Black Kids - 'I'm Not Going To Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You'
Here's an interesting question: is it necessary to completely understand the lyrics of a song in order to fully appreciate it? I ask because the first time I heard this song was on the radio, accompanied by the DJ saying something to the effect of "whoa, the lyrics to this song are, like, CRAZY, I mean, what does it MEAN", and at first I fell into the trap. I've been googling high and low to look for the definitive interpretation of the song (and there are some unrelated but interesting links to follow as a result) and while the lyrics do seem to be provocatively obtuse, I wonder if looking for the hidden depths, truths and potential epiphanies in the words is rather beside the point here.
Let's look at it another way: 'Love Machine' by Girls Aloud is brilliant. "We're gift-wrapped kitty cats, we're only turning into tigers when we've gotta fight back, let's go eskimo, out into the blue", however, is a nonsense. Essentially it's there to look pretty and fill some time between choruses, and that in no way negates the overall brilliance of the song. I've never tried to seek a deeper meaning for it, because I know it wouldn't increase my enjoyment in any way.
So: there are curiously gendered pronouns in this song, and I'm going to ignore them and instead focus on how the song makes me feel, which is joyous. It contains an interesting mix of poppy cheerleading bridges and cutely chanted refrains with a bittersweet vocal that belies a sense of sadness and insecurity underneath the whole thing.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, both the song and the band have proven rather polarising across the internets, as the comments on these demonstrate, with some seeming to think that this song's very existence is an unforgivable slur on the state of modern music. It's not for me to suggest why these people feel this way, but I do think it's interesting that the "stupid" lyrics feature prominently in the lists of reasons why people don't like the song.
Maybe on some occasions, the only reason for having an in-depth look at the lyrics is to make sure you can sing along properly; I think that's the case here. All I know is that I definitely want to sing along, which means they must be doing something right in all of this.
Download: Out now
CD Released: March 24th
(Steve Perkins)
Comments
RIGHT I've worked out why this video unsettles me - it's the blurry bits at the sides of the screen. I keep thinking I'm in a tunnel, or trying not to fall asleep. Like an Olympic sprinter has messed up his dosage or something. Which is a shame, as the song isn't sleepy at all. Sack yr Vision Mixer, Black Kids!