You Wanted a Hit

To me this song is a statement about authenticity. Lots of music comes out as an expression of a spontaneous , creative drive but usually in the "real world" that has to be met with or compromised by money, consumer demand, demographics etc. This song is about saying fuck you to the "real world" by questioning the validity of it's demands (ie: "You wanted it real/but can you tell me what's real?").

The way I see it it's commenting on 'Drunk Girls'. Drunk Girls is different from most of LCD's music. It's one of their more commercialised songs, fitting into presupposed pop structures making it radio-friendly. It's a three minute something song, while the rest on the album were upwards of six minutes each. It seems kind of shallow. Although the lyrics can be seen a few different ways and closer analysis can show that Drunk Girls is actually making some pretty intelligent comments as a parody; it still half functions as a generic pop hit. So to me 'You Wanted a Hit' is a kind of disclaimer for that song. Like he says, 'You wanted a hit But maybe we don't do hits I try and try It ends up feeling kind of wrong'

Drunk Girls, in comparison to the rest on the album, does feel 'kind of wrong'.

if you watch an interview with james murphy, he says the song is based on a conversation he had with this other musician he was surfing with who told him he should make a hit, but james didnt think 'hit's' were really his style, so to speak.

I think sdjustinr's interpretation is spot on.

The line "We can't be your babies 'til you take us home" is really interesting to me. The best meaning I could connect to it is kind of obvious, but it goes with the "fuck you, record companies" theme.

"babies" - meaning offspring. Something for the record companies to call their own. Also, 'to baby' someone is often used to mean 'cater to'. That may play a part in this line. "take us home" - meaning the record companies take care of the bands, and provide more of their needs

Plenty of bands in the industry (especially when they move to a larger label) have said their company hardly does shit for them. Until the record labels provide more support (monetarily and/or creatively) to bands, why should they cater to the record companies and give in to their requests for "hits"?

Well, sounds like a big F*ck You to record label marketing execs.

"But tell where's the point in it?" Not But tell me where's the poignant.

I thought it metaphorically talked about marijuana,?

i think like sdjustinr, it's about staying true to yourself even when people pressure you not to be

Where as there are some mentions of drugs and recovery on this album this song is definately about them as a band sticking up for what they believe in. To me sounds like a band that has become popular through means that isn't just their music and now their sick of it and they want to go back to what got them there in the first place, their music thats what i think the line "We won't be your babies 'til you take us home" is about. It like saying we don't want to be your stars unless we can create the music we want.

You wanted it real But can you tell me what's real? There's lights and sounds and stories Music's just a part

I think here he means the fabrication that goes into creating a band or a musician and how its about so much more then the music, thats just a part of the 'act'

"You wanted a hit But maybe we don't do hits I try and try It ends up feeling kind of wrong"

This part really got me to think, at first, that this song was about an annoying drug addict friend you may have, but I'm pretty sure it has both meanings, both about the record company and drugs.