioning whether or not she can just abandon all of her thoughts, close her mind down, turn a blind eye to the corruption of Hollywood, and just let the media think for her.

"If you can be good, you'll live forever If you're bad, then you'll die when you die."

• I don't think this is about literal death. It's saying that if you play by the media's rules, you'll still have a career and a life. If not, you'll be ruined, shunned, black listed, and out of work. You'll be thrown off the radar and will essentially "die"

Though I like the torture idea, I think that is just a big metaphor for Hollywood.

I just realized something about this little bit of lyrics:

If you can be good you’ll live forever If you’re bad, you’ll die when you die

If this song is really about music, then this little bit means that if a song is good people will remember it and keep replaying it. (like Mozart's music or the hits from the 70's) But if a song is bad it will wither away and be forgotten.