Bring On The Dancing Horses

I feel like this song is about him wanting to end a relationship with this girl but shes in denial about their incompatability and he is too afriad to hurt her because shes emotionally weak ("First Im gonna make it, then im gonna break it till it falls apart. Hating all the fakin and shaking while im breakin your brittle heart"). So he continues to lie and say he loves her ("Shiver and say the words of every lie you've heard") even though he wants to be free from her and her baggage. To me the "dancing horses" symbolize his wanting to be free from her but "headless and alone" reminds him that he cant just pick up and leave.

I feel like this song is about him wanting to end a relationship with this girl but shes in denial about their incompatability and he is too afriad to hurt her because shes emotionally weak ("First Im gonna make it, then im gonna break it till it falls apart. Hating all the fakin and shaking while im breakin your brittle heart"). So he continues to lie and say he loves her ("Shiver and say the words of every lie you've heard") even though he wants to be free from her and her baggage. To me the "dancing horses" symbolize his wanting to be free from her but "headless and alone" reminds him that he cant just pick up and leave.

Ian stated many times that this song is about art and how we percive it, he says he refrenced statues because it's interesting how we'd rather look at a piece of art rather then look interally at ourselves and anylise the human exsparience directly. It's about the horror we are addressed with when we look internally and speak truthfully about being human. Humanity is like a bunch of headless horses lying to ourselves and others, and as soon as we speak the tuth it's too hard to hear. We'd rather observe from afar in the form of disconnected artworks.

"It's about the way people would sooner look at statues than themselves. We revere things that tell us about ourselves. It's that thing of how we think art is very important. A life without art, who knows what that would be like? We think the Mona Lisa is this thing that's valuable, when something else isn't." "It's about, are we statues or are we human? Not like The Killers' thing but it's about heart and soul: 'Jimmy Brown, made of stone.' I'm not Jimmy Brown, I'm someone else. I'm the one who's just shivering and saying 'the words of every lie I've heard.'" - Ian McCulloch

[Edit: Wanted to calrify my points further.]

Richard Feynman said, “If you think you understand quantum mechanics, then you don't." It's kind of trying to find the true or definitive meaning of so touching and beautiful lyrics/melodies, there will always be a new and revealing aproaching.

No idea what this song is about, but its off the Pretty in Pink soundtrack which is great.

Such a beautiful song. Such a juxtaposition of images such as "Frist I'm gonna make it, then I'm gonna break it til it falls apart..." with the somewhat romantic musical strains, make this song a mover and a shaker.

a really good song drug abuse?

I don't think it is about drug abuse, just about disillusionment in love. I love how Ian's voice sounds so painful while he pronounces the words "hating all the faking, shaking while I'm breaking your brittle heart"

But why..."Bring down the dancing horses"?

I have to admit I have no clue what this song is about either, very abstract lyrics. Although it does appear to be about some sort of broken heart thats about all I can make out.

Such a beautiful song, it creates this "swimming" effect it almost makes you dizzy. Echo and the Bunnymen were great at making dark atmospheric pop songs, and like all their songs this one has a really dark undertone to it.