Zero

Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Shake it like a ladder to the sun
Makes me feel like a madman on the run
Find me never never far gone
So get your leather, leather
Leather on on on on

Your zero
What's your name?
No one's gonna ask you
Better find out where they want you to go
Try and hit the spot
Get to know it in the dark
Get to know it whether you're
Crying, crying, crying oh oh
Can you climb, climb, climb higher

Shake it like a ladder to the sun
Makes me feel like a madman on the run
Now you're never, never far gone
So get your leather leather
Leather on on on on

Your zero
What's your name?
No one's gonna ask you
Better find out where they want you to go
Try and hit the spot
Get to know it in the dark
Get to know it whether you're
Crying, crying, crying oh oh
Can you climb, climb, climb higher

Was it the cure? Shellshock!
Was it the cure? Hope not!
Was it the cure? Shellshock!
Was it the cure?
What's your name?

Your zero
What's your name?
No one's gonna ask you
Better find out where they want you to go
Try and hit the spot
Get to know it in the dark
Get to know it whether you're
Crying, crying, crying oh oh
Can you climb, climb, climb higher

Was it the cure? Shellshock!
Was it the cure? Hope not!
Was it the cure? Shellshock!
Was it the cure? Hope not!

What's your name?


Lyrics submitted by 4barbela, edited by cosmickiss, jiteshj, P514sub

Zero Lyrics as written by Karen Lee Orzolek Brian Chase

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

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Zero song meanings
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67 Comments

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  • +7
    General CommentI 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.
    Cabreson March 12, 2009   Link
  • +1
    General CommentLove 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.
    lavenderfireon March 14, 2009   Link
  • +1
    General Commentpersonally 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.
    nirvana_calion April 01, 2009   Link
  • +1
    General CommentThis 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?
    thespreadon April 03, 2009   Link
  • +1
    General Commenti also always thought it was crime and not crying
    imazeroon April 20, 2009   Link
  • +1
    General CommentI 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.
    lovemonkeyon May 17, 2009   Link
  • +1
    General CommentI 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.
    songofsongson June 07, 2009   Link
  • +1
    Lyric CorrectionIt's definitely saying "Crime, crime, crime of love".
    Bella86on October 27, 2010   Link
  • +1
    General CommentI 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.
    gonzagylot00on August 31, 2011   Link
  • +1
    General CommentI 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.
    rjrodriguez89on April 13, 2012   Link

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