Collecting hearts
Another love is another place to stay
Another face
We close our eyes and feel our way
A new fit
You're Positive but they don't need to know
Another boy another girl another place to go

It feels like sleep
It feels like being born
Return to soil
Return to frailer form



Lyrics submitted by studiokill

Track duration: 04:45

"Intimate" as written by Ethan Kath, Alice Glass

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

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Intimate song meanings
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  • 0
    General Comment:Intimate is about a person who is HIV positive and has unprotected sex. The lyric "Youre positive, but they dont need to know" is a major give away
    Flag kapbambinoon February 04, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Intimate is about a person who is HIV positive and has unprotected sex. The lyric "Youre positive, but they dont need to know" is a major give away
    Flag kapbambinoon February 04, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:People who have experienced intense abuse, or, let me modify that and say... people who have been exposed to anything difficult and of a degree of intensity that the said event shattered their life and they were forced to pick up the pieces... some people are incapable of doing so and thus jump from one other to the next with impunity and utter disregard for their life. This is when intimacy itself degrades into need and a capitalistic transaction of services for shelter; money; sex. What is brilliant is that the lyrics, like almost all of Alice's, are very brave and include the line about the lost one being HIV positive and correctly impart the feeling of his fear - were he to tell his romance/sheltering/throw-away/intimate partners his true predicament, he would be cast aside, yet what is further even more brilliant is the last verse that expresses that this is inevitable: if it is not at the hands of a precarious and fickle humanity it will most certainly be done at the hands of the world and the circumstances around us - as the subject of the song weakens, he loses the je ne sais quoi that made him interesting/attractive - he becomes frail (and not in the aesthetically ambiguous and interesting way); the pain he has been fleeing from into the arms of others, of lovers, catches up to him with a scythe; ready to take his life, and he returns to the soil; "to frailer form".

    i have not asked Alice and I am only guessing at what I am about to say next, but I wish to do so nonetheless; I believe the reason this song is impossible to hear when performed live; the reason it is either vocoded into an unintelligible state or the mic is turned down to inaudible levels is very much tied in with the meaning of this song - as it stands alone lyrically and in the sense of its meaning to her. Very much in the way the subject of the song wishes to RETAIN his subjectivity in the face of inevitable death, his story is one that must be discovered, not heard simply by exposure to it. Alice once said at a live concert before playing this something like "now, this is a real fucking song" - and this is precisely why, possibly, it is one that must be sought out in order to witness its written content. There are others that are similar in that extent, but none as much as "Intimate" - one must get intimate with the writing itself, and that process may bring tears, revulsion, or appreciation but I encourage anyone who tells me they like Crystal Castles to get on here and read the lyrics to EVERY SONG. So many people see the band as a supreme act of electronics - machines making sounds then distorted and taken to the max, and thus they dance... they dance, dance, dance. I believe that if half of them knew what these songs contained lyrically/meant (I am not sure what they mean exactly to Alice, and since she wrote them, I can only go on my experience, but they speak volumes to me), they would run for the exit. Thus, brilliance.

    PS - I was so stoked to see Alice at a downtown lounge in NYC recently, just as it was closing - a great gal with a strong strong presence (yet not intimidating); full of energy; I hope one day I will have the chance to discuss the profound things she has written with her rather than simply cheers and get fucked up... but alas, my perspective and voice come from that very fucked up place so who am I to criticize?
    Flag ShiNoKissuon September 24, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:the last four lines are a masterpiece!!!
    Flag minttukatjaon August 07, 2011   Link
  • +1
    Song Meaning:I think this about a homeless bisexual ('another girl another boy another place to stay') who sleeps with many ('collecting hearts') out of a need to keep off the streets. Maybe they have chosen to become bisexual due to the serverity of their predicament.

    The narrator shows that the person doesn't have a plan, rather they are walking blind and stumbling through life: 'we close our eyes and feel our way'

    'A new fit' means the new sexual relationship they have found.

    This person is HIV positive but doesn't tell their partners about it. This might be because they fear another night out in the cold, as 'another boy another girl' means 'another place to go'.

    They die: 'it feels like sleep', 'it feels like being born'. And they 'return to [the] soil' as a continuity of energy transference.

    'Return to frailer form' means that when our bodies degrade and become dust, we become a 'frailer form'. made from the same materials and elements, but in a different arrangment.

    Alice Glass once said 'everything is dust'.

    Inherently sad and meaningful, these lyrics struck me as a possible reflection on homeless life from the narrator's teenage years.






    Flag hinrodathon June 30, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Definitely about HIV ; a guy who doesn't care about transmiting his disease to others ("you're Positive but they don't need to know.")
    Flag AnalogTrashon May 27, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:yeah those lyrics are right its still difficult to figure out which part is which tho would be good to hear it live.
    I reckon its about someone (probably male) who sleeps around or jumps from relationship to relationship or maybe even a sells themselves for sex. they are HIV Positive and giving everyone who they are intimate with the disease. then they die and are explaining what that is like. possibly to their ex lovers.
    Flag InfidelityWeTruston May 06, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:From beginning....to end...mesmerizing and euphoric in every way.
    Flag DrakelikesNachoson May 01, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:official lyrics:

    collecting hearts
    another love is another place to stay
    another face
    we close our eyes and feel our way
    a new fit
    you're Positive but they don't need to know
    another boy another girl another place to go

    it feels like sleep
    it feels like being born
    return to soil
    return to frailer form
    Flag jnoddingon April 25, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:This is definitely one of the best songs on the new album.

    Very sexy. But I wouldn't expect anything less from Alice and Ethan.
    Flag st hannahon April 25, 2010   Link

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