What Kind of Man

It's not her, it's definitely him.
"And with one kiss/you inspired a devotion that lasted 20 years" It didn't take much to fall 20 years ago, just one kiss and he's using that love, in its purest and truest most undeniable form to keep her in his life, even though he has no intention of ever giving her what she wants, commitment and devotion. He is trying to figure it out, or basically playing it safe, one foot in the door, by not making up his mind and not giving all of that love back. He takes it, gets what he needs from it, and then goes on figuring it out without giving her needs a second thought. The video does a good job of illustrating this pain. She can't have him, so she goes throwing her love and her body at men who devour her and give her what she needs. But they aren't him. It doesn't matter what they do, this other guy has her under his spell. When she breaks down, screams, runs from it, he lures her back in with that one kiss, and the pattern continues. What kind of man loves like this indeed? "But I can't beat you/ Cause I'm still with you/Oh mercy I implore How do you do it/ I think I'm through it/ Then I'm back against the wall" She doesn't make it a secret how much she wants out, or how powerless she is. She begs him for mercy, but he just loves the control over her that much.

I was a little bummed until I saw the video. Seeing her climb out of a crashed car alone and then getting baptized in the water, suggests at least the possibility of freedom, as long as you don't drown, or don't crawl out of the wreck at least.

I love this. Which is no surprise, as I love most (all) of FaTM. But I've been a bit nervous that album 3 wouldn't quite compare to Lungs and Ceremonials. So far, I'm not disappointed.

I'm most impressed (besides that epic guitar and her throaty shout) by her talent at rhyming. The rhymes are natural, but not cliche, original, but not forced. "You do such damage, How do you manage To have me crawling back for more?" It's a pleasant rhythm, and written well. Like the beginning of Never Let Me Go. "Looking up from underneath, Fractured moonlight on the sea Reflections still look the same to me As before I went under And it's peaceful in the deep Cathedral where you cannot breathe No need to pray, no need to speak Now I am under." Lovely and not awkward. Makes you wonder "Why didn't I write that first?" And I get the same feeling from this new single! Looking forward to How Big How Blue How Beautiful.

Florence did say that this album would be more raw and more real than the previous two; it is, and you can see that in this song. She is in a relationship with a lover who is as indecisive as Hamlet about whether to give their romance his all or not, and yet he has this power over Florence that renders her desperately devoted to him. With one kiss, he was able to entice a fiery and powerful fidelity in Florence towards him. Yet he never makes up his mind; she is broken because of this, yet cannot leave and chooses to toil, "crossing a canyon", passing on and moving towards him, while he stands on the other side still uncertain. As a result, she is heavily burdened, "on a heavy tip" of some scales. Moreover, "dangle at a cruel angle" further accentuates his power over her; he has her in a situation in which she has no control and is pained, as if she were dangling at some painful angle. She, on the other hand, is powerless, hence keeps repeating the lines about the fiery fidelity and devotion he summons from her, as well as the damage he wrecks on her, over and over. By describing him as a "holy fool", she both highlights his indecisiveness as well as his potence; as if he were holy he almost seems almighty with the way she cannot break free from him and worships him. Describing him as blue may allude a comparison to the sky -which in turn, alludes the album-, and this could be to show that he is everywhere in her world: , big, blue, and beautiful. She cannot beat him and she beseeches him for mercy, whenever she thinks she is over their relationship she is pinned back to the wall, figuratively, as her mad devotion and love for him take over. What Kind of Man loves like this? Unsure of their relationship, yet binding her to him with some misbegotten curse, Florence shrieks this tune, coughing up reality, instead of wanting to "leave her body" to another realm, "shaking it out", or calling upon some dark world of ghouls, as she would have done in Ceremonials.

This lyrics to me make think of Sandy and Danny from Grease. Lol