the 1975 lyric analysis #1 - robbers
i put my songs on shuffle and robbers came on, so here we go. again, this is open to discussion please send in any and all of your thoughts. these are all my thoughts and interpretation on the song.
“she had a face straight out a magazine
god only knows but you’ll never leave her”
Starting off, we begin with a female who is playing the metaphorical main character. Immediately we know that she’s gorgeous and she’s in an unbreakable relationship because god knows you won’t leave her.
“her balaclava is starting to chafe”
In this line it’s revealed to us that they are metaphorically partners in crime. For the sake of the aesthetic, they’re robbers. A balaclava is one of those black ski masks you see robbers in movies wear. Her balaclava is starting to chafe because she’s trying to take it off and it’s bothering her. This links to the relationship as the balaclava is symbolically the relationship and she wants to get rid of it. It’s starting to annoy her and feel uncomfortable.
“When she gets his gun, he’s begging, ‘babe stay stay’”
This line is also packed with information and meaning. In my interpretation of this, she’s getting ready to leave him for a heist or something of the sort and he doesn’t want her to go out. Her getting the gun symbolizes her wanting to get rid of the relationship and wanting to leave, but he’s very reluctant of her leaving. This is entering a toxic relationship of the sort.
“I’ll give you one more time
We’ll give you one more fight”
One more time is her giving it another go. She’s giving him another chance. One more fight and she’ll probably go through this cycle again of giving him another chance.
“Said one more line,
Will I know you?”
I actually wasn’t sure of this interpretation but what I’m guessing is that one more line usually refers to someone’s last words. I consulted the music video as they give insight into what the artist conveys in their lyrics most of time. In the hook of the song, she does a line of cocaine in the bathroom which is what the lyrics are most likely suggesting. I also believe that the drugs are a symbol for the toxicity that’s he’s feeding her or influences. And the part where he sings “Will I know you” is saying will I know you and your personality as we do all these drugs. Will they know the truth about each other as everything comes out when they aren’t in a sober mindset?
“Now if you never shoot, you’ll never know
And if you never eat, you’ll never grow”
If she doesn’t take a shot at leaving him, there’s a guarantee she will never get out of this abusive relationship. She won’t know what will happen. Eating also refers to her mental health. If she doesn’t take care of herself, she’ll never grow out of the relationship. I also saw an interpretation on someone saying that the shooting refers to heroine, but I can’t fully see the connection between that and the relationship. It could for sure be a symbol and maybe an allusion for it. Even though I can see it being connected to the first clause of the line because of the symbolism of drugs being the toxicity.
“You’ve got a pretty kind of dirty face”
This oxymoron refers back to her beauty and that she had a not so beautiful side to her. As in she’s more dark on the inside than it appears on the outside.
“And when she’s leaving your home
She’s begging you to stay, stay, stay, stay, stay”
Even though it might be confusing in this part because it seems like the tables have flipped, she doesn’t ask him to stay in a relationship. She asks him to stay where he is because she’s leaving his house. She doesn’t want him to follow her out. I was also confused by this line but it took me awhile to reach that “AHA” moment.
“I’ll give you one more time
We’ll give you one more fight
Said one more line”
“There’ll be a riot, cause I know you”
He’s saying there will be a huge fight over this if they attempt to break up because they’re in this circle of never ending the relationship and always having another chance. The threat of a riot is most likely him saying that he’s going to throw a tantrum and won’t let her go. Referring to the first hook, he knows her very well and her weaknesses. They confided in drugs (the toxicity) to get to know each other and now that he knows her, he knows how to manipulate as well. They’re also too caught up in each other to realize how this is affecting each other.
“Well now that you’ve got your gun
It’s much harder now the police have come”
The gun in the beginning also foreshadowed this event. She has the power to end the relationship which is the gun. It’s much harder to move on because the police (maybe symbolizing friends, please send thoughts on what the police could symbolize because it not sure in this one) have come to see the end. And if the symbolic police have arrived she can’t end it just as if you had a gun and can’t shoot when law enforcement are around.
“And I’ll shoot him if that’s what you ask”
He’ll get rid of the police is she wants that. This means that he’s offering to get rid of the reality she’s now realizing of this relationship. This is very manipulative because it’s basically asking I can get rid of all this pain if you stay with me or you can go through this pain of reality without me. This can also connect to drugs because they often advertise the same construct of getting rid of the pain and having relief away from the hard truths of life.
“But if you just take off your mask
You’d find that everything’s gone wrong”
If she takes the balaclava off, aka the relationship, she’ll see everything wrong in life. She’ll see the pain of life without him and the effects on other people they’ve created together.
“Now everybody’s dead”
Everyone who has been around them has been affected by their relationship. When she decided to stay with him, it’s implying that he killed all the police and everyone’s dead now. They never realized the mess they’ve made of other people when they were so caught up in each other.
“And they’re driving past my old school
And he’s got his gun, he’s got his suit on”
Now they have memories of their time together. He now has the gun which is the full control of the relationship. They’re gonna start the full circle of chance again.
“She says, 'babe you look so cool’”
She saying that he looks great nevertheless. The end of this song just prepares the relationship to go to the same circumstance it was in the beginning.
“You look so cool
You look so cool, cool, cool, cool
You look so cool, you look so cool
You look so cool, cool, cool, cool, cool”
thank you if you read all of this! this was my first analysis of their lyrics. this took a lot of work but it was fantastic! please leave responses!
