Off with your head
Dance 'til you're dead
Heads will roll [Repeat: x3]
On the floor

Glitter on the west streets
Silver over everything
The rivers all wet
You're all chrome

Dripping with alchemy
Shiver stop shivering
The glitter's all wet
You're all chrome

[Repeat: x2]
The men cry out the girls cry out
The men cry out the girls cry out
The men cry out, oh no

Off with your head
Dance 'til you're dead
Heads will roll [Repeat: x3]
On the floor

You can last
Take the past
Shut your eyes
Realize [Repeat: x2]

Glitter on the west streets
Silver over everything
The glitter's all wet
You're all chrome
You're all chrome

Oh oh

Off off off with your head
Dance dance dance 'til you're dead
Off off off with your head
Dance dance dance 'til you're dead
Off off off with your head
Dance dance dance 'til you're dead



Lyrics submitted by dustybreeze

Track duration: 06:24

"Heads Will Roll" as written by Nicholas Joseph Zinner Brian Chase

Lyrics © CHRYSALIS MUSIC GROUP

Lyrics powered by LyricFind


Heads Will Roll song meanings
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46 Comments

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  • 0
    Song Meaning:The lyrics are all about ecstasy/MDMA. "Heads will roll" is a referance to the way your eyes roll to the back of your head, when you're heavily intoxicated by the drug.

    Dance til your dead, is something that can actually happen when you do this, but if you drink enough water, you'll just dance til your totally exhausted :)
    Flag MollyMan93on April 15, 2013   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:This is a pretty obvious message again, to people about coming apocalypse"- so to speak... Just shows you that Hollywood is still in power and laughs at everyone through their all seeing eye for music!
    Flag Petra8on August 04, 2012   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation:Amazing how happy people interpret the song.

    Once I thought about the lyrics, I concluded that the "Heads will roll" from a guillotine, and you'll "dance, dance, dance until you're dead" from your writhing and twitching from a slow hang.

    The streets are wet with blood and glitter from it. You're cold because you're dying, and shivering/twitching as your body dies.

    I think the Yeah Yeah Yeahs getting people to dance to a song about people dying is an epic troll. Thanks.
    Flag poxypoxyon August 16, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Really cool song n.n
    Flag LuckyLighton January 17, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:"Off with your head" def. sounds like a refference to Alice in Wonderland. "Dance until you're dead" makes me think of the original Snow White story, where the Queen is punished by dancing usinmg red shoes (also known as iron shoes). The video has a wolf dancing and the singer in a red dress (could be a refference to Little Red Ridding Hood).

    Maybe I'm reading too much about this but it could be about fairytales in general.
    Flag redhoodon October 18, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I like a lot this song. Is fantastic and the music video are fucking great!
    Flagged ladydark8897on August 24, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:The song is about the French revolution. "Off with your head" refers to the guilliotine executions that happened during that period. Refrences to glitter and silver on streets refers to the wealth that the elite had which was later robbed by the common public.
    Flag GuruKidon June 21, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Hm okay going to borrow some thoughts here, definitely seeing the Alice theme. Going to venture that Karen is an entertainer for the 'kingdom,' as is the wolf aka MJ. Notice her outfit resembles that of the Queen of Hearts, all red, as is the wolf's shoes. They're part of the same kingdom/music industry. The wolf in particular is their key entertainer, king of kings in the music industry = Michael Jackson.

    And this mystical world is painted in "glitter" and "silver", seems very nice and dandy at first. However when she says "the glitter's all wet" and the "river's all wet", it sounds like, it's all wet from blood or..it's all mucked up, because later on in the video the glitter which was originally silver (on the drums) becomes red when the people get chopped up. Meaning this world is all dirty, it's a lie. "You're all cold/you're all chrome" suggesting you're hard on the outside and empty/lifeless on the inside. She repeats this lyric twice this toward the end and it sounds like she's accusing the people "you're all dead."

    "The men cry out, the girls cry" cheering for the entertainer or replacement saviour, as we often idolize stars more than we do real religious figures. Than Karen as one of the entertainers, yells "off with your head!" And instructs the masses to "dance till your dead", just loose control on the dance floor and use up all your energy for that one purpose till you die. Seemingly, forgetting at the same time the concealed truth about this fantasy place.

    "Looking glass, take the past" I suppose look at yourself in the mirror see what you've become and accept the past. "Shut your eyes" because "the mirror lies" - deny that you're a robot of the masses.

    My own thoughts at the end of the video is that MJ reaches a breaking point when the light shines on him/full moon and he just looses it. Goes crazy on the music industry, the masses and just kills everyone. It's understood that when there's a full moon people are crazier than usual. This does seem to be the case for MJ in his career, as he was termed Wacko Jacko, accused of molestation among other things, everything just went downhill for him. RIP MJ.
    Flag Ally657on April 28, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:wow the song is fuckin great but these lyrics suck big DICK!!
    Flagged fucklove96on April 25, 2010   Link
  • 0
    Lyric Correction:Am I the only one hearing "dance TO THE dead"?
    Might be because I'm not a native English speaker, but it sounds just like that to me...
    Flag vittauon February 10, 2010   Link

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