This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
We can dance if we want to
We can leave your friends behind
'Cause your friends don't dance
And if they don't dance
Well, they're no friends of mine
Say, we can go where we want to
A place where they will never find
And we can act like we come
From out of this world
Leave the real one far behind
And we can dance
Or sing
We can go when we want to
Night is young and so am I
And we can dress real neat
From our hats to our feet
And surprise 'em with the victory cry
Say, we can act if we want to
If we don't, nobody will
And you can act real rude and totally removed
And I can act like an imbecile
And say, we can dance, we can dance
Everything's out of control
We can dance, we can dance
They're doing it from pole to pole
We can dance, we can dance
Everybody look at your hands
We can dance, we can dance
Everybody's taking the chance
Safety dance
Oh well, the safety dance
Ah yes, the safety dance
We can dance if we want to
We've got all your life and mine
As long as we abuse it, never gonna lose it
Everything'll work out right
I say, we can dance if we want to
We can leave your friends behind
Because your friends don't dance
And if they don't dance
Well, they're no friends of mine
I say, we can dance, we can dance
Everything's out of control
We can dance, we can dance
We're doing it from pole to pole
We can dance, we can dance
Everybody look at your hands
We can dance, we can dance
Everybody's taking the chance
Oh well, the safety dance
Ah yes, the safety dance
Oh well, the safety dance
Oh well, the safety dance
Oh yes, the safety dance
Oh, the safety dance, yeah
Well, it's the safety dance
It's the safety dance
Well, it's the safety dance
Well, it's the safety dance
Oh, it's the safety dance
Oh, it's the safety dance
We can leave your friends behind
'Cause your friends don't dance
And if they don't dance
Well, they're no friends of mine
Say, we can go where we want to
A place where they will never find
And we can act like we come
From out of this world
Leave the real one far behind
And we can dance
Or sing
We can go when we want to
Night is young and so am I
And we can dress real neat
From our hats to our feet
And surprise 'em with the victory cry
Say, we can act if we want to
If we don't, nobody will
And you can act real rude and totally removed
And I can act like an imbecile
And say, we can dance, we can dance
Everything's out of control
We can dance, we can dance
They're doing it from pole to pole
We can dance, we can dance
Everybody look at your hands
We can dance, we can dance
Everybody's taking the chance
Safety dance
Oh well, the safety dance
Ah yes, the safety dance
We can dance if we want to
We've got all your life and mine
As long as we abuse it, never gonna lose it
Everything'll work out right
I say, we can dance if we want to
We can leave your friends behind
Because your friends don't dance
And if they don't dance
Well, they're no friends of mine
I say, we can dance, we can dance
Everything's out of control
We can dance, we can dance
We're doing it from pole to pole
We can dance, we can dance
Everybody look at your hands
We can dance, we can dance
Everybody's taking the chance
Oh well, the safety dance
Ah yes, the safety dance
Oh well, the safety dance
Oh well, the safety dance
Oh yes, the safety dance
Oh, the safety dance, yeah
Well, it's the safety dance
It's the safety dance
Well, it's the safety dance
Well, it's the safety dance
Oh, it's the safety dance
Oh, it's the safety dance
Lyrics submitted by numb, edited by Deloreanfan, james10841, Sirboloski
The Safety Dance [Video Version] Lyrics as written by Ivan Doroschuk
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Hi, just found out this in the wiki: "The writer/performer, Ivan Doroschuk, has explained that "The Safety Dance" is a protest against bouncers stopping dancers pogoing to 1980s New Wave music in clubs when Disco was dying and New Wave was up and coming. New Wave dancing, especially pogoing, was different from Disco dancing, because it was done individually instead of with partners and involved holding the torso rigid and thrashing about. To uninformed bystanders this could look dangerous, especially if pogoers accidentally bounced into one another (the more deliberately violent version of pogoing is slam dancing). The bouncers didn't like pogoing so they would tell pogoers to stop or be kicked out of the club. Thus, the song is a protest and a call for freedom of expression. It has been claimed that the meaning of the song can be found in similarities between "Safety Dance" and "Safe to dance". Other lyrics in the song include references to the way pogoing looked to bouncers, especially "And you can act real rude and totally removed/And I can act like an imbecile".
Doroschuk denies two common myths about the song. First, it is not a call for safe sex. Doroschuk says that is reading too much into the lyrics. Second, it is not an anti-nuclear protest despite the nuclear imagery at the end of the video. Doroschuk says that he considers Men Without Hats "a punk band with one hit song" and that as such they were "anti- everything". [edit]
Okay, I never thought it was a song about promoting safe sex, but I did think it was a song about him trying to convince her that it was safe and not a big deal to have sex. If I were Doroschuk, I don't think I'd mention THIS deeper meaning at an interview. And if you replace the word dance for sex in the lyrics (despite the fact that it isn't grammatically correct) it makes a lot of sense in correspondence with such a premises. Of course I wouldn't challenge your input, I'm sure it's accurate, but just thought I'd add mine as well.
They went over this song on that True Spin show. This song is a tribute to slam dancing. I know, doesn't seem like a song someone would slam dance to, but slam dancing was a big controversial thing at the time this song was made, and they wrote a song about what they thought.
"Say, we can go where we want to A place where they will never find And we can act like we come from out of this world Leave the real one far behind "
Acting what most people would think totally insance, ramming into eachother mindlessly and calling it a dance.
"Say, we can act if we want to If we don't nobody will And you can act real rude and totally removed And I can act like an imbecile "
It's not exactly teh friendliest form of expression. You act like a rude imbecile, basicaly kicking the crap out of the person next to you, but everyone has a good time.
Well at least our songs knew how to spell correctly back in the day.
LOL x 10000000<br />
Exactly, it's about slamdancing. The singer talks about how his girl should leave her friends in the moshpit "'Cause your friends don't dance and if they don't dance, Well, they're no friends of mine" The whole thing about "safety dance" is sort of "anti-slam dancing", how if you did the "Safety Dance" you wouldn't take someone's eyeball out ("everybody look at your hands" = Watch where you're dancing!) I don't see anything about nukes in there...
I cannot believe I have found a bunch of people discussing this song(over a period of years I grant you).Fantastic.I have the picture disc of this somewhere as well as all other albums.Not just a catchy pop tune, it is full of lovely little puns & ironies
Okay, I never thought it was a song about promoting safe sex, but I did think it was a song about him trying to convince her that it was safe and not a big deal to have sex. If I were Doroschuk, I don't think I'd mention THIS deeper meaning at an interview. And if you replace the word dance for sex in the lyrics (despite the fact that it isn't grammatically correct) it makes a lot of sense in correspondence with such a premises.
Not to be picky, but it's "we're doin' it from POLE to POLE" I have the music video and you can plainly see the "P" formed with his lips. I'm also not too sure about the "Francois", either; although that IS hilarious in the video.
It's not "Francois" it's "dancer" which means dance in french<br /> <br />
Dansez is, like that one guy said, the Vous form of danzer, to dance. Vous danzez would be basically saying "you dance" to a person you do not know (formal). Saying simple DANSEZ! would imply a command, hence:
And we can dance... [you] DANCE!
Guys, this song is about Nuclear War. The lead singer is from Canada and was VERY much against the Reagan US. The analogy from Pole to Pole is correct. The US was going to blow up the world from Pole to Pole. If you were with the US you were ok, if you were against, then that was it for you. That's about it. There is a website that specifically details the meaning of this song as told by Ivan (lead singer).
This song is about moshing. Slightly_Shinobi got it right.