It's funny how every song on this site is supposed to be either about sex, or drugs or the music industry! I remember reading an interview of Jarvis where he says (from what I remember)that the song is about how people see too many movies and therefore expect their lives to happen just as planned, which makes them miss the real things.
That's also how I interpret it, not because I read the interview (since you make songs your own and are in no way entitled to relate with the songwriter's orginal intentions) but just because I think the song happens to be explicit enough ! Although there is an ovious sexual imagery throughout the lyrics, I'm not really sure the sexual act is the main focus ; I think it's just a song about someone who has dreamed his whole life away ("i've seen the storyline played out so many times before") and would like every moment to be like in his fancies, including this particular intercourse ("i think i saw you in some teenage wet dream", "don't make a move til i say action", "leave your makeup on"...).
So IMO, "this is hardcore" simply means "this is the real stuff now", and "you are hardcore" sort of means "you're like what I've always fancied but you're the real thing and that's why you make me hard".
By the end of the song, the narrator seems to be aware that this kind of approach to life is absurd ("that goes in there and that goes in there and then it's over") ; I think he realises this because although he always wanted it he never expected to actually reach something so close to his fancies (= having sex with that person), and the fact it feels real this time kind of wakes him up and makes him panick, because he's so used to dreaming he can't see it any other way ("what the hell do you do for an encore ?").
Maybe my analysis is a bit personnal but I get this feeling in several songs by Pulp (ex, monday morning : "why live in the world when you can live in your head"). Anyway I don't think it's about extreme sex or anything, most Pulp songs feel very simple and poetic to me and the references to sex or partying are just images to express loneliness and the awkardness of life in general. Well that's how I see it :).
I agree with nijnij. Obviously the direct interpretation is about sex. But it reads/feels to me that it's much more about Jarvis feeling like a dreamy eyed starlet who's become a porn-star.
He'd had this dream of being the a successful pop star/celebrity and then somehow realising that despite/because of this success he's now in this weird de-personal sausage factory (pun intended) of having to go on stage/in the recording studio to make this entertainment and it all feels wrong and horrible.
I agree with nijnij. Obviously the direct interpretation is about sex. But it reads/feels to me that it's much more about Jarvis feeling like a dreamy eyed starlet who's become a porn-star.
He'd had this dream of being the a successful pop star/celebrity and then somehow realising that despite/because of this success he's now in this weird de-personal sausage factory (pun intended) of having to go on stage/in the recording studio to make this entertainment and it all feels wrong and horrible.
I've seen the storyline played out so many times before.
Oh that goes in there.
Then...
I've seen the storyline played out so many times before.
Oh that goes in there.
Then that goes in there.
Then that goes in there.
Then that goes in there.
And then it's over.
Oh, what a hell of a show
But what I want to know:
What exactly do you do for an encore?
'cause this is Hardcore.
Think here of how having performed the same songs on stage so many times that it becomes this mechanical loveless process, where each move is choreographed and insincere. Similar with writing/recording new songs - that bit goes in there, that bit goes in there. Everything's become a mere function. Just like a porn shoot.
He's pretty much a passive spectator in his own life, like some disembodied narrator having an out of body experience while this perversion happens around him/to him/caused by him.
It's funny how every song on this site is supposed to be either about sex, or drugs or the music industry! I remember reading an interview of Jarvis where he says (from what I remember)that the song is about how people see too many movies and therefore expect their lives to happen just as planned, which makes them miss the real things.
That's also how I interpret it, not because I read the interview (since you make songs your own and are in no way entitled to relate with the songwriter's orginal intentions) but just because I think the song happens to be explicit enough ! Although there is an ovious sexual imagery throughout the lyrics, I'm not really sure the sexual act is the main focus ; I think it's just a song about someone who has dreamed his whole life away ("i've seen the storyline played out so many times before") and would like every moment to be like in his fancies, including this particular intercourse ("i think i saw you in some teenage wet dream", "don't make a move til i say action", "leave your makeup on"...).
So IMO, "this is hardcore" simply means "this is the real stuff now", and "you are hardcore" sort of means "you're like what I've always fancied but you're the real thing and that's why you make me hard".
By the end of the song, the narrator seems to be aware that this kind of approach to life is absurd ("that goes in there and that goes in there and then it's over") ; I think he realises this because although he always wanted it he never expected to actually reach something so close to his fancies (= having sex with that person), and the fact it feels real this time kind of wakes him up and makes him panick, because he's so used to dreaming he can't see it any other way ("what the hell do you do for an encore ?").
Maybe my analysis is a bit personnal but I get this feeling in several songs by Pulp (ex, monday morning : "why live in the world when you can live in your head"). Anyway I don't think it's about extreme sex or anything, most Pulp songs feel very simple and poetic to me and the references to sex or partying are just images to express loneliness and the awkardness of life in general. Well that's how I see it :).
I agree with nijnij. Obviously the direct interpretation is about sex. But it reads/feels to me that it's much more about Jarvis feeling like a dreamy eyed starlet who's become a porn-star. He'd had this dream of being the a successful pop star/celebrity and then somehow realising that despite/because of this success he's now in this weird de-personal sausage factory (pun intended) of having to go on stage/in the recording studio to make this entertainment and it all feels wrong and horrible.
I agree with nijnij. Obviously the direct interpretation is about sex. But it reads/feels to me that it's much more about Jarvis feeling like a dreamy eyed starlet who's become a porn-star. He'd had this dream of being the a successful pop star/celebrity and then somehow realising that despite/because of this success he's now in this weird de-personal sausage factory (pun intended) of having to go on stage/in the recording studio to make this entertainment and it all feels wrong and horrible.
I've seen the storyline played out so many times before. Oh that goes in there. Then...
I've seen the storyline played out so many times before. Oh that goes in there. Then that goes in there. Then that goes in there.
Then that goes in there. And then it's over. Oh, what a hell of a show But what I want to know:
What exactly do you do for an encore? 'cause this is Hardcore.
Think here of how having performed the same songs on stage so many times that it becomes this mechanical loveless process, where each move is choreographed and insincere. Similar with writing/recording new songs - that bit goes in there, that bit goes in there. Everything's become a mere function. Just like a porn shoot.
He's pretty much a passive spectator in his own life, like some disembodied narrator having an out of body experience while this perversion happens around him/to him/caused by him.