Lyrics for Dance Anthem of the 80's as interpreted by adamanteve

Dance Anthem of the 80's Lyrics
You-ou-ou-ou-ou a-a-a-a-a-are
So-o-o-o-o sw-ee-ee-ee-ee-eet
Da-a-a-a-an-ci-i-i-ing to that
Be-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-eat

There's a meat market down the street
The boys and the girls watch each other eat

You are so sweet, so sweet
Dancing and moving to that beat, that beat

There's a meat market down the street
The boys and girls watch each other eat
The boys and the girls watch each other eat
When they really just wanna watch each other

Sleep
They want to watch, to watch each other
Sleep, sleep, sleep
Sleep
They want to watch, to watch each other
Sleep, sleep, sleep

You are so sweet.
(Once more)
You are so sweet
(My solo)

[Regina's Piano Solo]

I'm walking through the city
Like a drunk, but not
With my slip showing a little
Like a drunk, but not
And I am one of your people
But the cars don't stop
And I am one of your people
But the cars don't stop

And it's been a long time since before I've been touched
Now I'm getting touched all the time
And it's only a matter of who
And it's only a matter of when

An addiction to hands and feet
There's a meat market down the street
The boys and girls watch each other eat
When they really just wanna watch each other sleep
There's a meat market down the street
The boys and girls watch each other eat
When they really just wanna watch each other

Sleep
They want to watch, to watch each other
Sleep, sleep, sleep
Sleep
They want to watch, to watch each other
Sleep, sleep, sleep

They want to watch, to watch each other
They want to be watched, they want to be washed
They want to be touched, to touch each other
They want to sleep, they want to be slept
They want to watch, to watch each other
They want to be watched, they want to be washed
They want to be touched, to touch each other
They want to sleep, they want to be slept
They want to watch, to watch each other
They want to be watched, they want to be washed
They want to be touched, to touch each other
They want to sleep, they want to be slept
They want to watch, to watch each other
They want to watch, they want to be watched
To watch each other
To watch each other
To watch each other
Watch each other
Watch each other
Watch each other
Watch each other
Watch each other

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  • 34 Comments
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kameryn
02-27-2006

Rated 0 
It's the sweetest song about the way we admire each other,but pretend not to; the silly games people play when they fancy someone.

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life_is_sweet
09-25-2006

Rated 0 
I love it =)

An addiction to hands and feet
There's a meat market down the street
The boys and girls watch each other eat
When they really just wanna watch each other sleep

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King of Some Island
11-29-2006

Rated 0 
I'm walking through the city
Like a drunk, but not

Awesomesauce x10!!! Its like me except I always thought of myself more like a junkie but drunk works to. Shame it was never recorded proper

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MadnessMethod
02-22-2007

Rated 0 
I love this song! It's so sweet and catchy.

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crow_heart
03-19-2007

Rated 0 
aww
lovely song!

i love it when she says: my solo

she sounds so cute (:

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piedood
06-05-2007

Rated 0 
A character that seems to look on the courtship of the girls and boys like David Attenborough - all knowing of their quirks and follys in love "They really just wanna watch eachother sleep", wants to be involved "I am one of your people", and not be this David Attenborough. They have lowered their inhibitions in order to fit in and wonder the streets "Like a drunk but not" - they want the 'cars' to stop and notice them. CHEESE

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*Star*eyes*
07-31-2007

Rated 0 
I love the way she sings whom in the bit "It's only a matter of whom"

I don't think this song needs to be thought about too muchosss

Simple and sweet xD

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indierockess
12-14-2007

Rated 0 
And it's been a long time since before I've been touched
Now I'm getting touched all the time
And it's only a matter of who
And it's only a matter of when

An addiction to hands and feet
There's a meat market down the street
The boys and girls watch each other eat
When they really just wanna watch each other sleep



these two stanzas are my favorite.

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luey_baby
01-12-2008

Rated 0 
this song just sounds so good. i love the part "they wanna sleep, they wanna be slept"
why is it called dance anthem of the 80s?
everyone says it's sweet, and yeh the "they wanna watch each other sleep" part is sweet but...the reference to a meat market, wanting to buy flesh, an addiction to body parts, i found it quite sexual! subtly dark. and the wanting the cars to stop is like prostitution. i thought it was someone who...was forced into a sexual lifestyle? possibly a prostitute, who sees children who just wanna watch each other sleep, they arent sexual and dark theyr just sweet. and she wants that, but she cant have it.

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MissAmbs
02-18-2008

Rated +1 
To me, this is a very sad song, nothing sweet about it.

I think it's about people, the dating scene I guess, everyone being so desperate for love, and not getting it. All they really get is dinner, and maybe some empty sex. This bit:

And it's been a long time since before I've been touched
Now I'm getting touched all the time
And it's only a matter of who
And it's only a matter of when

... strikes me as tragic. To me, it reads as a girl regretting her sexual activity. She lost her virginity at an early age and sex is all she knows, but she longs for something more.

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SeraphimAleda
05-19-2008

Rated +1 
When she says "i'm one o you people but the cars don't stop" she is talking about prostatotes as her slip i showing just a little

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chelswildflower
05-26-2008

Rated 0 
i think the entire world should be a nudist colony and we should all just go around screwing each other, watching each other sleep, holding each other, and saying nice things

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chelswildflower
05-26-2008

Rated 0 
i think the entire world should be a nudist colony and we should all just go around screwing each other, watching each other sleep, holding each other, and saying nice things

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2 Replies
dustybreeze
06-01-2008

Rated 0 
damn chelswildflower if only you were the president of the world :)

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dustybreeze
06-01-2008

Rated 0 
damn chelswildflower if only you were the president of the world :)

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musicoverdose
03-25-2009

Rated 0 
PLEASE!!!! be on the new album :) :) :D

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1 Reply
eedobee
05-21-2009

Rated 0 
This is no about love,

It is about the story of a prostitute addicted to heroin

There's a meat market down the street- Brothel
Sweet dancing to that beat - solicited sexual acts
Want to watch each other sleep - Comatose effects of heroin
Walking through the city/like a drunk but not/ ~ / he cars don't stop - Street walking
It's been a long since before I get touched/ now I get touched all the time - physical abuse
An addiction to hands and feet - Injection in veins

If you don't believe me, listen to Regina's "20 years of snow".

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2 Replies
arcadeonline
05-31-2009

Rated 0 
I agree with eedobee in a way. I think a prostitute is the narrator of the song. I think at the beginning of the song she is making reference to the dating scene, saying how sweet the people are who are dating. However, dating didn't work for her. Then she says:

"And I am one of your people
But the cars don't stop" - Meaning she's waiting for someone to stop and pick her up.

"And it's been a long time since before I've been touched
Now I'm getting touched all the time
And it's only a matter of whom
And it's only a matter of when"
- In this part she's saying how dating didn't work for her, but now she's a prostitute she's getting touched all the time and it's only a matter of who wants her and when.

In addition:
"An addiction to hands and feet
There's a meat market down the street" - The hands and feet are symbolic of heroin use as that is where an addict will usually inject. The 'meat market' is also slang for a brothel.

"The boys and girls watch each other eat
When they really just wanna watch each other sleep"
- This is a direct contrast to the last two lines which leads me to believe that this woman is reaching out and craving the connection you get from dating.

:) I love the song though


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joshphilippi
06-16-2009

Rated 0 
i'm soooo glad this is being put on the new album.
it astounds me how regina can make great music that you can jam out to, and then you realize she's just rambling on about random shit :)
i think this song can be easily overanalyzed, but in my opinion, i just don't care.
they're great, simple lyrics.

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breathewords
06-24-2009

Rated 0 
'the boys and girls watch eachother eat, when they really just want to watch eachother sleep.'

regina tells it like it is. love it.

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morikahjo
06-28-2009

Rated -1 
i think its about a women who was raped....

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KarlProjectorinski
07-07-2009

Rated -1 
Wow I' ve never thought of the whole heroine addict prostitute thing, but it totally makes sense!
I've always thought of the song as a description of the lifestyle of teenagers... they go out, meet people, have sex with them... dance, promiscuity, yada yada yada...

"You are so sweet dancing to that beat" = You see someone you like at a club, dancing. The "meat market" would be the club, where "the boys and the girls watch each other eat", i mean, they make out with each other. But they really wanna watch each other sleep, meaning they want to go home and have sex...

And the whole "walking through the city like a drunk but not" is about they going out of the club, being drunk but trying to hide it (like a drunk BUT NOT). And the "I am one of your people but the cars don't stop" line to me makes reference to drunk driving accidents... when you are drunk you can't even cross the street properly and a drunk driver can hit you, even if he's one of your people!

"It's been a long time since before I've been touched, now I'm getting touched all the time" = Someone who wasn't like that before and now enters this lifestyle. He/she used to be shy about sex, but now he goes to 'meat markets' haha.

"And it's only a matter of who, and it's only a matter of when" = Sometimes people can hook up with somebody only to show off, they use people as objects (which are sold in a market).

The "addiction to hands and feet" is basically the addiction to casual sex!

I still like the prostitute idea better , but just to enjoy the polisemy of Regina's song haha!

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lethalinjection
07-07-2009

Rated +2 
i don't really care what the song means, i just know that the part after the solo is orgasmic.

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inthenew
07-13-2009

Rated 0 
it could be interpreted a number of ways.

to me the only line clearly relating to being a person of the street is.

"i am one of your people but the cars don't stop."

but overall i think this song is just about how we all love the feeeling of loving.

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luqon
07-18-2009

Rated +4 
My friend and I were discussing this song and we think the interpretation of this song starts with the title itself. It isn't called 'Dance anthem of the 80s' for nothing. The 80s were kind of a period of decadence I believe where casual sex was kind of the 'in-thing' to do (I was born in the 80s so I don't really know for sure, but I know Brett Easton Ellis' novels are situated in the 80s and they are mostly about this kind of stuff).

So the song is about that lifestyle of decadence and casual/meaningless sex. On the surface this is fun and exciting having sex with a random stranger you pick up at a party or something (you are so sweet, dancing to that beat). This would be the first part of the song before the solo. Picking out some hot guy/girl and getting it on with him/her.

That this isn't the greatest lifestyle already filters through in the first part. She refers to a meat market, which such a scene could be compared to. Also the seeing 'each other eat' line indicates that it is only about 'consuming' someone else, nothing more. And they all really want to 'watch each other sleep' something which indicates a more substantial and deeper relationship. So, instead of the fleeting sex they want deep down a more meaningful connection.

After the solo this becomes even more apparent as the main character is walking alone on the street like a drunk, but not. The cars not stopping has a strong connotation with prostitution, but can also be interpreted as the main character saying that he/she is a normal person and just wants someone to stop and take care of him/her and get some genuine affection.

Finally, the verse with 'it's been a long time since before I've been touched' alludes to that the act of sex is nothing more than a routine and that it is more a matter of with whom it is and when it happens than whether if it happens. This indicates that all the affection and specialness of having sex is long gone. The addiction and repetition at the end indicates even more the routine that is established and maybe a sort 'it's better than nothing, I'm damaged goods anyway' attitude that the main character may have.

Long post, sorry for that. Love the song and love how Regina makes a seemingly happy song and puts in such a deep and dark meaning (at least as far as we are interpreting it).

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