Gasoline

I always just thought it was about rough sex ><

'To be afraid is a luxury' 'To be soft is too easy, so don't get soft on me.'

The rest of the lyrics are quite sexual too, i.e 'All I want is a machine', 'when you're so close to me I can smell the gasoline.' It's always just struck me as being about that. Perhaps I am being too simple here, I don't know, but that's how it sounds.

This song seems to be about a relationship moving too fast. She's afraid of getting in too deep, she would rather keep being afraid of love than surrender to it, so the "cool your engines" line.

"I don't want a sweetheart. I want a machine" is pretty obvious. She doesn't want love, but something simple, automatic, and guaranteed - something that isn't going to fail. Love usually ends in heartbreak, so she'd rather just have a machine.

"To be soft is too easy. Don't get soft on me." It would be easy to fall in love, but don't. Maybe a sexual reference, as well.

Then she says "I love you the most, I do" ... but then "when you're so close to me, I can smell the gasoline", so assuming this is because a machine uses gasoline, she loves him as a machine. She loves what he can do for her (sexually or otherwise), maybe? Rather than how he makes her feel.

I can also take this as, we've already fucked up and fallen in love, but we're not going to fall into the marriage trap - with kids, a house, etc. so let's just slow down and keep things the way they are.

i think its "DON'T cool your engines for me" sorry about that

I run so far away from you It don't matter where I've been I run around the world from you Here you are again

You're a real jawbreaker A real crook obscene I'd call you a heartbreaker But I reserve that for nicer things

I tried to kill the memory By shacking up with living things But you must get a psychic sting Here you are again

You're a real jawbreaker A real crook obscene I'd call you a heartbreaker But I reserve that for nicer things

I run so far away from you It don't matter where I've been I run around the world from you Here you are again

You're a real jawbreaker A real crook, obscene I'd call you a heartbreaker But I reserve that for nicer things

I think its about someone not wanting a deep relationship, just someone to be there at the end of the day

This is my interpretation of the song:

"Don't cool your engines for me/I don't want a sweetheart" She wants someone harsh, hard, and mechanical. She doesn't want someone who is swayed by emotions and feelings.

"All I want is a machine." A machine has specific working parts. It isn't ambiguous; it's created to complete a specific job. A machine is also something that is most usually made from steel or other hard resources. So, in saying that she wants a machine, she wants someone that is unambiguous, who is created to do the one that it was created for. Perhaps that one thing is loving her. No games, no feelings that can be swayed, just a machine created for a specific purpose.

"When you're so close to me/I can smell the gasoline." I think this refers to what machines run on: gasoline. Like an engine, it's loud and can go fast. It can go the speed she wants it to go, and by looking at the themes of the entire album, it's her speed, fast and able to be manipulated (made to go faster or slower, whatever is her preference).

"What you whispered, should be screamed/screamed at the top of your lungs/any sense you had in the morning is gone when the day is done" She's talking to someone who isn't a machine, but someone who has feelings and emotion. One whispers when he doesn't want to be heard or if he's afraid of offending. If he has something to say, though, she wants him to scream it, to make it heard, make it declarative. "Any sense you had in the morning is gone when the day is done" refers to being fickle because he bases his decisions on emotion. One moment he may feel and act one way, but then act another way the next minute. She wants him to be sure of what he is doing, of what he wants. She wants him to be just like her.

"To be afraid is a luxury" This is used a couple times throughout the song. I think what this means is that when someone is afraid, he is forced to make a decision about something. When we're afraid, we suddenly know what we want or what needs to be done in order to be safe again. So it is a luxury to be afraid because that forces him to be clear, concise, and do what he needs to do.