I think it's just too easy to write this off as "it's a song about death". If we're to believe this song is in keeping with the album's theme (Intimacy) then perhaps it's more figurative. Sure, there are songs like Ares on Intimacy that aren't about relationships or romance, but the majority certainly are (Trojan Horse, One Month Off, you get the idea).
My interpretation of this song is that it's about a man hung up on a recently crumbled relationship.
When Kele sings 'At your funeral, I was so upset... in your life, you were larger than this, statuesque", I'm reminded of the break-up, and he wonders how she could be so uncaring and cold when breaking up with him, as if nothing previous mattered.
The "So like you to visit me, to let me know you were okay" section suggests to me that the girl came back for one night of passion out of her guilt for the emotional pain she's inflicted on him.
When he's saying "I see signs now all the time that you're not dead, you're sleeping", he's referring to the little things that he sees his ex do that suggest that the relationship can, in fact, be salvaged: that the relationship is not dead, it's sleeping.
For any fellow Bloc Party fans, I think the song is quite similar to Biko in the sense that it deals with the end of a relationship metaphorically with death.
I think it's just too easy to write this off as "it's a song about death". If we're to believe this song is in keeping with the album's theme (Intimacy) then perhaps it's more figurative. Sure, there are songs like Ares on Intimacy that aren't about relationships or romance, but the majority certainly are (Trojan Horse, One Month Off, you get the idea).
My interpretation of this song is that it's about a man hung up on a recently crumbled relationship. When Kele sings 'At your funeral, I was so upset... in your life, you were larger than this, statuesque", I'm reminded of the break-up, and he wonders how she could be so uncaring and cold when breaking up with him, as if nothing previous mattered. The "So like you to visit me, to let me know you were okay" section suggests to me that the girl came back for one night of passion out of her guilt for the emotional pain she's inflicted on him. When he's saying "I see signs now all the time that you're not dead, you're sleeping", he's referring to the little things that he sees his ex do that suggest that the relationship can, in fact, be salvaged: that the relationship is not dead, it's sleeping.
For any fellow Bloc Party fans, I think the song is quite similar to Biko in the sense that it deals with the end of a relationship metaphorically with death.
this.
this.