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Dance Yrself Clean Lyrics

Walking up to me expecting,
Walking up to me expecting words,
It happens all the time
Present company excepted:
Present company, except the worst
It happens every night,
Present company excluded every time.
Present company:
The best that you can find,

Talking like a jerk except you are an actual jerk
And living proof, that sometimes friends are mean.
Present company expect it
Present company just laugh it off,
It's better than it seems,
Present company excluded in every way
Present company makes me wanna stay go,

Killing it with close inspection.
Killing it can only make it worse,
It sort of makes it breed,
Present company accepting
Presently we all expect the worst,
It works just like a need.
Present company excluded in the night,
Present company included in the fight, go,

Don't you want me to wake up?
Then give me just a bit of your time.
Arguments are made for make-ups,
So give it just a little more time.

We've got to bring the resources,
I'm gonna play until the time comes,
Forget your string of divorces,
Just go and throw your little hands up.

It's late, I miss the way the night comes
My friends know how to make it feel good
The basement has a cold glow,
Though better than a bunch of others

So go and dance yourself clean,
Go and dance yourself clean, yeah,
You're blowing marxism to pieces,
Their little arguments to pieces,

Show.
It's your show.

Put your little feet down and hang out.
Every night's a different story,
It's a thirty car pile-up with you,
Everybody's getting younger,
It's the end of an era it's true.

And you go: "Stop",

Break me into bigger pieces,
So some of me is home with you,
Wait until the weekend
And we can make our dreams come true

And it's a go,
Yeah it's a go,
But if we wait until the weekend,
We could miss the best things to do,

So go and dance yourself clean,
Gotta dance yourself clean,
Yeah and blow the marxists into pieces
Their little argument to pieces,

Wish you'd try a little harder,
In the tedious march of the few,
Every day a different warning,
There's a part of me hoping it's true
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Cover art for Dance Yrself Clean lyrics by LCD Soundsystem

From the lyrics booklet...

Walking up to me expecting words– It happens all the time Present company excepted: Present company, except the worst… It happens every night, Present company excluded every time. Present company: The best that you can find,

Talking like a jerk except you are an actual jerk And living proof, that sometimes friends are mean. Present company expect it Present company just laugh it off… It's better than it seems, Present company excluded in every way Present company makes me wanna stay go,

Killing it with close inspection. Killing it can only make it worse, It sort of makes it breed, Present company accepting Presently we all expect the worst, It works just like a need. Present company excluded in the night, Present company included in the fight, go,

Don't you want me to wake up? Then give me just a bit of your time. Arguments are made for make-ups, So give it just a little more time.

We've got to bring the resources, I'm gonna play until the time comes, Forget your string of divorces, Just go and throw your little hands up.

It's late, I miss the way the night comes My friends know how to make it feel good The basement has a cold glow, Though better than a bunch of others…

So go and dance yourself clean, Go and dance yourself clean, yeah, You're blowing marxism to pieces, Their little arguments to pieces,

Show. It's your show.

Put your little feet down and hang out. Every night's a different story, It's a thirty car pile-up with you, Everybody's getting younger… It's the end of an era – it's true.

And you go: "Stop",

Break me into bigger pieces, So some of me is home with you, Wait until the weekend And we can make our dreams come true

And it's a go, Yeah it's a go, But if we wait until the weekend, We could miss the best things to do,

So go and dance yourself clean, Gotta dance yourself clean, Yeah and blow the marxists into pieces Their little argument to pieces,

Wish you'd try a little harder, In the tedious march of the few, Every day a different warning, There's a part of me hoping it's true

Cover art for Dance Yrself Clean lyrics by LCD Soundsystem

The first time I heard this song, I had two immediate reactions to the phrase "dance yourself clean." My first thought was of dancing the drugs right out of your system, and not stopping until sobriety. The second, in essence, is the purging of that which is troublesome via dance. No worries, just dance. Real Hakuna Matata, huh?

Cover art for Dance Yrself Clean lyrics by LCD Soundsystem

This song goes explores the murky moral territory of a failed romantic relationship. It's a land no man wants to inhabit, but according to Greg Gillis "it's better than it seems." But indeed, due to the periodicity inherent in human mood cycles--"it happens every night." Note that's also an allusion to Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow!

This is such a beautiful song. So much depth, too.

Cover art for Dance Yrself Clean lyrics by LCD Soundsystem

This song is everything Electro Music should be.

Cover art for Dance Yrself Clean lyrics by LCD Soundsystem

epic opening track

Cover art for Dance Yrself Clean lyrics by LCD Soundsystem

one of the most brillant songs i have ever heard

I'm going to take a stab at this because it's an excellent song and one that only gets better if you know what he's up to. It's a song about individualism vs. collectivism, about vanity vs. humility, about how those differences can cause conflict, and about how we manage to overcome them through empathy and, yes I'm going to say it, love.

"Walking up to me expecting words– It happens all the time"

This is about entitlement and elitism. How some people walk up to you and automatically expect something from you. It's up to you to have...

Not Valid

I agree with you pretty roundly, and the conflict between collectivism and individualism is a running theme in the song, most naturally revealed by the dancing 'blowing Marxism to pieces', but I think that whilst the song is brilliant and stimulates discussion, it is fundamentally wrong.

Dancing is a collective function. Perhaps the movement or action itself is wholly individual, where you can cleanse your mind from your conscious worries and indulge in the individual unconscious.

However, whilst the action is individual, the motive, cause, pressure, or influence comes from societal pressures, i.e. those dancing with you. I think that...

Not Valid
Cover art for Dance Yrself Clean lyrics by LCD Soundsystem

Are these official somehow? Cause I'm hearing some different things.

Such as:

"Present company EXCLUDED every time"

"Present company EXPECT IT" (rather than "expected", makes more sense.)

"You're throwing marks into pieces" is wrong, but I don't know what it is. That just doesn't have enough syllables.

"It sort of makes it BREED" (less sense, I know, but there's definitely a hard "d" there.)

"But THERE'S a string of divorces" (Or something like that. It's definitely not "like".)

"This BASEMENT has a cold glow Though it's better than a bunch of OTHERS"

"IT'S YOUR SHOW" x4

What's the extended word after "Work a little bit"? "AND YOU GO" (followed by "Stop" repeatedly)

"It's as though he's home with you" is wrong, but again, I don't know what it is.

Also, the first "Present company accepted" should be "excepted", it's a saying.

Other than that, thanks! This song is fantastic.

Far from official. I just figured that since I had nothing else to do today, I would put the lyrics up so some speculation on what James Murphy might actually be saying could be done.

Thanks for your suggestions. Editing them in now.

Also, I agree, this song is one of my favourites, but I honestly got halfway through it, and was like, "...I might have understood four words so far," hahaha.

Not Valid

i think it's "present company excepted" like, every time.

????

this song is good.

Not Valid
Cover art for Dance Yrself Clean lyrics by LCD Soundsystem

I'm not sure on what "dancing" yourself "clean" is, but this song sure as hell is mindblowing.

Cover art for Dance Yrself Clean lyrics by LCD Soundsystem

Loooove this song. <3

It sounds like 'You're throwing Marxism to pieces' to me.

I also hear 'Make me into bigger pieces/So some of me is home with you' which DOES make sense. :)

And I hear 'arguments are made from make-ups', like making up after an argument, only reversed?

I thought it was "arguments are made FOR make-ups", not from, which fits with the "give it just a little more time" line.

but anyways, amazing song by an amazing musician.

Not Valid

i agree completely with the other lyrics you corrected though.

Not Valid
Cover art for Dance Yrself Clean lyrics by LCD Soundsystem

This song seems to me to about a friend, probably girlfriend or wife, of the narrator who is constantly, irritatingly argumentative. Their group of friends expect to see them fight every time they go out together, and also expect to have their own thoughts ridiculed by this person ("you're blowing marxism to pieces... their little arguments to pieces"). The person always turns any casual discussion into his/her "show" to and mission to educate the people with the "little arguments". I think we've all known people like this at some point in our lives. I don't know what the title refers to, but since it is in "text-speak" it makes me think it was a text that the narrator got/sent after a nasty argument with this person.