I have to say that if you're wondering about this song, watch the music video. Never in my life have I seen a music video that is this accurate and beautifully made to say the least. It gets the song down to perfection.
I think this song is about infatuated lovers overcome by the lust, the drugs, the thrill, the danger, and the flawed lens that they see each other through.
She is this beautiful girl and he's this drug obsessed boy who's probably going to corrupt whatever ounce of innocence she has left. He's almost obsessed with her in a way, she's beautiful how could you ever want to leave her, and her infatuation with him only means she's not going anywhere.
To give a more literal meaning of her balaclava is starting to chafe. A balaclava is one of those wool ski masks or in this case the mask a robber would wear to cover up his identity since it only has holes for the mouth and eyes. Chafe means to wear down, meaning her mask is wearing from all the use. Often times I found that Matty's lyrics can be as literal as it gets. This song is quite possibly as simple as two lovers that are also well, robbers. And I know it's considered a love story because he's said it point blank.
The next part, one more time, one more fight, one more line, will I know you. One more time, maybe it's their last time engaging in the act of 'robbing', one more fight I think literally means one more fight. I take it this couple fights a lot, whether it be the drugs, their lifestyle which has ever ounce of danger following it or a simple verbal fight. One more line, cocaine. From other 1975 songs, cocaine is a constant repeating topic and a line refers to that. I take that as the meaning here also because from the video there's frequent drug use that backs that. Will I know you, well will he know her? Will she know him? Will they?? Its out loud thinking, one more of this, then will we understand? That's actually a little cloudy for me.
For the next part, in the video he's playing with a gun and she gets upset over it. I almost take it as he's making a joke of this with her. If you never shoot you never know, if you never eat you never grow. Those aren't comparable things really, he's taking the situation too lightly and I think that's part of the infatuated lovers idea, he's a mess, crazy almost but she's so tied to him that she'll be forgiving even when he sticks a gun to her face as a joke. The pretty kinda dirty face, she's wearing down, either by this words, their actions, whatever it is she's slowly melting away from herself and falling for everything she does.
The stay part, this is simple. In the first few lines he was begging her, he wanted her because she was beautiful and she caught his eye as this girl he could play around with. But now, she's begging him to stay. She fell for him, he almost ruined her. He's got her robbing whatever you wanna say, stores, banks, so be it. He's got her hooked on drugs. The video has him putting drugs into her mouth, it also has her doing a line of cocaine by herself among others. He was begging, and now she's begging. That's as simple as it gets, they're glued to each other basically.
Then it repeats the one more time, fight, line but the last line changes. Be a riot, cause I know you. Basically, I can't say for certain if it's talking about her or him or both even but it's gotten to the point in their relationship where it doesn't matter how crazy they act or what they do or who they hurt or what drugs they're doing because they know each other, they know what to expect at this point that it's no longer an act of doing but an act of knowing. They both know, we're doing this. We're robbing this store and there's no backing out or being scared because we're crazy and we're doing it. They fully understand each other and they're now fully committed to their choices. This part of the video is very intimate, they're kissing and you see that they love each other. Toxic lovers.
This next part, in the video they're standing there in front of a store that well they're going to rob. Their friends, or the rest of the band, is waiting in a van for them. They have a plan. The video doesn't go along with this next part exactly but it's easy to understand just by the lyrics. The police have come, so their plan is complicated. I'll shoot him if that's what you ask, meaning if you want me to do this I will, showing their connection to each other and their willingness to do whatever it takes for each other and for their safety. But if you just take off your mask you'll find out everything's gone wrong. I love that line, for many reasons. But meaning to the song, there's a couple. If you take off your mask, surrender really you'll find yourself in a bigger mess. Or if you stop if you back out it's going to be worse. Something complicated their plan and showing who they are and succumbing to their failure of the task won't make it better.
For the end, I'll give the lyric and the video interpretation. For the lyrics, everybody's dead, meaning they killed the people in the place they robbed. But remember the police are there, meaning our infatuated lovers have been caught. I take it as they're put in the back seat of the cop car, they're driving through the town they pass his old school. He's got his suit on, that's the cops uniform and I see her standing there watching him, or sitting next to him. Either works because I see it two ways. He was taken into the cop car and she was left standing meaning that he was charged for the crime. But if she's next to him, then they both were. So the last line, which should be, you look so cool, it's her being in the completely flawed mindset that she's created, thinking the police taking him away is cool. He looks cool to her, basically her flawed mentality makes her think he looks like a badass being taken away by the police which is sick minded to think about when you're in the real world but she's not in the right mindset at the moment. The part of her that's obsessed with him and their lifestyle, that makes this cool to her. It's cool for the simple reason that she's saying babe you're a badass, we did this and I know you're being taken away but I love you and I love the thrill and yeah I think you get it.
Now for the video, before the now everybody's dead part, which to go on a tangent and say that the way Matty sings the line, Now everybody's dead, just gives off the pure emotion of the song and it makes it raw and important. But back to the video. Before that line there's a pause and the video goes silent as they run into the store, then you hear shots. Second later the song picks up and he screams, now everybody's dead and the two run out of the store, no police are seen, but Matty is shot. They then get into the van and drive away. I think the way the lyrics go here, it could mean that they were successful in their plan except for the he being shot part of course, no one wants that. But they're driving past my old school, okay you could say they're driving past as they get away in the van being driven by their friends but I think the lyrics lose a little bit of accuracy here for the video. Then you see flashes of Matty with his gunshot wound, they're kissing, patching it up, and at the end they're at a diner I think you see him read this note that she passed to him and it says you look so cool, another reason for why those are the lyrics. But something about the video is cool if you notice it, Matty has a bandage over where his wound would be during parts of the video meaning that it's being done in flashes. So that's an interesting thing to pick up on and it tells you that the video isn't in accurate time order at points.
Anyways, I hope this cleared things up for some people. I think this song is more literal then some see it but I truly think it's actually about robbers, its as simple as the title. Sometimes its best not to look into stuff so much because the answers are right there. But this song for sure has the potential to be taken other routes which I saw reading other comments and I agree with elements that other people brought up. At the end of the day, this is a love song according to the genius that is Matthew Healy. It's a toxic love story about fucked up, drug addicted lovers that are completely and utterly infatuated by each other to the point where robbing a store is okay and considered cool. It's tragically beautiful and an amazing song and if you haven't yet seen the video I urge you to watch it because I think it's one of the best music videos I ever seen and helps with clarity about the lyric meaning. Andddd that's it, thanks for reading!
I have to say that if you're wondering about this song, watch the music video. Never in my life have I seen a music video that is this accurate and beautifully made to say the least. It gets the song down to perfection.
I think this song is about infatuated lovers overcome by the lust, the drugs, the thrill, the danger, and the flawed lens that they see each other through.
She is this beautiful girl and he's this drug obsessed boy who's probably going to corrupt whatever ounce of innocence she has left. He's almost obsessed with her in a way, she's beautiful how could you ever want to leave her, and her infatuation with him only means she's not going anywhere.
To give a more literal meaning of her balaclava is starting to chafe. A balaclava is one of those wool ski masks or in this case the mask a robber would wear to cover up his identity since it only has holes for the mouth and eyes. Chafe means to wear down, meaning her mask is wearing from all the use. Often times I found that Matty's lyrics can be as literal as it gets. This song is quite possibly as simple as two lovers that are also well, robbers. And I know it's considered a love story because he's said it point blank.
The next part, one more time, one more fight, one more line, will I know you. One more time, maybe it's their last time engaging in the act of 'robbing', one more fight I think literally means one more fight. I take it this couple fights a lot, whether it be the drugs, their lifestyle which has ever ounce of danger following it or a simple verbal fight. One more line, cocaine. From other 1975 songs, cocaine is a constant repeating topic and a line refers to that. I take that as the meaning here also because from the video there's frequent drug use that backs that. Will I know you, well will he know her? Will she know him? Will they?? Its out loud thinking, one more of this, then will we understand? That's actually a little cloudy for me.
For the next part, in the video he's playing with a gun and she gets upset over it. I almost take it as he's making a joke of this with her. If you never shoot you never know, if you never eat you never grow. Those aren't comparable things really, he's taking the situation too lightly and I think that's part of the infatuated lovers idea, he's a mess, crazy almost but she's so tied to him that she'll be forgiving even when he sticks a gun to her face as a joke. The pretty kinda dirty face, she's wearing down, either by this words, their actions, whatever it is she's slowly melting away from herself and falling for everything she does.
The stay part, this is simple. In the first few lines he was begging her, he wanted her because she was beautiful and she caught his eye as this girl he could play around with. But now, she's begging him to stay. She fell for him, he almost ruined her. He's got her robbing whatever you wanna say, stores, banks, so be it. He's got her hooked on drugs. The video has him putting drugs into her mouth, it also has her doing a line of cocaine by herself among others. He was begging, and now she's begging. That's as simple as it gets, they're glued to each other basically.
Then it repeats the one more time, fight, line but the last line changes. Be a riot, cause I know you. Basically, I can't say for certain if it's talking about her or him or both even but it's gotten to the point in their relationship where it doesn't matter how crazy they act or what they do or who they hurt or what drugs they're doing because they know each other, they know what to expect at this point that it's no longer an act of doing but an act of knowing. They both know, we're doing this. We're robbing this store and there's no backing out or being scared because we're crazy and we're doing it. They fully understand each other and they're now fully committed to their choices. This part of the video is very intimate, they're kissing and you see that they love each other. Toxic lovers.
This next part, in the video they're standing there in front of a store that well they're going to rob. Their friends, or the rest of the band, is waiting in a van for them. They have a plan. The video doesn't go along with this next part exactly but it's easy to understand just by the lyrics. The police have come, so their plan is complicated. I'll shoot him if that's what you ask, meaning if you want me to do this I will, showing their connection to each other and their willingness to do whatever it takes for each other and for their safety. But if you just take off your mask you'll find out everything's gone wrong. I love that line, for many reasons. But meaning to the song, there's a couple. If you take off your mask, surrender really you'll find yourself in a bigger mess. Or if you stop if you back out it's going to be worse. Something complicated their plan and showing who they are and succumbing to their failure of the task won't make it better.
For the end, I'll give the lyric and the video interpretation. For the lyrics, everybody's dead, meaning they killed the people in the place they robbed. But remember the police are there, meaning our infatuated lovers have been caught. I take it as they're put in the back seat of the cop car, they're driving through the town they pass his old school. He's got his suit on, that's the cops uniform and I see her standing there watching him, or sitting next to him. Either works because I see it two ways. He was taken into the cop car and she was left standing meaning that he was charged for the crime. But if she's next to him, then they both were. So the last line, which should be, you look so cool, it's her being in the completely flawed mindset that she's created, thinking the police taking him away is cool. He looks cool to her, basically her flawed mentality makes her think he looks like a badass being taken away by the police which is sick minded to think about when you're in the real world but she's not in the right mindset at the moment. The part of her that's obsessed with him and their lifestyle, that makes this cool to her. It's cool for the simple reason that she's saying babe you're a badass, we did this and I know you're being taken away but I love you and I love the thrill and yeah I think you get it.
Now for the video, before the now everybody's dead part, which to go on a tangent and say that the way Matty sings the line, Now everybody's dead, just gives off the pure emotion of the song and it makes it raw and important. But back to the video. Before that line there's a pause and the video goes silent as they run into the store, then you hear shots. Second later the song picks up and he screams, now everybody's dead and the two run out of the store, no police are seen, but Matty is shot. They then get into the van and drive away. I think the way the lyrics go here, it could mean that they were successful in their plan except for the he being shot part of course, no one wants that. But they're driving past my old school, okay you could say they're driving past as they get away in the van being driven by their friends but I think the lyrics lose a little bit of accuracy here for the video. Then you see flashes of Matty with his gunshot wound, they're kissing, patching it up, and at the end they're at a diner I think you see him read this note that she passed to him and it says you look so cool, another reason for why those are the lyrics. But something about the video is cool if you notice it, Matty has a bandage over where his wound would be during parts of the video meaning that it's being done in flashes. So that's an interesting thing to pick up on and it tells you that the video isn't in accurate time order at points.
Anyways, I hope this cleared things up for some people. I think this song is more literal then some see it but I truly think it's actually about robbers, its as simple as the title. Sometimes its best not to look into stuff so much because the answers are right there. But this song for sure has the potential to be taken other routes which I saw reading other comments and I agree with elements that other people brought up. At the end of the day, this is a love song according to the genius that is Matthew Healy. It's a toxic love story about fucked up, drug addicted lovers that are completely and utterly infatuated by each other to the point where robbing a store is okay and considered cool. It's tragically beautiful and an amazing song and if you haven't yet seen the video I urge you to watch it because I think it's one of the best music videos I ever seen and helps with clarity about the lyric meaning. Andddd that's it, thanks for reading!
YES.
YES.