Dance Yrself Clean

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.

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"

"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...

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 something important or interesting to say or they don't have time for you.

"Present company excepted: Present company, except the worst… It happens every night,"

Assemble a group of people who feel entitled or elite and the result is what you might call, "exceptionalism." If it happens at night, you have yourself a social scene, or a clique, if you will. "Present company" is a group who knows feeling superior to a group who doesn't.

"Present company excluded every time." Present company: The best that you can find,"

Excluded from the rules perhaps? Rules of good behavior? The rule that says be kind to your neighbor? Don't be two-faced, etc... Rules apply to other people, not to group knowing.

"Talking like a jerk except you are an actual jerk And living proof, that sometimes friends are mean."

You might have friends like that. I might. We accept it and we accept them because they're one of us. We make exclusions for what they say and do, once again, because the rules don't apply. If someone else says or does the same thing, they're a jerk, which makes your friend a jerk too, but he/she is your jerk/friend. So what do you do...

"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,"

I don't hear the "go" in the song but it's in the lyrics. The "stay/go" probably tells us he's conflicted. Sometimes wiling to put up with it and sometimes not. He's conflicted about it and it's obviously bothering him...

"Killing it with close inspection. Killing it can only make it worse, It sort of makes it breed,"

Start picking people apart for what they say and do and you start becoming what you despise.

"Present company accepting Presently we all expect the worst, It works just like a need."

Once again, we accept our friends'/loved one's faults because we need them to accept ours.

"Present company excluded in the night, Present company included in the fight, go"

Eventually, the conflict boils up into a fight, and he confronts it.

"Don't you want me to wake up? Then give me just a bit of your time."

Resolving conflicts is a two-way street, one that requires you to put aside your vanity, pride, ego, etc., and see someone else's POV.

"Arguments are made for make-ups, So give it just a little more time."

I love the confidence of this line, the reassurance. This is what relationships are about. Overcoming the insecurity of the person you're fighting with, along with your own, and being committed to finding a peaceful resolution in the end.

"We've got to bring the resources, I'm gonna play until the time comes,"

Dig down, beneath the vanity, the conceit. Find empathy. It's there. Might take time.

"Forget your string of divorces, Just go and throw your little hands up."

Wow! Does this guy have something to say about the divorce rate? I think so.

"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…

Remember those jerks, uh, your friends? The elitists? Well, there's a reason why you put up with them, isn't there? It "works just like a need." You need them, especially when you're sleeping on the couch. They might be a bunch of two-faced snobs, but they're "the best that you could find." And at least they're there for you when you need them.

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

So obviously, dancing means something in this song. It's an expression of a lot of the things he's already talked about. It's an expression of individuality. It can be an expression of vanity. It's also a way to clean your head of stressful things like conflicts, both inner and interpersonal. Dancing is, among other things, a conceit; the ultimate ego trip...

"Show. It's your show."

Marxism is broadly defined as collectivism. The antithesis to collectivism is individuality. And dancing is, for many, a pure form of individual expression. As an expression of individuality, dancing is a destructive force against group conformity. Exceptionalism, elitism, vanity, etc. are all opposed to collectivism. But he's not just talking about dancing here. He's talking about dancing yourself "clean." And the funny thing about dancing is that it's something that groups do together. They do it in time, moving to the same beat, eventually blending their individual differences until they move like a single organism. In that sense, it's an expression of the individual that has transcendent potential. Dancing as catharsis is an age-old literary/cultural metaphor.

"Put your little feet down and hang out."

And he holds the vocals for "down" and "hang out" to great effect.

"Every night's a different story, It's a thirty car pile-up with you,

It's like, enough drama already.

"Everybody's getting younger… It's the end of an era – it's true."

Have to admit, don't know what he really means by those line.

"And you go: 'Stop',"

Let's take a moment for reflection...

"Break me into bigger pieces, So some of me is home with you,"

Aw, so sweet.

"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,

There, we've made it through. And arguments are made for make-ups. Don't we all feel better now?

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

He's being permissive and accepting here, sort of like he's been from the beginning. He's accepting of the vanity, the elitism, accepting of his friend who talks like a jerk, becuase his friends are the "best he could find," and he has a need for them. And in the end, we can all dance ourselves clean. But he has a final word to say...

"Wish you'd try a little harder, In the tedious march of the few,"

Relationships are work, especially when you're committed to really understanding each other and resolving conflicts instead of throwing your little hands up and, say, getting divorced. It's tedious work, and one that requires individuals to sublimate their egos for the better of the relationship/group, etc. Few people know or demonstrate it. But when you do, you find that you're moving to the same beat, sort of like a marching band, a pure expression of collectivism.

"Every day a different warning, There's a part of me hoping it's true "

This is a hopeful song with an ominous ending. One where warning signs come true. Hope he finds a way to dance himself clean.

Might be totally off the mark with some or all of it but it's still a brilliant song and album.

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.

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.

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...

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 a key line from the song is 'Present company, the best that you can find' - you need the company, however imperfect it may be, as we cannot exclude ourselves from others and indulge in one's own existential essence. You are much more likely to dance with a group of people than by yourself, and this is evident in my point.

So, instead of blowing Marxism to pieces, dancing actually brackets itself neatly under Marxist Critical Theory, i.e. the grand narrative that can be applied to anything.

Dancing is a collective end, though achieved by individual means, just as Marx intended: the ends are collectivist and egalitarian, but the means must be an individualistic cleansing of the false consciousness, and that's where Marxist Existentialism derives from, a merging of individualism and collectivism, just as Sartre intended.