Barricade

Man, I always tie Interpol back to relationships lol

I think that this song is about how the narrator was in love with someone, but it went bad and the whole song talks about how getting over that one person they truly loved is like a barricade, its keeps them blind towards reality in terms of how they can't see the truth of who the other individual was, rather relying on memories and past times to avoid facing the facts. In turn,doing so affects the narrator from seeing they should move on to the next thing.

But then again, it could be something COMPLETLEY different lol

this is all about love being curtailed by our culture and social conventions. we call a personal display of affection ("pda"). our society acts as a barricade to our love and inner desire to find a mate and reproduce.

"how much fear can you fabricate to keep us away"

who fear mongers? mainstream media, movies, FOX NEWS. we're conditioned to be afraid of AIDs, HIV, STDs, pregnancy, and divorce rates.

and this is a reflection of our society as a whole. we don't want to live in love and peace like the idealization of the hippie generation. we're not sure what to aspire to in this postmodern consumer culture.

look at how their music video is filmed. it's shot in the middle of the wilderness or a wasteland. and notice how he's filmed as a child and with old photographs from his childhood. he's experiencing nostalgia for how much he loved his childhood and misses the old times. and also take note of the slideshow projector that was common in older generations. i tend to associate with family get togethers and those nostalgic moments.

think about how much we're discouraged from having sex in our culture. i'm not sure if the female figure in the background is a commentary of the archeytpe of pregnancy bond (e.g. our umbilical cord, womb), our first memories of life, or our desire for female intimacy.

this is all speculative but that's my take on it

I think this song has a lot to do with our politicians' values and our "world" as being infinite. We create barricades in every shape and form imaginable. Is it all in our heads? Do we have boundaries? It's deep stuff to think about, but what if we imagine ourselves as being infinite. Eveything becomes possible, and there are no barricades on any aspect of life. "I just don't know where the blind could lead the sightless," and "Full speed, half blind." I feel as though PB is talking about our country, and the ignorance around what this world is truly about. The blind are the decision makers, and the sightless are those who are, intentionally or not, uninformed. He could not lean on the politics and live in so short a time. Time is so much more than this decade, this era, this presidency. We can't be stuck in the present beacause we need to keep digging through history to find answers. Turn to past times. We can apply this concept everywhere. Countries and people learn from past times. History is supposed to be our greatest teacher. I love that PB suggests powerful ideas in a lot of his lyrics. Full speed refers to our pace, and isn't pace the trick? We should decelerate and realize the beauty and potential this world beholds. Love this.

instead of: "How much guilt can you barricade To keep us away, keep us away You know us"

I hear: "How much fear can you fabricate To keep us away, keep us away You know us"

Long live Interpol!

To me, the barricade is age and this song is about a cross-generational relationship. "How much fear can you fabricate" refers to societal taboos about such a relationship. Probably completely off-base to what Banks intended, but that's what it means to me.

I think in addition to addressing an emotionally troubling relationship, this song has heavy political/social commentary (I could not lean on the politics). The two aspects are linked together through this notion of a 'barricade': something keeping two lovers from being together and something that keeps society barricaded from the truth.

'full speed/half blind...full tilt decline' describes society being blinded by media, maybe government, and the nature of human emotion. We're traveling full speed but cannot see everything and this leads to a decline...a breakdown in understanding and the ability to love.

I love the bass!!!

Let the perceptions/interpretations begin, I'd love to know what's being said during the break.

Input, go.

Uh oh guys... I think I might have made a mistake.

After watching the Barricade music video, it looks and sound like he's saying "Bees and snakes need homes" instead of "Thieves and snakes need homes". Can anyone else notice this difference? I could have sworn he sang 'Thieves' live in Chicago... but it's so subtle it's hard to tell.

I really hope I'm just crazy, because part of the reason I love this song so much was in that line, connecting thieves and snakes as outcasts/vagabonds in the same boat.

HELP!