The Furs have always been really hot when it comes to innuendo. I've always thought that nothing they do could or should be taken at face value. We have two references presented that ofer up the song as some sort of tryst between two lovers who never knew that they were destined to meet. Potentially to passers in the night who shared a part of their souls in a mere glimps. The song could also potentially be about the persecution of the Jews and Fascism. I'm not saying that I'm correct in this, but certainly there are parrellels that can be drawn.
1." Army on the dance floor"- the goose stepping and posturing and the many parades held by the 3rd Reich
"Fashion with a gun"- SS uniforms or something yet even more obscure such as the German masses being brain washed into believing that the corralling of the Jews by force, and intering them in camps was what needed to be done. Potentially something that was more than simply en vouge.
"Swallow all you tears my love Put on your new face"- Don't worry about the morallity of persecuting your neighboor. Set those things aside and don the face of the New World Order.
"They'd put us on a railroad They'd dearly make us pay"- Cattle cars and concentration camps.1
5."In a room without a door a kiss is not enough" - Perhaps the mere moments before the inevitable gasses were released inside of the showers. Perhaps something worse.
"Emptiness behind their eyes There's dust in all their hearts"- I can just envision the Jews looking out from their slatted cattle cars looking at the faces of their German neighboors watching them depart for the death camps.
I'm potentially very wrong about the song, but I might be at least partially right.
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That's the most sensible interpretation I've read here. But do The Furs often sing about Naziism and bummers like that?
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That's the most sensible interpretation I've read here. But do The Furs often sing about Naziism and bummers like that?
If not, then I suspect it might just be a coincidence. Without heavy analysis like yours (as impressive as it is), the song sure sounds a lot like just a love song between two people who see everyone else around them as having become emotionally flat and uncaring after the life-charged teenage time. ....You know, the only time when we're really alive and not unfeeling zombies with dust in our hearts.
If not, then I suspect it might just be a coincidence. Without heavy analysis like yours (as impressive as it is), the song sure sounds a lot like just a love song between two people who see everyone else around them as having become emotionally flat and uncaring after the life-charged teenage time. ....You know, the only time when we're really alive and not unfeeling zombies with dust in our hearts.
"When you get old, your heart dies", and life feels like a boring dead-end. I can testify personally that that's true. Except, for some reason unknown to me, I seem to be completely immune to that sad... sickness.
--faye kane ♀ autistic brain
homeless astrophysicist
The "traditional" interpretation of this song is that he's using the Holocaust as a metaphor for intolerance—either homophobia, or anti-miscegenation racism.
The "traditional" interpretation of this song is that he's using the Holocaust as a metaphor for intolerance—either homophobia, or anti-miscegenation racism.
The Holocaust metaphors are pretty obvious (and yes, the Furs do often sing about "bummers like that"). The real question is the other half of the song.
The Holocaust metaphors are pretty obvious (and yes, the Furs do often sing about "bummers like that"). The real question is the other half of the song.
Many people take it as a triumphant "love conquers all" message. But that really doesn't seem to fit with the rest of the album, and even less so with the preceding albums. The whole first album is about the idea that love is just a stupid, useless way for idiots to blind themselves to the pointless absurdity of life. If you look at the lyrics to other songs on this album, like "Forever Now", "Only You and I", or "Run and Run", does it really sound like he's changed his tune, or just found a mature way to make the same point? He seems to be saying that you might as well fall in love even though it's pointless, not because it will save you, but because, well, what else are you going to do?
@halcyon666 yea I certainly had the same interpretation of the persecution of the Jews, germany, and the world during ww2 by the the Third Reich. Most notably the SS branch of the Nazi party including the Gestapo. Almost everything you laid out I interpreted the same. Whether or not it's true I guess only Richard butler and the psychedelic furs can answer which isn't likely since they like to be mysterious about meanings. Which is just fine and it opens the door for everyone to have their own interpretation taken from the song. They were underrated and very talented....
@halcyon666 yea I certainly had the same interpretation of the persecution of the Jews, germany, and the world during ww2 by the the Third Reich. Most notably the SS branch of the Nazi party including the Gestapo. Almost everything you laid out I interpreted the same. Whether or not it's true I guess only Richard butler and the psychedelic furs can answer which isn't likely since they like to be mysterious about meanings. Which is just fine and it opens the door for everyone to have their own interpretation taken from the song. They were underrated and very talented. There's an Army on the dance floor it's fashion with a gun my love. Goose stepping posturing. The highly stylized fashions of their uniforms.. makes sense. It's could also have and entirely different meaning but as I've said thats the great thing about songs is that they are open to interpretation. I love new wave and the furs.
The Furs have always been really hot when it comes to innuendo. I've always thought that nothing they do could or should be taken at face value. We have two references presented that ofer up the song as some sort of tryst between two lovers who never knew that they were destined to meet. Potentially to passers in the night who shared a part of their souls in a mere glimps. The song could also potentially be about the persecution of the Jews and Fascism. I'm not saying that I'm correct in this, but certainly there are parrellels that can be drawn. 1." Army on the dance floor"- the goose stepping and posturing and the many parades held by the 3rd Reich
==-- That's the most sensible interpretation I've read here. But do The Furs often sing about Naziism and bummers like that?
==-- That's the most sensible interpretation I've read here. But do The Furs often sing about Naziism and bummers like that?
If not, then I suspect it might just be a coincidence. Without heavy analysis like yours (as impressive as it is), the song sure sounds a lot like just a love song between two people who see everyone else around them as having become emotionally flat and uncaring after the life-charged teenage time. ....You know, the only time when we're really alive and not unfeeling zombies with dust in our hearts.
If not, then I suspect it might just be a coincidence. Without heavy analysis like yours (as impressive as it is), the song sure sounds a lot like just a love song between two people who see everyone else around them as having become emotionally flat and uncaring after the life-charged teenage time. ....You know, the only time when we're really alive and not unfeeling zombies with dust in our hearts.
"When you get old, your heart dies", and life feels like a boring dead-end. I can testify personally that that's true. Except, for some reason unknown to me, I seem to be completely immune to that sad... sickness.
--faye kane ♀ autistic brain homeless astrophysicist
The "traditional" interpretation of this song is that he's using the Holocaust as a metaphor for intolerance—either homophobia, or anti-miscegenation racism.
The "traditional" interpretation of this song is that he's using the Holocaust as a metaphor for intolerance—either homophobia, or anti-miscegenation racism.
The Holocaust metaphors are pretty obvious (and yes, the Furs do often sing about "bummers like that"). The real question is the other half of the song.
The Holocaust metaphors are pretty obvious (and yes, the Furs do often sing about "bummers like that"). The real question is the other half of the song.
Many people take it as a triumphant "love conquers all" message. But that really doesn't seem to fit with the rest of the album, and even less so with the preceding albums. The whole first album is about the idea that love is just a stupid, useless way for idiots to blind themselves to the pointless absurdity of life. If you look at the lyrics to other songs on this album, like "Forever Now", "Only You and I", or "Run and Run", does it really sound like he's changed his tune, or just found a mature way to make the same point? He seems to be saying that you might as well fall in love even though it's pointless, not because it will save you, but because, well, what else are you going to do?
@halcyon666 yea I certainly had the same interpretation of the persecution of the Jews, germany, and the world during ww2 by the the Third Reich. Most notably the SS branch of the Nazi party including the Gestapo. Almost everything you laid out I interpreted the same. Whether or not it's true I guess only Richard butler and the psychedelic furs can answer which isn't likely since they like to be mysterious about meanings. Which is just fine and it opens the door for everyone to have their own interpretation taken from the song. They were underrated and very talented....
@halcyon666 yea I certainly had the same interpretation of the persecution of the Jews, germany, and the world during ww2 by the the Third Reich. Most notably the SS branch of the Nazi party including the Gestapo. Almost everything you laid out I interpreted the same. Whether or not it's true I guess only Richard butler and the psychedelic furs can answer which isn't likely since they like to be mysterious about meanings. Which is just fine and it opens the door for everyone to have their own interpretation taken from the song. They were underrated and very talented. There's an Army on the dance floor it's fashion with a gun my love. Goose stepping posturing. The highly stylized fashions of their uniforms.. makes sense. It's could also have and entirely different meaning but as I've said thats the great thing about songs is that they are open to interpretation. I love new wave and the furs.