Settle Down (The 1975)

Lyrics-

A soft sound
To the way that she wears her hair down
Covering up her face.
And oh what a let down,
And I don't seem to be having any effect now
Falling all over the place.

But you're losing your words
We're speaking in bodies
Avoiding me and talking 'bout you.
But you're losing your turn
I guess I'll never learn
'Cause I stay another hour or two.

For crying out loud, settle down!
You know I can't be found with you
We get back to my house
Your hands, my mouth
Now I just stop myself around you.

A small town
Dictating all the people we get around
What a familiar face.
Do you get what I mean now?
I'm so fixated on the girl with the soft sound
And hair all over the place.

And you're sure that I'd learn
I'm pushing through bodies
Avoiding me and walking 'round you.
And you're cold and I burn
I guess I'll never learn
'Cause I stay another hour or two.

For crying out loud, settle down!
You know I can't be found with you
We get back to my house
Your hands, my mouth
Now I just stop myself around you.

A soft sound
And to the way that she wears her hair down
Covering up her face.
And oh what a let down,
I don't seem to be having any effect now
Falling all over the place.

But you're losing your words
We're speaking in bodies
Avoiding me and talking 'bout you.
And you're losing your turn
I guess I'll never learn
'Cause I stay another hour or two.

For crying out loud, settle down!
You know I can't be found with you
We get back to my house
Your hands, my mouth
Now I just stop myself around you.

For crying out loud!

-

The reason we chose this song is because we thought it would give us a lot of potential to work with the themes explored in indie pop codes and conventions. It is also a challenge for us as it allows us to deviate slightly from the typical indie pop music videos due to the double meaning of the song. Rather than going with the most obvious interpretation which is mainly based around the themes of sex, alcohol and (most of the time) a happy, beautiful relationship, we wanted to explore the other interpretations of the lyrics; we came up with the idea that the song is about a dysfunctional couple and the lyrics emphasise his anger and frustration with her ("For crying out loud!"), as well as suggesting that they argue a lot which only angers him further ("Avoiding me and talking 'bout you").

It is obvious that the song is about a relationship, but the band have an abstract sound and the lyrics are abstract too, so it allows us to illustrate our own interpretation while sticking to the codes and conventions of the genre. There are times in the song where the lyrics indicate that the relationship is imbalanced - he makes a lot of angry comments ("For crying our loud, settle down!") however at the same time there are areas where their relationship is depicted as good and normal ("I'm so fixated on the girl with the soft sound/And hair all over her face").