I know this thread is really old, so I'm wondering if people will respond, but I'm curious if anybody got the sense that I did, that Kele's 'get off your ass and be productive' message isn't what it seems, i.e. that the song is sarcastic and subversive.
The tag line of the song is, "I've got a taste for blood." This phrase is contextualized in the lines
"I've got a taste for blood
Leave the weak, leave the young
I've got a taste for blood
I'm walking out without you
You will kill or be killed
It's about progress
I've got a taste for blood."
And I wondered whether the song wasn't an inspiring message to do something, but rather an illustration of the tragedy of the steamroller of "progress." One of Bloc Party's big topics is modernity, that is, what it is like to live in the modern world. When I listen to the song, the voice does not sound inspiring, it sounds menacing and evil.
I see it as a song about fears, that he is not planning, only dreaming, and that the world will leave him behind.
Because, I think he is a dreamer, he's in a band, often sporting a beard, he's an artist. The voice is not his, it is speaking to him. He hears a world that is telling him these things: Cut your hair, shave your beard, stop being passive and take what you want. It asks him to buy into the system, to kill or be killed by the inevitable motion of progress, and he feels like he has no choice, that he has to listen to this voice that wants him to stop dreaming, wake up, accept the world and all of its cruelty and be complicit in that system, or be crushed by it. He sees a world that is cruel, has a taste for blood, is plotting his demise, plotting his country's demise, and he feels that he's got to make plans in order to survive, to get by, and none of them work out and none of them are good enough, they are unfulfilled or escapist.
The song ends with
"Kiss me, before it all gets complicated
I've got a taste for blood."
To me, it seems like he's asking for one more moment of dreaming and joy, one more moment without plans, before the world overwhelms him, he gives in, and he develops a taste for blood.
Am I seeing what I want to see? Did anybody else see it this way?
wow i agree with you 100%! this is how i see the song too. the world "system" is really the one saying I'm leaving with or without you, you can join me or be crushed by me...
it is even to the point that it is saying kill, or you will be killed...
really sad that this is our present and future :/ .... great song tho
and great post!=)
wow i agree with you 100%! this is how i see the song too. the world "system" is really the one saying I'm leaving with or without you, you can join me or be crushed by me...
it is even to the point that it is saying kill, or you will be killed...
really sad that this is our present and future :/ .... great song tho
and great post!=)
@thinktheater Your comment is really old, and the thread is much older, but it's 2023 and I'm 32 years old. Heard this song a million times and never looked into it until today. The world around us now has been completely renovated and I knew the things that came to my mind were not known back then so I had no concrete theory, which led me here to read your interpretation. I like it a lot and though you may never read this, thanks for this wave of ideas your words left with me.
@thinktheater Your comment is really old, and the thread is much older, but it's 2023 and I'm 32 years old. Heard this song a million times and never looked into it until today. The world around us now has been completely renovated and I knew the things that came to my mind were not known back then so I had no concrete theory, which led me here to read your interpretation. I like it a lot and though you may never read this, thanks for this wave of ideas your words left with me.
I know this thread is really old, so I'm wondering if people will respond, but I'm curious if anybody got the sense that I did, that Kele's 'get off your ass and be productive' message isn't what it seems, i.e. that the song is sarcastic and subversive.
The tag line of the song is, "I've got a taste for blood." This phrase is contextualized in the lines "I've got a taste for blood Leave the weak, leave the young I've got a taste for blood I'm walking out without you You will kill or be killed It's about progress I've got a taste for blood."
And I wondered whether the song wasn't an inspiring message to do something, but rather an illustration of the tragedy of the steamroller of "progress." One of Bloc Party's big topics is modernity, that is, what it is like to live in the modern world. When I listen to the song, the voice does not sound inspiring, it sounds menacing and evil.
I see it as a song about fears, that he is not planning, only dreaming, and that the world will leave him behind.
Because, I think he is a dreamer, he's in a band, often sporting a beard, he's an artist. The voice is not his, it is speaking to him. He hears a world that is telling him these things: Cut your hair, shave your beard, stop being passive and take what you want. It asks him to buy into the system, to kill or be killed by the inevitable motion of progress, and he feels like he has no choice, that he has to listen to this voice that wants him to stop dreaming, wake up, accept the world and all of its cruelty and be complicit in that system, or be crushed by it. He sees a world that is cruel, has a taste for blood, is plotting his demise, plotting his country's demise, and he feels that he's got to make plans in order to survive, to get by, and none of them work out and none of them are good enough, they are unfulfilled or escapist.
The song ends with "Kiss me, before it all gets complicated I've got a taste for blood." To me, it seems like he's asking for one more moment of dreaming and joy, one more moment without plans, before the world overwhelms him, he gives in, and he develops a taste for blood.
Am I seeing what I want to see? Did anybody else see it this way?
wow i agree with you 100%! this is how i see the song too. the world "system" is really the one saying I'm leaving with or without you, you can join me or be crushed by me... it is even to the point that it is saying kill, or you will be killed... really sad that this is our present and future :/ .... great song tho and great post!=)
wow i agree with you 100%! this is how i see the song too. the world "system" is really the one saying I'm leaving with or without you, you can join me or be crushed by me... it is even to the point that it is saying kill, or you will be killed... really sad that this is our present and future :/ .... great song tho and great post!=)
I half see it that way but I think it represents both dualities. The need to do things, and the need to dream, escape, ponder, and protest.
I half see it that way but I think it represents both dualities. The need to do things, and the need to dream, escape, ponder, and protest.
@thinktheater Your comment is really old, and the thread is much older, but it's 2023 and I'm 32 years old. Heard this song a million times and never looked into it until today. The world around us now has been completely renovated and I knew the things that came to my mind were not known back then so I had no concrete theory, which led me here to read your interpretation. I like it a lot and though you may never read this, thanks for this wave of ideas your words left with me.
@thinktheater Your comment is really old, and the thread is much older, but it's 2023 and I'm 32 years old. Heard this song a million times and never looked into it until today. The world around us now has been completely renovated and I knew the things that came to my mind were not known back then so I had no concrete theory, which led me here to read your interpretation. I like it a lot and though you may never read this, thanks for this wave of ideas your words left with me.