Zero

I think she's saying "You're a Zero" not "Your Zero"

This song seems like one of the songs for the outcasts. Something for the people whom aren't socially "in". That's what I believe the reference to the ladder & climbing comes in at. Like climbing up the social ladder towards popularity. It could actually be that the song is more about how they(or at least Karen O) feel in regards to the whole hoopla surrounding them.

YYYs were never one to make political statements with their music, so I doubt that they have made this song with the intention to speak about the war & such.

Love this song. The lyrics are a little abstract but they seem sort of like a double entendre. The imagery it suggests to me is someone (the zero) getting all dressed up and going out, maybe to an underground dance club. I love the line "shake it like a ladder to the sun", with the beat it evokes a person dancing around with absolute abandon. At the same time there's the double entendre of some sexy lyrics, (try and hit the spot/get to find it in the dark, Karen O's breathy delivery of the climbing higher line...) maybe even a little S&M? ("Get your leather on"!) There's also the intriguingly contradictory lines of the song's lyrics asking what the Zero's name is, while telling him or her that nobody will ask it... I think you could take a variety of meanings out of this song, but it's awesome no matter what you hear in the lyrics.

personally i think it's about them trying to make it big as a band. and the sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll that ensues. i think the music video also helps tell this song's story.

This song rules. I think it's about tough love, like the cool girl telling her friend how it is ("you're a zero") and encouraging her to put herself out there more ("get your leather on" - go out, party) so she can "climb, climb, climb higher" (like's been said, social ladder). Couldn't say what the 'Was it the cure? Shellshock! Was it the cure? Hope not!' bit's about though. maybe she's talking about the 'cure' for her social awkwardness or something?

i also always thought it was crime and not crying

I think it's about someone wanting to be famous; very much like the comments made about the social ladder, but more so a ladder to the stars. The story being told by someone who has no belief in the person.

I think this song my be about trying to make it in a rock band even when people think that you are a zero. That even when other people may think that you are nothing you need to get your lether on and rock anyway.

It's definitely saying "Crime, crime, crime of love".

I think it's a commentary that people who are "zeros" turn to casual sex to feel like they're more than a zero. However, in the end they get to feeling shell-shocked and trashy for their behavior.

People work in their cubicles or their offices or whatever all week, feeling like a zero, a cog in the machine. When they finally get to climb out of anonymity they may turn to sexuality to feel some sort of agency, and the sex itself is the ladder.

Is it the cure? Probably not, we're just all shell-shocked and need something to feel human.

I feel like its about American Business/Propaganda all together. YOUR Zero is the thing that makes you You and what motivates you to get up in the morning. I feel it talks about Taking out-of-the-ordinary Actions to prove that you're capable of being You, hence Was it the Cure? Shellshock - how we take risks and new ideas to inOrder to be Chosen by whatever-grand-marshal that stands in our way to enlightenment. The enlightenment is the It that we Get To Know In The Dark.