Know something about this song or lyrics?
Add it to our wiki.
Toe to toe
Dancing very close
Barely breathing
Almost comatose
Wall to wall
People hypnotized
And they're stepping lightly
Hang each night in Rapture
Back to back
Sacroiliac
Spineless movement
And a wild attack
Face to face
Sadly solitude
And it's finger popping
Twenty-four hour shopping in Rapture
Fab Five Freddie told me everybody's high
DJ's spinnin' are savin' my mind
Flash is fast, Flash is cool
Francois sez fas, Flashe' no do
And you don't stop, sure shot
Go out to the parking lot
And you get in your car and you drive real far
And you drive all night and then you see a light
And it comes right down and lands on the ground
And out comes a man from Mars
And you try to run but he's got a gun
And he shoots you dead and he eats your head
And then you're in the man from Mars
You go out at night, eatin' cars
You eat Cadillacs, Lincolns too
Mercurys and Subarus
And you don't stop, you keep on eatin' cars
Then, when there's no more cars
You go out at night and eat up bars where the people meet
Face to face, dance cheek to cheek
One to one, man to man
Dance toe to toe
Don't move to slow, 'cause the man from Mars
Is through with cars, he's eatin' bars
Yeah, wall to wall, door to door, hall to hall
He's gonna eat 'em all
Rapture, be pure
Take a tour, through the sewer
Don't strain your brain, paint a train
You'll be singin' in the rain
I said don't stop, to punk rock
Well now you see what you wanna be
Just have your party on TV
'Cause the man from Mars won't eat up bars when the TV's on
And now he's gone back up to space
Where he won't have a hassle with the human race
And you hip-hop, and you don't stop
Just blast off, sure shot
'Cause the man from Mars stopped eatin' cars and eatin' bars
And now he only eats guitars, get up!
Dancing very close
Barely breathing
Almost comatose
Wall to wall
People hypnotized
And they're stepping lightly
Hang each night in Rapture
Back to back
Sacroiliac
Spineless movement
And a wild attack
Face to face
Sadly solitude
And it's finger popping
Twenty-four hour shopping in Rapture
Fab Five Freddie told me everybody's high
DJ's spinnin' are savin' my mind
Flash is fast, Flash is cool
Francois sez fas, Flashe' no do
And you don't stop, sure shot
Go out to the parking lot
And you get in your car and you drive real far
And you drive all night and then you see a light
And it comes right down and lands on the ground
And out comes a man from Mars
And you try to run but he's got a gun
And he shoots you dead and he eats your head
And then you're in the man from Mars
You go out at night, eatin' cars
You eat Cadillacs, Lincolns too
Mercurys and Subarus
And you don't stop, you keep on eatin' cars
Then, when there's no more cars
You go out at night and eat up bars where the people meet
Face to face, dance cheek to cheek
One to one, man to man
Dance toe to toe
Don't move to slow, 'cause the man from Mars
Is through with cars, he's eatin' bars
Yeah, wall to wall, door to door, hall to hall
He's gonna eat 'em all
Rapture, be pure
Take a tour, through the sewer
Don't strain your brain, paint a train
You'll be singin' in the rain
I said don't stop, to punk rock
Well now you see what you wanna be
Just have your party on TV
'Cause the man from Mars won't eat up bars when the TV's on
And now he's gone back up to space
Where he won't have a hassle with the human race
And you hip-hop, and you don't stop
Just blast off, sure shot
'Cause the man from Mars stopped eatin' cars and eatin' bars
And now he only eats guitars, get up!
Lyrics submitted by magicnudiesuit
Track duration: 04:59
"Rapture" as written by Nadia Ali, Markus Moser
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., CHRYSALIS MUSIC GROUP, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
Add your thoughts
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!
Lots of references to disco culture, and there's a definite disco beat in the song. Debbie Harry got her start in disco, so it's not surprising that she would use a disco beat, but look at the references - sacroiliac is a pelvic joint, finger popping is that infamous disco move Travolta is doing on the cover of Saturday Night Fever, all of the mentions of bars where people meet and dance. Then the stuff about tea-time technology and the digital (ardour or whatever) which is a fun, slightly psychedelic way of saying that new digital technology is moving music forward. "Have your party on TV" refers to how music was getting a huge presence on TV with music videos (remember that MTV was NOT the first channel ever to show a music video, and their first video was "Video Killed the Radio Star", which is ALREADY about the same phenomenon to which Blondie's line refers).
So my interpretation is the end of disco and with it the disco and cruising cultures being "eaten" by our own move forward in tastes and technology.
I guess it is natural for people to figure that any rock song they can't understand is about drugs, but I don't think this is valid. When writing about drugs, most songwriters are pretty explicit about it. For example, "I'm Waiting for my Man" is about drugs; "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" (LSD, get it?) is not. Even "Lookin' out My Back Door", which *seems* like a guy coming home, dropping acid, and tripping on his back porch, is probably not about drugs, but rather about a man home from work who finally gets a chance to play with his creativity.
Rapture seems very clear; I thought it was obvious to everyone. It is about environmental destruction and over-blown consumerism. Not that I'm saying it is that simple, but in one sentence, that's what you get. There is clearly a lot about sex, but this too is related to the commoditization of the act. Look at how they deconstruct the human interactions in the song. When dancing close, the body is breathing "almost comatose". They aren't grinding pelvises, they are "back to back" using the sacroiliac join--indicating that they are trying to interact as little as possible with each other. When they do face each other, they don't look at one another. Without human connection, what is left: the things we buy. I think the song is more relevant today than ever.
There is, of course, the whole issue of "The Rapture", and the song gets more into this toward the end. It seems to say, "The Rapture is a myth, no one is really going to come down and destroy you, but your things are going to be taken away from you--by you and the way you live--and you will be left with, what? Each other." Hence the last line, "Get up!"
And despite what someone "heard", the last line before the first "rap" section *is* "Twenty four hour shopping in rapture". (Some people think Hendrix said "Excuse me while I kiss this guy" too; that doesn't make it so. Meaning is for the listener, but the actual text is for the writer.)
Twenty four hour shopping in rapture" are not correct.
If you listen closely Debbie is actually singing, honestly, "And his finger fucked me/twenty-four hours straight - Rapture!"
Everytime I hear this song I crack-up how she slipped that past the censors.
Check it out.
Random: Ugggg, my little cousin is watching stupid i-carly. I hate that show.
The dude in white hat and tails was dancer William Barnes, whom also coregraphed the video. Fab Five Freddy made cameo appearance in the video also.