Push

This song was TOTALLY life changing to me. It's about Robert Smith wearing a dress and traveling on a train (listen to his intro on Live In Orange). I heard this song when I was 18 and I could not believe my ears. I am a transsexual and hence I instantly bonded with Robert. My life has never been the same since and Robert will always be my one and only inspiration. Thank you Robert.

"Go go go! Push him away No no no! Don't let him stay..."

:: push away the man inside

"He gets inside to stare at her The seeping mouth The mouth that knows The secret you Always you"

:: he will become her inside the train in the lonely mirrored room

"A smile to hide the fear away"

:: oh how i know this fear (and excitement)

"Oh! smear this man across the walls Like strawberries and cream It's the only way to be"

:: there is NO other way to be

"Exactly the same clean room Exactly the same clean bed But I've stayed away too long this time And I've got too big to fit this time..."

:: outgrowing everything (literally and figuratively)

i have a third take on this song. for me its about pushing your depresion away. i feel that robert is personificating depression (the man) and when he says to smear him accross the wall, i think he means to just get up and get rid of your depression. i love how this song is so happy, and it really reminds me of "doing the unstuck", which for me has the same meaning as this song.

it just goes to show you that you can really take any song and make it fit your life, and the meanings can change completely depending on what your going through in your life.

this song feels so good to listen to. The intro pulls you in with an infectious riff and then the vocals grip you. I think the song is about doing what you want. If you listen to the in orange concert Robert says "this song is about when i used to wear a dress and travel on the train" but he very could have well said "this song is about when i used to skip school and eat ice cream "

just go for it is the theme.

To me this song portrays the inside urge to free oneself from a relationship. When the point comes in a relationship, when the person knows its over, but has no where else to go its hard to say the final words. Unfortuanatley it has to be done, and then you have to push your fear of solitude away, and just do it. that is why i believe the song incorporates the sense of confusion, like: "Go! Go! Go!, push him away", but then its "No, No, No" (perhaps because even though its love, its one that never would work out.)

"Exactly the same clean room Exactly the same clean bed But I've stayed away too long this time And I've got too big to fit this time..."

It's about growing up. Growing into what you are. No matter what that is.

Most or all of the interpretations have the same theme: breaking free of something that is holding back the hero. The difference is what the interpreters think the "something" is and who the hero is.

In the song, the "something" is represented as a malevolent male with a "seeping mouth" who knows exactly what and who the hero ("she") is, behind the front that the hero puts on. The narrator is advising her to put on a brave face ("a smile to hide the fear") and banish what prevents her from being who she wants to be ("smear this man across the walls").

The setting of this battle seems to be a literal or metaphorical bedroom. I think the bedroom represents what is both safe and stifling. Think of a kid who sits in his bedroom all day because he is afraid to deal with the hostile world outside.

In the final stanza, the hero and the narrator merge. "She" becomes "I." After the hero has fought "him" off, life looks externally the same ("same clean bed"). However, the hero has grown.

The joyful exuberant music confirms this interpretation of this theme of breaking free. I love this song. Whenever I hear it, I start smiling and--if I can--dancing around. It makes me want to run across a lawn with my shoes off and whoop. That's how it hits me, anyway.

I have no idea what Smith had in mind for "he" when he wrote this song. But if he had something specific in mind, what didn't he make it specific? I think he left it open for interpretation because we all have a "he" either internally or externally who is holding us back from something. My "he" is my own tendency to cynicism, negative thinking, and self-blame. And I think the advice is dead-on: smear it across the wall. It's the only way to be.

p.s. I'm not sure whether the lyric means "smear him across the walls, as if you were smearing strawberries and cream across the walls," or "smear him across the walls, and then be free, which is as delicious as strawberries and cream." I think the latter, but I don't know.

I have a completely different take on this song. I think it is about a girl pushing someone away from having sex with her. It is however difficult to tell if anything happens as it tends to be a lot of contradicting messages which leads me to believe that some of it is just dreaming(the end of the song especially points this out).

The intro verse pretty much says don't let him stay(the man and his unit)...there sort of is a sarcastic tone to it all by say NO NO NO! Like if it would be such a crime for "him" to stay.

The 2nd verse from the the perespective of the man's genitals(the mouth) is pretty much fantasy..the secret you seems to be the unseen area.

The 3rd verse starts up with more fantasy imagining that she'd be scared and trying to hide the fear away with a smile. But then when the act comes forth strawberry's and cream(blood and cum) are all over the walls.

The 4th verse comes back full circle to reality. Nothing took place because it is "the same clean room, the same clean bed" And then he is pretty much giving up because he can't hold out forever.

I could be way off but that's how I always viewed the song.

Yeah, i think this song may be about rape. I love the progressive sound this song has. And the long intro.

I can't say what Robert's intentions were with these lyrics but I always think of it as a psychological abstraction of an abusive relationship, which the victim is still haunted by.

I think it is about a couple separated by distance, and now that the man has returned home, the woman is pushing him away. He still knows the "secret her" that has not changed, but she has a fear because she no longer knows him. But she smiles and pretends to be okay. Then at the end he acknowledges he changed, as he "got too big" for his old life (while on tour in a rock band maybe....hmmm).