Interpol – The Heinrich Maneuver

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  My Interpretation:One thing I want to add to my replies, The line "Yeah, but you're an actress, I don't identify" seems less an observance of her actual profession; I think he's saying she tends to be dramatic or surreptitious, and instead he's trying to be up-front as to his one-night-stand intentions.

  Flag K0k04on November 19, 2012   Link

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  My Interpretation:For me this song is a breakup song,but one of the empowering ones. I have a liberating feeling when I listen to it.
  
  How are things on the West Coast?
  I hear you're movin' real fine"
  
  For me this means the chit-chat after the breakup. You meet sometimes, run into each other and ask ,,how are you?".
  
  
  I've tried but you know it's a lonely ride
  How are things on the West Coast?
  Oh and move heaven behind those eyes..."
  
  You know you can't be friends,because you can only move on by yourself,letting the other one go. However sometimes you wonder that you still love the other person and you're lost in his/her eyes.
  
  
  ,,But I don't want to play the part
  And I don't want a taste of victory
  No I don't want to read your thoughts anymore
  My God"
  
  You don't want to win the breakup, you just want to get over it and move on.
  
  'Cause I've got a chance for a sweet saint life
  I said I've got a dance and you'll do just fine
  Well I've got a plan, look forward in my eyes"
  
  You don't have to be bitter,you have a chance for a freat life without the other person.
  
  And ,,today my heart swings" is my fav line. It gives me literally goosebumps. My heart swings when after a breakup I feel myself better,I'm ready to let the other one go and even if we met,I won't be heartbroken.
  
  But this is just my interpretation:)

  Flag Kremyon October 29, 2012   Link

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  My Interpretation:It is a bitter song about a woman that broke up with a guy to go off become an actress in California. Many of the verses are sarcastic.
  
  However, a flame still burns for her.

  Flag Benioffon August 06, 2012   Link

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    I would go so far as to say that he's actually requesting a night with her, but stating that he doesn't intend to start things up again;
    
    I've got a dance and you'll do just fine,
    
    But I don't wanna take your heart,
    And I don't want a piece of history
    
    Also, how he says "I've tried the breaks, but you know it's a lonely ride,"
    The breaks is a way in New York of saying the way it is. You complain about your job or your girl to some guy on the bus, he'll say "thems the breaks" as in "That's how these situations tend to break-down (as in how they're made up, not fall apart, exactly) So it's as if he's been told try the breaks, as in see how it goes for yourself alone, but right now he just wants someone and she'll do for the night.
    
    Also, to anyone talking about the obvious reference to the Heimlich Maneuver, it's more a reference to Heinrich Himmler, insinuating the woman was a control freak or something along those lines probably; the Heimlich part is just a vehicle to deliver the reference.

    Flag K0k04on November 19, 2012  
• +2
  General Comment:I related to "Heimlich Manuever"-he tries to save someone ,he is trying to save the girl from a bad decition(leave him maybe,the boy wants a 2nd chance)
  
  How are things on the West Coast?
  I hear you're movin' real fine
  You wear those shoes like a dove
  Now strut those shoes
  We'll go roaming in the night------He knows how she been doing fine (rumors,news from friends,etc)
  
  
  I've tried but you know it's a lonely ride--he CANT forget her-
  
  
  
  Today my heart swings
  Yeah today my heart swings---he loves her----
  
  Yeah, but you're an actress I don't identify--He thinks that the girl is liar,she misses him to,she is pretending that she doesn´t love him ( he thinks that)---
  
  But I don't want to take your heart
  And I don't want a piece of history
  No I don't want to read your thoughts any more-----he want her,he doesn´t want only the mmemory of her,he wants her-----
  My God
  
  Let it come
  'Cause I've got a chance for a sweet saint life
  I said I've got a dance and you'll do just fine
  Well I've got a plan, look forward in my eyes---this is what the girl actually feels,she doesn´t want him,SHE has a second chance for a saint life and the boy will be just fine....
  
  
  Well I've got a plan, look forward in my eyes---if u look ar someones eye u know what the person feels,u know when soemone is lyning or teeling the true,so the girl is teeling-look at my eyes,I dont want to be with u,stop it!-
  

  Flag evkgon June 28, 2011   Link

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  General Comment:The title seems to be a joke based on the Heimlich Maneuver. youtube.com/… 1:10 - Paul says it's a joke. Paul also says the song is about a breakup, and about California. Interpol newsletter called the song a "twisted love song/ode to Cali" (probably California not Kali the hindu goddess). The video youtube.com/… seems to be more of a shot at vain hollywood actress types. I'm a huge fan of interpol - but I do think there's not much story behind their lyrics - they are impressionistic lyrics, rather than literal meanings.

  Flag dilaudidon December 23, 2010   Link

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  General Comment:i think interpol is over-rated, IMOHO. i saw them in 2007 when Kings of Leon opened for them and i thought KOL were far and away the better band that night.

  Flagged tommythemusicloveron March 03, 2010   Link

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• -3
  General Comment:his voice is SOOOO
  friggen annoying. I hate this song
  but if someone else did the vocals
  i would probably like it...

  Flag Udahoon November 18, 2009   Link

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    +2

    haha fuck you.

    Flag Machichion January 08, 2010  
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  General Comment:"I said I've got a dance and you'll do just fine" -- what a nice way to say "I need to get laid, you'll do just fine"

  Flag pinco123on August 21, 2009   Link

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  General Comment:I've been hit with a new revelation.
  
  "How are things on the West Coast?
  I hear you movin' real fine
  You wear those shoes like a dove
  Now strut those shoes
  We'll go roaming in the night
  Well how are things on the West Coast?"
  
  These lines actually seem to have more of a sarcastic and snide air then I once thought after playing the song over a few more times. As such, the protagonist is probably sneering at the new lifestyle the girl is now leading and isn't really faltering in his decision to move on. In this context, he is much more bitter.
  

  Flag themountainman14on April 04, 2009   Link

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    Wow, you don't say?
    
    Seriously, that should have been obvious upon first listen.
    
    Here's another clue for ya: Since he's asking about the West Coast, we can assume this girl left him in New York to go to California. Let's get crazy and assume (from some of the other really obvious lyrics) that she is an actress and kind of phony, hence his bitterness.
    
    BTW, I loved Interpol's first two albums, but this is the best song on their third, and it's pretty weak really.

    Flag leamancon March 03, 2010  
• +1
  General Comment:Let's do this the mountain man way and analyzeit line by line. Overall, I'd say it's about a girl who has moved away and he once had feelings for. Perhaps the feelings were mutual, perhaps not, perhaps it seemed they were and he later found it was not so. Either way the girl has hurt him and led him down the wrong path one too many times and he is finally moving on. So let's take a look:
  "How are things on the West Coast?
  I hear you movin' real fine"
  -Clearly the girl has moved or at least been away for quite some time. It appears this may be the first time they have talked in quite some time as he begins with the usual awkward small talk one might experience with a former object of affection. He has heard she's doing well, whether "moving" is meant as literally changing location or is used as a metaphor for basically handling life.
  
  "You wear those shoes like a dove
  Now strut those shoes
  We'll go roaming in the night"
  -He begins to feel those old feelings of attraction again. It's her shoes that spark this. He compares her to the grace and beauty of a dove. He starts to think about them dating (perhaps again), spending their nights together on the town as many couples do.
  
  "Well how are things on the West Coast?
  You keep it movin' to your soul's delight"
  -He remembers that it's not right for them to be together and snaps himself back out of his infatuated daze by returning to the original subject. He realizes that she is doing what she wants and isn't restricted by his needs (or ever was?). There seems to be a bit of bitterness in this line, to me at least.
  
  "Now I've tried the brakes
  I've tried but you know it's a lonely ride"
  -He's tried before to break himself away from her because she either (a) has hurt him too many times, (b) he can't have her, or (c) she is simply not right for him and leads him to do things that he doesn't see as good for him. All of them are possible motivations. I'm going to use (a) for the rest of the interpretation as it fits quite nicely.
  
  "How are things on the West Coast?
  Oh and move heaven behind those eyes..."
  -Snap back once again to reality, but he can't help but be attracted to her. He puts this heavenly and wonderful aura about her and is overwhelmed by it when he looks into her eyes, even though he knows she's hurt him over and over. Perhaps he believes she doesn't mean to.
  
  "Today my heart swings
  Yeah today my heart swings"
  -He regains his strength and begins to see the situation clearly. She's screwed around with his heart one too many times and he finally decides that it's time he moves on and swings his affections away from her.
  
  "But I don't want to take your heart"
  -Obvious. He no longer feels the need to get the feelings he once had mutually as he's lost them.
  "And I don't want a piece of history"
  -He doesn't want back the past, in which perhaps they had had a better relationship.
  "No I don't want to read your thoughts any more
  My God"
  -He doesn't care how she feels about him anymore and is amazed/proud of himself.
  
  "Yeah, but you're an actress I don't identify"
  -She has changed from the girl he had once loved. She's suddenly gained a false sense of superiority in her time away and is no longer the sweet girl he once knew. He's never seen her this way before and thus no longer identifies.
  
  "Let it come"
  -Let life take it's course and let this mess of a relationship end.
  "'Cause I've got a chance for a sweet saint life"
  -He's got the chance to live a better life without the constant struggle and stress of trying to make her his.
  "I said I've gotta dance and you'll do just fine"
  -He has to leave her behind and move on happily. If she tries to stop, whether consciously or subconsciously, he knows she'll do alright without him. He says this smugly.
  "Well I've got a plan, look forward in my eyes"
  -He's finally got it all figured out and he has a new sense of anticipation for the future.
  
  Sorry if it sounds like a story without much evidence to back it up, but I think you'll all be able to see the basic idea I'm communicating.
  

  Flag themountainman14on April 03, 2009   Link

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    I think the beginning lines are less a questioning of his parting, but more like he's playing nice to try to get at that one more time, like he ran into her and now's he's trying to get laid.

    Flag K0k04on November 19, 2012  

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