Black Sheep by Metric

Album: Scott Pilgrim Vs the World Soundtrack (2010)

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This tune is featured in the 2010 comedy film Scott Pilgrim Vs the World. The wardrobe of Brie Larson, who plays The Clash at Demonhead's lead singer in the movie, was inspired by photos of Metric vocalist, Emily Haines, in a live setting.
Haines explained to Spinner how the song's obscure lyrical content prevented it making Metric's 2009 album, Fantasies. "'Black Sheep' was always an unusual number. It went through various road tests and revisions throughout the making of our album Fantasies. It was a real banger live, but it didn't make the cut, mostly because no one, including me, could get a handle on what the hell the song was about. I wrote the lyrics all at once in this full-on stream-of-consciousness moment and I couldn't explain where all the imagery was coming from. It was plucked from the unknown. 'Now that the truth is just a rule that you can bend/You crack the whip, shape-shift and trick the past again.' Come again? To make matters worse, I insisted that the song begin with a creepy chanting intro. I had the whole band in the vocal booth whispering the words 'black sheep come home' without knowing why."
When the film's director Edgar Wright and music supervisor Nigel Godrich learned the band was the inspiration for The Clash at Demonhead they asked Metric to contribute a song. Haines told Spinner how this tune fits perfectly onto the Scott Pilgrim soundtrack. "Lyrically, musically, even the intro! This song was exactly what Nigel and Edgar needed for the pivotal scene at Lee's Palace. Actress Brie Larson makes it her own in the film and sings it completely differently than me! We're proud to have the original Metric version on such a slamming soundtrack alongside T-Rex, the Stones, Beck, Black Lips and, of course, our pals Broken Social Scene."

Comments: 3

A Credible Source “Hello again, friend of a friend, I knew you when
Our common goal was waiting for the world to end
Now that the truth is just a rule that you can bend
You crack the whip, shape-shift and trick the past again”

IMO the song seems it’s about two exes who had a really strong connection but had to breakup. They now refer to each other as “friend of a friend” because they run with the same crowds still, and of course when they dated the common goal was to live and eventually die together (end of the world).
The truth that is referred to is the reasonings for their breakup and one ex is obviously manipulating the other (the singer) into thinking it’ll be ok to see each other and it taps straight into their feelings.

“Send you my love on a wire
Lift you up, every time, everyone, ooh, pulls away, ooh From you”

The manipulative ex was reaching out again because they had another failed relationship since their original breakup. But because the singer has such a soft spot for their ex they can’t help but be there to lift them up with their old love they once had. This clearly happens time and time again.

“Got balls of steel, got an automobile, for a minimum wage
Got real estate, I'm buying it all up in outer space
Now that the truth is just a rule that you can bend
You crack the whip, shape-shift and trick, the past again”

This ex has a lot of “balls” to keep reaching out after so many failed attempts, but the singer can’t help themselves. There is so much real estate in their heads that each other own and they can’t getaway from falling into this same pattern again.

“It's a mechanical bull, at number one
You'll take a ride from anyone
Everyone wants a ride, pulls away, ooh, from you”

This is a diss at the manipulative ex that they’re easy to get in their pants and everyone who does hits it and quits it. Each time the ex always comes running back hurting because they can’t find anyone as good as the singer.
NorimoriIronic that they excluded the song from their album because they couldn't "get a handle on what the hell the song was about". To me, that description applies to almost all of their OTHER songs, whereas THIS song seems quite clear regarding what it means and what it's about.
Jessi from South Bloomfield, OhI first heard this on the Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World soundtrack, and I was HOOKED.

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