Electric Feel

Now, today, after 4 years I finally got the meaning of this great song, which -after realizing- even got better. I love this song since day one. I didn't search for the exact meaning - I understood those lyrics as a poem to life / nature / spirit. The answer reached me, when I was ready for it - It came unexpected, but it refers to the topics with which I'm dealing at the moment.

I don't claim the truth! - But I really got the answer for myself< Great to read so many suggestions on this page! (Notice: English is not my mother tongue - I'll do my best!)

I think most of the people haven't understood the meaning of this song... It isn't just about sex, party or having a simple trip on a drug. But I see many of you are right, even without understanding the concrete words. I like those comments which refer to 'nature', 'dreams / reality' and so on. It has to do with these words...*

I didn't read all of the comments but I think "superlemonjiuce"'s statement is damn close. The most craziest answers were these, which refer to WorldWar 1 and such things... Are you serious?! Damn! Very abstract thoughts - very funny...

I'll handle the first verse of the song and some pictures/signs on the sub-level; "All along the western front People line up to receive. She got the power in her hand To shock you like you won't believe. Saw her in the amazon With the voltage running through her skin Standing there with nothing on She gonna teach me how to swim"

*> The song 'Electric Feel' is a declaration of love to the spiritual life, but in concrete to "Ayahuasca" (which seems to be one of the most spiritual experiences a human can have). Sometimes it's called "Mother Aya" (MGMT personalized it by saying 'girl') or also called "The Plant Teacher". It has a mind- & body-healing attribute. Ayahuasca is a medicine (No drug!) used by several shamans (in south america) within their rituals (It's as old as this culture). Please google it - there are many good informations about it. Some poetic pictures, which MGMT draw, will clear up when you got deeper informations about the details of this spiritual, shamanic process. I think people who had a concrete experience in this will get the meaning of this words directly. It would take too long to describe all of the details - please google it or watch some of the many documentaries about it (somehow it also refers to the meaning of the film 'Avatar' - I just say that, because everybody has seen this movie - compare the scenarios, moods, pictures and first of all, of course - the message).

The 'Electric Eel' stands for Ayahuasca. Most of the time it's implicated with a 'Snake' or better - two snakes - (a very spiritual animal in many old cultures). One part of this Ayahuasca-mixture is made of a special liana from the jungle. It is inexplicable where these cultures get the knowledge from. Ayahuasca-healing seems to be a really groundshaking spiritual experience which you'll never forget - in a positive way - so it 'shocks you like an electric eel'. Also because the perceptions will change your life sustained.

"All along the western front People line up to receive" I think the meaning is: More and more people ("fringe groups") from the 'western world' discover their spiritual conciousness - so they 'line up to receive'(the knowledge/conciousness) - like in the church the 'altar bread'. "She got the power in her hand To shock you like you won't believe" I already described this- I've no experience with 'Mother Aya', but I think you can't imagine the things you'll see. "Saw her in the amazon" The amazon ambience is the most typical place for the ayahuasca-tradition. Seems that these two guys had a personal meeting with 'Mother Aya', and fell in love with her. "With the voltage running through her skin" MGMT speaks about the energy from this medicine (which they personalized) which will enter your body and mind. "Standing there with nothing on" It means that you're naked - figuratively speaking - which menas you can't hide from any of your feelings - good or bad ones. You've got to deal with them within this experience. This is a main part of this journey. Naked = Truth. "She gonna teach me how to swim" The experience will tell you something about life/ your life/ and your life on this planet/in this universe. You'll get important insights for your further life. (This is what the shamans say, or people, who have experienced it.)

At the end, some notices to the video of 'Electric Feel': Except that the video is full of spiritual images, which are dealing with the experience of Ayahuasca, but also seen purely spiritual (>Nature, colors, animals, the moon, ceremony, people become one...), there are some special pictures in the beginning of the video; Andrew walks throught this jungle down to this group - You see two people mixing something in a great keg(?) (Typical for Ayahuasca, because you've got to boil up these plant-materials), next step you see a 'Saint-Bernard'-dog with a barrel around his neck - For those eho don't know - This type of dog was 'used to bring the medicine (mostly 'schnaps') to help 'accidented people'(?) in mountain-surroundings which were hard accessible. Let's say he stands for 'medicine' or 'help'. After that, Andrew get a bottle with a clourful substance in it. It could stand for the Ayahuasca, even if it's not directly comparable with the 'original'. ...

Conclusion: Many things indicate, that 'Electric Feel' is a love letter to Ayahuasca. But it doesn't matter wheter the two have made the experience or not, because this song can also be seen purely poetic. I think Ayahuasca - or 'other substances', are not necessarily needed to get to these findings. The message is to recognize that we are more than our eyes make us believe - It is a spiritual matter - not to be confused with a religious one. We're all ONE, all natural, all energy. If we have understood the power of this knowledge, we can do good with it. If we are aware of this energy/light, life becomes more colourful. It's a message of peace. Thank you MGMT for this song.

I've got a lot of respect for the knowledge of these ancient cultures - if someone wants to deal with this experience, he should do it with due respect. This is not a party-drug or a 'simple trip', but a very old method to cure people - by showing them a different reality, which in turm allows us to understand our limited reality in this material world, which we perceive. I will make this special experience this year. I'm curious. Peace.