Album: Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance (2015)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This sad, sturdy rocker finds Stuart Murdoch singing of a teenage girl whose perception of a troubled world turns inwards:

    When there's bombs in the Middle East
    You want to hurt yourself
    When there's knives in the city streets
    You want to end yourself


    Murdoch explained to Drowned in Sound: "I suppose it's a song about a person on the slide to some sort of madness, someone who has cut herself off, whose support network has abandoned her or is no good to her at all. This is the sort of person who has been radicalised by the comments' section of Guardian articles…"

    "If I could think of a character in a film most like Allie it might be Jane Horrocks' character in Mike Leigh's Life Is Sweet. She's angry with everyone and everything. Her boyfriend berates her saying: 'What is it you stand for anyway? What are your politics?'"

    "She says nothing"

    "'Just like I thought. There's nothing there.'"

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Elton John

Elton JohnFact or Fiction

Does he have beef with Gaga? Is he Sean Lennon's godfather? See if you can tell fact from fiction in the Elton John edition.

Why Does Everybody Hate Nu-Metal? Your Metal Questions Answered

Why Does Everybody Hate Nu-Metal? Your Metal Questions AnsweredSong Writing

10 Questions for the author of Precious Metal: Decibel Presents the Stories Behind 25 Extreme Metal Masterpieces

Rick Astley

Rick AstleySongwriter Interviews

Rick Astley on "Never Gonna Give You Up," "Cry For Help," and his remarkable resurgence that gave him another #1 UK album.

Band Names

Band NamesFact or Fiction

Was "Pearl" Eddie Vedder's grandmother, and did she really make a hallucinogenic jam? Did Journey have a contest to name the group? And what does KISS stand for anyway?

90s Music Quiz 1

90s Music Quiz 1Music Quiz

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

Mick Jones of Foreigner

Mick Jones of ForeignerSongwriter Interviews

Foreigner's songwriter/guitarist tells the stories behind the songs "Juke Box Hero," "I Want To Know What Love Is," and many more.