Black Me Out

Album: Transgender Dysphoria Blues (2014)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Group leader Laura Jane Grace told NME: "It's an angry song, 'Write me off, f---ing forget about me.' It's really just a 'f--- off' to negative people. The 'f--- you' attitude is what attracted me to punk when I was 13 years old."
  • Do you hear a Bruce Springsteen influence in this song? Bruce does. He told NPR: "'Black Me Out,' it's a fantastic song, you know. And so, any time where you feel you may have dropped a seed or two that someone picked up in any way is, it's just a pleasure. I mean it's like, 'Oh yeah, I did that little part of my work well,' in that this was an assistance and someone went and made something beautiful of their own or crazy of their own about it or whatever, however it comes out."
  • Grace explained the song's meaning to Spin magazine: "It's an angry song," she said, "and it's about feeling like you have certain relationships in your life where you have to fake the person that you are and be inauthentic and compromise yourself to people you work with or people you see out at a bar who corner you - who make you the kind of person that you aren't, really - and feeling like you're so angry that you just want to be like blacked out from someone's existence, like, 'F---ing forget about me, don't think about me anymore, I do not exist to you anymore.' That kind of feeling."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Edie Brickell

Edie BrickellSongwriter Interviews

Edie Brickell on her collaborations with Paul Simon, Steve Martin and Willie Nelson, and her 2021 album with the New Bohemians.

Rick Springfield

Rick SpringfieldSongwriter Interviews

Rick has a surprising dark side, a strong feminine side and, in a certain TV show, a naked backside. But he still hasn't found Jessie's Girl.

Pam Tillis

Pam TillisSongwriter Interviews

The country sweetheart opines about the demands of touring and talks about writing songs with her famous father.

90s Music Quiz 1

90s Music Quiz 1Music Quiz

First question: Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson appeared in videos for what artist?

Colin Hay

Colin HaySongwriter Interviews

Established as a redoubtable singer-songwriter, the Men At Work frontman explains how religion, sobriety and Jack Nicholson play into his songwriting.

They Might Be Giants

They Might Be GiantsSongwriter Interviews

Who writes a song about a name they found in a phone book? That's just one of the everyday things these guys find to sing about. Anything in their field of vision or general scope of knowledge is fair game. If you cross paths with them, so are you.