Idles on the Mainstage at Haldern Pop Festival 2019.
Photo by Alexander Kellner
l. – r.: Jon Beavis, Mark Bowen, Lee Kiernan, Adam Devonshire and Joe Talbot

 

This week’s prompt got me scrambling my brain for a song that taps into the raw sexual energy of one’s – mine, in particular — libido, which Freud said was the id’s reservoir. I cannot wait to see what everyone else chooses.

IDLES is a group that excels, and I’m not talking about the accounting program, in tapping into this primal energy for me. Adam’s almost insectoid droning bass, Jon’s rat-a-tat drums, Mark’s lead, and Lee’s rhythm prime the pump, preparing a place for Joe Talbot to bark out lyrics that set me on fire. Watching these guys live is a must as their architecture builds an edifice to id’s irresistible allure.

I’ve written on IDLES before but only after being introduced to them by Steve for the Deaf. Thank you, Steve! I came into them with Joy as an Act of Resistance (2018,) but at that time Tangk (2024) was on the way. Last year they wrote music for the soundtrack of Caught Stealing. There are still a few of their recordings yet to be heard, and I will get to them.

Tangk is IDLES fifth studio album. It was nominated for best rock album at the 67^th Grammies.

Joe said about the album:

he “needed love” so he “made it. [He] gave love out to the world and it feels like magic. This is our album of gratitude and power. All love songs. All is love.” Talbot said that he wanted to “make people dance” and “feel the love that [he] need[s] in life,” as well as wanting to make the music “infectious in a way that makes people feel, not think” and be “part of something electric again.”

Tangk was Idles’ first work with a major producer, Nigel Godrich, who is known for his work with Radiohead. The band members saw Godrich as among “the upper echelon” and had assumed they would never be able to create something of his calibre. However, Bowen said: “What we learned is that it’s not that difficult to attain if you put work into it. We learned that there are no geniuses.” Bowen said Godrich taught him how to use tape loops, distortion and delay in new ways to create textures.

Band members (for album):
Jon Beavis – drums, backing vocals
Mark Bowen – lead guitar, electronics, keyboards, programming, design, backing vocals, production
Adam Devonshire – bass guitar, backing vocals
Lee Kiernan – rhythm guitar, backing vocals
Joe Talbot – lead vocals, artwork, design

Additional musicians
Colin Webster – saxophone
Aaron Paris – strings, string arrangement
James Murphy – additional vocals (“Dancer”)
Nancy Whang – additional vocals (“Dancer”)

Freud’s Couch, photo by Robert Huffstutter

NME’s Max Pilley describes, “Gift Horse” as, “an aggressive, raucous rock track, driven by Bowen’s muscular, metallic riffs, with frontman Joe Talbot scowling, ‘Look at him go’ repeatedly over the chorus.”

Joe has said about the song, “Look at us go! Music and movement for you and yours. Be bold and ride us like the disco donkeys we are.”

I wouldn’t presume to tell you what I think the lyrics mean, but they mean whatever you oomph in them.

And here is the official video, which kicks butt imo.

Gift Horse

Sinew exploding from chrome hooves
Where we're going, we don't need glue
Can he run in a tutu?
He looks a little long in the gold tooth

Watch-watch, my-my steed-steed go-go far, far
Watch-watch, my-my steed-steed go-go far, far
Watch-watch, my-my steed-steed go-go far, far
Watch my steed go far

(Go)
Look at him go
Look at him go
Look at him go

(Look at him go)
Look at him go
Look at him go
Look at him go

My steed sees how dreams are made (made)
He's my dream like I just got paid (paid)
No joyride fee, it's free today ('day)
We don't care what the people say (say)

'Cause he moves like a generator
He puts the foot down and see you later (later)
Somebody call up the undertaker
Handing out passes to meet your maker (your maker)

See-see my-my steed-steed go-go far, far
See-see my-my steed-steed go-go far, far
See-see my-my steed-steed go-go far, far
See my steed go far

(Go)
Look at him go
Look at him go
Look at him go

(Look at him go)
Look at him go
Look at him go
Look at him go

My baby she-she's so raw
I give her love and she gives me more
Ask us to kneel and bow to the floor
She said, "No," and she asked, "What for?"

My baby, she-she's so strong
She talks me straight when I'm doing wrong
Ask us to sing your empire songs
She laughs, tells you where I'm from

My baby, she-she's so great
I wake up grateful every day
My baby is beautiful
All is love and love is all

Fuck the king, he ain't the king, she's the king

(Go)
Look at him go
Look at him go
Look at him go

(Look at him go)
Look at him go
Look at him go
Look at him go


All lyrics are written by Joseph Talbot; all music is composed by Jonathan Beavis, Mark Bowen, Adam Devonshire, Lee Kiernan, and Joseph Talbot. 
Album: TANGK
Released: 2024

Jim Adams is the host of Song Lyric Sunday. This week, Jim wants us to find a song related to Sigmund Freud’s id exhibiting instinctual drives that seek immediate pleasure or gratification without regard for reality.