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July 07, 2007
suavely sleazy
One of the most impressive songs from the new Interpol album, "Our Love to Admire", is the dark and bouncy 'There's no I in Threesome'. When I first saw that title in the tracklist, I thought that maybe the band had really just started wholeheartedly indulging their prurient side- but, when I heard the song and listened to the lyrics, I realized that there's a lot of really interesting rhetoric going on in the argument that Paul Banks makes. He outlines a relationship that's troubled ('alone we may fight', 'there are days in this life when you see the teethmarks of time/two lovers divide'), and proposes a change of pace ('babe, it's time we give something new a try'). I like the overuse of the endearment 'babe' throughout the song (almost every other sentence is directed to 'babe' or 'baby', which I don't know if that's a reference to the 'Two A-holes' SNL sketch with Jason Sudeikis and Kristen Wiig, but I hope it is), which serves, you know, as a normal pet name, but also slyly implies that this girl to whom the narrator is speaking is younger and inexperienced (in general). The crux of the singer's plea comes near the end of the song, right before he delivers the titular punchline, as he sings, 'through the storms and the light/baby you've stood by my side...you feel the sweet breath of time/it's whispering its truth not mine'. This little line is reinforcing what was mentioned earlier, by placing the impetus (or blame, I guess) for the proposed sexual experiment on external (to the speaker at least) circumstances, i.e. 'it's not my choice, it's the only way we have to save the relationship'. Right after Paul sings the 'there's no I in threesome' line, he slips in his personal endorsement ('I am all for it'), which overall reminds me a whole lot of that Seinfeld episode where Jerry and Elaine have 'sex to save the friendship'- this escapade might be the result of an unfavorable situation, but that doesn't meant the participants can't enjoy what happens. It's a strange, creepy, and complicated song, and it is (I think) one of the better and more engaging (lyrically) songs that Interpol have written. I can't quite tell if it's a total joke or not, but I find it amusing and totally fascinating.
Listen to the whole album right here.
Posted by Kevin at 11:13 AM | Comments (0)