LCD Soundsystem – Dance Yrself Clean

• +1
  Lyric Correction:Got a boat load of corrections for this. I print them our last night and wanted to memorize the lyrics so I could actually sing to them but I immediately noticed many mistakes. So I grabbed the paper insert for my This Is Happening vinyl album and here are a bunch of corrections.
  
  "Present company accepted" -> "Present company excepted" (The first one)
  
  "Killing it with inspecting" -> "Killing it with inspection"
  
  "Arguments are make from make outs" -> "Arguments are made for make-ups"
  
  "We've got to bring our results" -> "We've got to bring the resources"
  
  "I wanna play it 'til the time comes" -> "I'm gonna play until the time comes"
  
  "But there's a string of divorces" -> "Forget your string of divorces"
  
  "You go and throw your little hands up" -> "Just go and throw your little hands up, it's late"
  (extra lyric at the end)
  
  "I miss the way the night comes" -> "I miss the way the night goes"
  
  "They're throwing marks into pieces" -> "You're blowing Marxism to pieces"
  
  "Baby, they're arguments, the pieces" -> "Their little arguments to pieces, show"
  (extra lyric at the end)
  
  "Work a little bit" -> "Put your little feet down"
  (otherwise he has nothing to say during the long note)
  
  "Make me into bigger pieces" -> "Break me into bigger pieces"
  
  "It's as though he's home with you" -> "So some of me is home with you"
  
  "And we can make our dreams come true" -> "And we can make our bad dreams come true"
  
  "...a-go" -> "...a go" (x2)
  
  "And we can miss the best thing to do" -> "And we can miss the best things to do"
  
  "They're throwing marks into pieces" -> "And blow Marxists into pieces"
  
  "Maybe they're arguments, the pieces" -> "Their little argument to pieces" (singular argument)
  
  "We should try a little harder" -> "Wish you'd try a little harder"
  
  Then the lyrics should be accurate. There was actually a little bit of ad-lib in the recording compared to the written lyrics. It was written as "my friends know how to make it feel good", but the one written here "with friends who always make it feel good" is definitely the way I heard it.

  Flag TiE23on February 27, 2012   Link

  • No Replies Log in to reply
    
      There was an error.
• 0
  General Comment:i luv this song and i dance wildly to it every day after school while im taking a shower. thats what it means to me although i know its silly and your ideas are much more intelectual (i read all except for that really big one just above my coment)
  
  still to me it has diferent meanings acording to how my day at school went, a few phrases fitting in while most dont. but dancing myself clean, doing my own show for myself alone, thats what this song tells me, as if while i dance i cleanse my mind, while the water washes my body too. silly i know :3

  Flag sukita98on February 21, 2012   Link

  • No Replies Log in to reply
    
      There was an error.
• 0
  My Interpretation:here is a part of the essay i am writing for a class on LCD Soundsytem. it has not been completely proof read yet so there might be some errors (oh yeah it is really long)
  
  The “Song Dance Yrself Clean” is about how the music industry is this unchangeable Marxist system and how he is falling behind and just has to be accept it. The first two lines, “Walking up to me expecting words, It happens all the time,” are all about how the the record companies are really up tight and just out to make money. They expect words (music) to be constantly flowing in the recoding room and make people loose sight of what music really is. But with his following line “Present company excepted,” he knows that the artists are going to listen to “the man” and just make music for monetary gain instead of a way of expressing who they are. James Murphy then states, “Present company, except the worst, It happens every night,” meaning that be ready for this abuse of the record executives, they will come at you constantly. The goal for an up and coming artist is to distance themselves from the executives of the industry. Although they will not be as popular they will be “making something real” (from “Losing My Edge”) which is a key point in the fundamentals of LCD Soundsystem. He ends the stanza with “Present company: The best that you can find,” which is really a comment about him self, saying that he has had a sort of epiphany. James Murphy just has to be accepting of the current artists and realize that he is to small to change anything. He will still create music that opposes what is mainstream but he accepts that it might not change its style.
  
  Now the first two lines of the second stanza are one of the most crucial couplets by saying,
  “Talking like a jerk except you are an actual jerk,
  and living proof, that sometimes friends are mean.”
  Now James Murphy is bashing the content and the meaning of most of the music we see on the top 100 today. Most of these songs have a subject matter of sex, money and drugs, and the artist might not mean what he says but it does make them seem like jerks. So without anything else for the public to base their personalities off of, then they are a jerks in everyones eyes. This lines also relates to our culture in that people act a certain way in order to fit in but this ends up creating a false impression and changes who you are. That second line then shows that this change ends up pushing your genuine friends away. In this, there is a parallel in how facades created by the words and actions will become more prominent then what a person or artist really is.
  
  The next lines were written to comfort the artist or person saying,
  “Present company expect it
  Present company just laugh it off…
  It's better than it seems,”
  James Murphy is saying that it is all right, things could be worse. Even though you might be perceived a certain way, at heart you know that you are genuine and friends know it too. Finally he ends the stanza with something a bit contradictory,
  “Present company excluded in every way
  Present company makes me wanna stay (…) go,”
  Once again he puts us into his mind and what he makes of all of these lies. He decides to exclude them, ignore them, and just let it happen while he continues on his own path. Then with the last line, more specifically the last two words, stay and go, it shows that he is perplexed by these people and does not know if he should stay and fight with his music or just accept that he is behind the times and move away from the music industry.
  
  The third stanza has two messages within it and works as a transition from the laid back style of music to the pungent freakout in the next stanza. So, it starts off with,
  “Killing it with close inspection.
  Killing it can only make it worse,
  It sort of makes it breed,”
  He is commenting on how this corrupt side of the music industry has gotten two big and trying to stop it will not help. There are many other artists willing to step into the limelight for that extra change. Once again he said this beast has gotten out of hand and it can never go back to the way that it was. Now their is a progression with the line “Present company accepting” with the previous stanzas saying, expected, expect it, and now accepting. It represents the adaptation of the artist as he finds his way in the music industry and how they get to the point where they regurgitate what they are expected to sing about.
  This also works into the next two lines as well,
  “Presently we all expect the worst,
  It works just like a need.”
  The last line is a comment about how society has conformed with this idea of what is good music and it is now a need in society. So this makes mainstream music something that will never go away and has solidified as what the average person will want to listen to (well maybe they should just open up their ears). He then ends the stanza with a plea (of sorts) to the artists,
  “Present company excluded in the night,
  Present company included in the fight, go,”
  He starts of with the fact that as soon as you find fame you will quickly loose it, just as night quickly falls on all great days. But then he says that they are included in the fight, so no matter where you are as an artist you can always stand up and prove that they are not just some party animals that sings about their crazy nights. This line is also a buildup to the next stanza where he blows up and literally shouts his mind toward this corrupt industry.
  
  So this is the big stanza where he just yells at them for trying to make him conform. This new voice is backed up with a harsh electronic beat which adds to the severity of his point. The stanza then goes like this,
  “Don't you want me to wake up?
  Then give me just a bit of your time.
  Arguments are made for make-ups,
  So give it just a little more time.
  The first line is him asking the music industry do not you want me to give up, that his feeble attempts to keep the music the way it was are futile. James Murphy goes on to say that he will shut up if you will just give him a chance and try to recover what has been lost. Then in the third line, his argument are made for make ups, he is making this argument so that music industry might admit that they are wrong and revive what was lost. So just let him finish the song so that he might persuade anyone who will listen.
  
  As he goes into the fifth stanza he states what he plans to do in response to the music industry,
  “We've got to bring the resources,
  I'm gonna play until the time comes,
  Forget your string of divorces,
  Just go and throw your little hands up.”
  The first line is an echo of the previous line, “Walking up to me expecting words,” saying that he will bring new music in, not what they really want but is doing what he is told. Then he is going to play his music and spread his message to they force him to stop. The third line he tells the executives to forget all your attempts to break me away because LCD Soundsystem is staying so “throw your little hands up” (give up) and let him play his music. Now flipping from the music industry and into the perspective of a listener it can be interpreted that now although you have done all the bad things trying to fit in; you can still forget the divorces from you old friends. To fix this you throw your hands up and party.
  
  Now one either James Murphy of the listener has let go the can now look at the brighter side of life.
  “It's late, I miss the way the night comes
  My friends know how to make it feel good
  The basement has a cold glow,
  Though better than a bunch of others…”
  The first line is a bit of nostalgia looking back on the good times before everyone in the industry was corrupt. Then you always fall back on your true friends because they always know how to make you feel better. In the terms of the average person trying to conform, they need to reflect on who their real friends are and talk to them and recover their true self. The third line is about the feeling that the music industry give James Murphy, it is cold and harsh and generally not a good place to be. But then he steps back and states, he would not want to be anywhere else and other industries are much worse places to be.
  
  Then here is where the son gets its name and give the overarching theme to the song.
  “So go and dance yourself clean,
  Go and dance yourself clean, yeah,
  You have to dance yourself clean, you have to just forgot what you have done wrong and get on with your life. It is all about forgetting the past and working toward the future. Now this could be the relationship between him and the music industry. Then with the lines,
  “You're blowing Marxism to pieces,
  Their little arguments to pieces,”
  Marxism is a metaphor for the music industry and how its controlled to be repetitive as well as chocking the music scene. There are a few though, including himself, that are able to break the mold and blow the whole idea of mainstream music to pieces. He then concludes the stanza with its your show, do what you want to do and don;t let anyone else tell you otherwise. James Murphy want everyone to be individuals and flaunt your individuality, which is lost in the new age of music.
  
  The first line in the sixth verse, “Put your little feet down and hang out,” is just all about relaxing. The music industry does not need to be all about the money. Instead it can be about hanging out with your friends and making music together. Then after this he back to the way the music industry currently run, “Every night's a different story,” you are creating songs every night working late but you should not care if you love what you do. Then James Murphy uses a Metaphor for what it is like to negotiate with the record execs, “It's a thirty car pile-up with you.” They create nothing but problems and cannot deal with it any more. Now which has started to become a pattern in the song the last two lines are reflective on him and his career,
  “Everybody's getting younger…
  It's the end of an era — it's true.”
  It is another realization that the younger generation is coming up and making the music how they want to and he is falling behind. He is entering a new era of music and he is trying to hold on to the last era, but cannot seem to get it to stick around. This is then followed by the repetition of the line, “And you go: "Stop",” he is trying to stop this change from happening but the new mainstream music is moving ahead and not stopping any time soon.
  
  One again he turns up the volume for the build up to the second chorus. He starts off by saying,
  “Break me into bigger pieces,
  So some of me is home with you,”
  By saying this he never wants to be forgotten he wants his band to be a legacy and example on how to break the mold and prove mainstream music wrong. Going back to how people constantly want to conform and need to recover their selves, it means that no matter what happens in you life, how you choose to fit in or not, you need to always make sure you save a place in all of your friends heart and never loose them. He asks once again to “wait (until the weekend)”, to give him once last shot in the music industry before he has to move on. If they wait then he says that, “And we can make our dreams come true,” meaning that maybe he can revive the last era of music before it is lost forever.
  
  “And it’s a go,” he will give on last fight and try to change mainstream music. Then he contradicts himself a bit with the next two lines
  “But if we wait until the weekend,
  We could miss the best things to do,”
  But this contradiction is more of a curiosity toward the new era of music. If He waits to fight then he might miss something new that could possibly break through the wall of the top 100 chart and reach the top yet it will not be classified as a mainstream hit. James Murphy repeats the chorus, and the same meaning still applies.
  
  Now the song reaches it close with a mellow send off that shows a bit of hope. I “Wish you'd try a little harder, In the tedious march of the few.” He wants more people, no matter what your role in society, to try hard and not just follow the beaten path. Break from the mold, create something new, just do not conform to what you are told. As the music and the voice fade into the wind he states, “Every day a different warning,
  There's a part of me hoping it's true,” it is his dying wish that there will be a successor to LCD Soundsystem and hopes that the old era of music will live on in new blood and not just fade into the past.
  
  “Dance Yrslf Clean” is almost a life cycle of artist in the way that they rise either con form or rebel and then just fade into the past like they never even existed. The Song is James Murphy’s public service announcement to the music industry and the culture. Saying, never conform always be yourself and as long as you follow this you will be happy and genuine. Standing up the higher authority is always hard but he believes that you should never be pushed around and when you stand up the arguments will fall to pieces and the individual will prevail.
  
  The first song that is going to be paralleled with pink floyd is “You Wanted a Hit” (how appropriate). The songs parallels the whole album “Wish You Were Here” in many ways. “You Wanted a Hit” is all about what the title states, the pressure the music industry puts on bands to make music a certain way to be a hit. So in repose they made this which is the farthest thing away from a stereotypical hit. To start off the intro of the song is a parallels “Shine on You Crazy Diamond (I-IV)” by having an intro that is three minutes and fifteen seconds long. This seems to be taken exactly from the style of SYD. They differ a bit in composition though. LCD soundsystem uses the intro to build to the lyrics but I feel that Pink Floyd treats it as its own song. This intro is step one of how not to make a song that will be a number one hit and it continues on for nine minutes. Being a nine minute song he intentionally made sure that it would never could be short enough for the radio, thus preventing it from being a hit.

  Flag dinzleon January 15, 2012   Link

  • 1 Reply Log in to reply
    
      There was an error.
    0

    disregard the last paragraph unless you want to know how you wanted a hit by LCD Soundsystem is like pink floyd

    Flag dinzleon January 15, 2012  
• 0
  General Comment:I think Bolshie (above poster) has some good points.
  
  But I also think you might be reading slihgtly too much into "dance yourself clean". One of the things music, and dancing, can do, is to blow your head clean, so to speak. When you dance, you dont have to worry about your friends being jerks.
  
  Dancing yourself out of your worries also works with the general theme of accepting your friends or your situation even though they might not be optimal. Yeah, so my friends might not be everything they could be, but they arent all that bad either, and everything is not that bad, really.
  
  Music can be liberating in this way. Thats how I use music and dancing. I dont care that everything is going to shit, right now the music is awesome and dancing makes me feel good.

  Flagged rustrumon September 12, 2011   Link

  • No Replies Log in to reply
    
      There was an error.
• 0
  General Comment:This song kind of explains how making "This Is Happening", almost ruined his marriage.

  Flag brightereyes86on September 06, 2011   Link

  • No Replies Log in to reply
    
      There was an error.
• +5
  General Comment:This song is everything Electro Music should be.

  Flag WildBananaBreadon September 05, 2011   Link

  • No Replies Log in to reply
    
      There was an error.
• 0
  General Comment:Every lyric in this song is like being forced to go to a family function. Feeling like the outcast, the black sheep people avoid but at the same time are interested in asking questions and starting fights.
  
  And you just wish everyone would lighten up and love each other and make it a party, instead of a "function."

  Flag Aquarius121on June 08, 2011   Link

  • No Replies Log in to reply
    
      There was an error.
• 0
  General Comment:This song seems to me to about a friend, probably girlfriend or wife, of the narrator who is constantly, irritatingly argumentative. Their group of friends expect to see them fight every time they go out together, and also expect to have their own thoughts ridiculed by this person ("you're blowing marxism to pieces... their little arguments to pieces"). The person always turns any casual discussion into his/her "show" to and mission to educate the people with the "little arguments". I think we've all known people like this at some point in our lives. I don't know what the title refers to, but since it is in "text-speak" it makes me think it was a text that the narrator got/sent after a nasty argument with this person.

  Flag jadyon February 04, 2011   Link

  • No Replies Log in to reply
    
      There was an error.
• 0
  General Comment:Agreed with NeedleInTheHay.
  This song is definitely about relationships and friendships.
  

  Flag brihjiton December 19, 2010   Link

  • No Replies Log in to reply
    
      There was an error.
• 0
  General Comment:NeedleInTheHay... Greg Gillis is Girl Talk :P

  Flag sailon December 02, 2010   Link

  • No Replies Log in to reply
    
      There was an error.

Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.

Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!