Franz Ferdinand – Take Me Out
It is not often that a new song is released that I instantly decide is one of my all-time favorite songs, but since I first heard this song in January I’ve not been able to stop playing it. Now, with but a click of the mouse, you can experience my new favorite song:
Currently Playing: Franz Ferdinand – Take Me Out
Here’s the amazing part– even though probably no one in the room besides me had heard this song, when I played it at a party the other night, it FILLED THE DANCE FLOOR. I mean to say, people who were already dancing kept dancing, and people who weren’t dancing began doing so. I have never, ever, not even once, seen that response to a song that was unknown. It was not as if I had played a Michael Jackson record, mind you– people didn’t flood onto the dance floor and go bananas– but there were definitely more dancers by the end of the song than there had been at the beginning.
I attribute the attraction mainly to the main guitar riff; in part because it sounds vaguely reminiscent of something from the 1980s, though what I cannot say, and I’m pretty sure it has no direct antecedent but rather is crafted to sound as though it does, and in part because it is so utterly infectious. After the third listen one feels morally compelled to crank one’s air guitar up to eleven and rock out.
Then there is the unrelenting stomp of the beat. This is not uptempo electronica, this is good old-fashioned rock ‘n roll, with a heavy beat thumping along at a tempo designed for head-banging and body-moving, but it subsumes the ethic of the dance track. It’s New Order masquerading as AC/DC… it’s the Black Sabbath work ethic applied to the Duran Duran sensibility… it’s… it’s…. it’s in a category all its own, and its unwaveringly awesome. Alternative/ Indie rock has at last produced a legitimate floor-stomper. It remains to be seen if the song can cross-over and win mainstream appeal, but the fact that 30-something preppy-yuppie types were willing to dance to it, sight unseen, is encouraging.
The lyrical conceit of the song is a clever one, seeming to liken rejection to being shot:
So if you’re lonely
You know I’m here waiting for you
I’m just a crosshair
I’m just a shot away from you
And if you leave here
You leave me broken, shattered I lie
I’m just a crosshair
I’m just a shot then we can die.
As painful as a gunshot, or a breakup, can be, it’s better to experience the quick and unambiguous sting of one than to linger in a confused limbo. If you have to die, better by gunshot than a slower method; if the one you adore is not interested in you, better to find out sooner than later.
An alternative interpretation of the song is hinted at by the band’s very name– Franz Ferdinand. If you were paying attention during history class, you know that it was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand that precipitated World War I. When he was shot, his wife Sophie was shot, too, and they died side-by-side. Perhaps this song is Ferdinand’s plea for release into the afterlife; he’s already been shot, and is on the verge of death, his beloved wife has been murdered in front of him, or is also on death’s door, knocking loudly, and he knows his life is over, figuratively if not literally. Now he is begging for that literal end to come quickly.
I know I won’t be leaving here with you
I say don’t you know?
You say you don’t know
I say take me out.
Or maybe it’s just likening a breakup to a bullet in the head. Either way it’s a damn catchy song, and is already firmly entrenched amongst my all-time favorite tracks.
Music
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British, Indie Rock, Music
Sounds like a good song to me.
I like!
hmmmm
@Glass Tears, Is that a good “hmmmm” or a bad “hmmmm?”
@Peasprout, hahahahahahahahhahahahahhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa gimmie onna those monkeys and ill think about telling you ;)
@Glass Tears, I never should have shared the pictures of the wee monkeys– that’s all you comment about ever since!
@Peasprout, i heart the monkeys! =D
@Glass Tears, But do you heart THE SONG?
@Peasprout, hahaha it is a song and a history lesson all rolled into one :P
@Glass Tears, Opposed to a bit of edification, are we? You are how old again? I’m guessing in the 14-16 range…
@Peasprout, readngs cool when ur not bein forced :P
yah im 16 :)
@Glass Tears, Well, now when you get to the chapter on World War I you will have something interesting to say in class.
@Peasprout, I will!
i gtg now tho =P
meesa sweepy! hawhaw
came across your page. great song. made my night studying for MCAT a little better. lol. :D
Nicely written.
You are right… this song ROCKS
nice song..the monkey on your former post was so cute
Ryc: How did you know what I did in church today? It sure got a lot of O__O <-- wide-eyed stares hehe. Just joking. Do you want me to be excommunicated or something?! haha. =) Married Church people are raunchy though. They make so many sexual innuendos just because they can now. :P Example: "Oh... give those buffalo wings to him. He needs it to go the distance tonite." Me: :? Did I just hear correctly? I'm just gonna ignore this conversation ever happened... :P
ryc: I once read an article on your brother in the chronicle, there are also books of his in the school library.