According to der messenger boarden, here are the lyrics for S-K's "Entertain":

So you want to be entertained
Please look away, don't look away
We're not here cause we want to entertain
Go away, don't go away
Reality is the new fiction they say
Truth is truer these days, truth is man-made
If you're here cause you want to be entertained
Go away, please go away

Chorus:
(Whuh-oh-oh) If your (he)art is done?
(Whuh-oh-oh) Johnny get your gun
(Whuh-oh-oh) Join the rank and file
(Whuh-oh-oh) on your TV dial

You come around lookin' 1984
You're such a bore, 1984
(???), well you’re using it like a whore
It's better than before, uh, it's better than before
You come around soundin' 1972
You did nothing new, 1972
Where the fuck are you?
Where's the black and blue? (x3)

Chorus

Hey! Look around and they are lying to you
They are lying, huh, they are lying and,
Can't you see it is just a silly ruse
They are lying, I am lying to you

All you want is entertainment
Rip me open it's so freeing (all free-ee?) yeah

Chorus

Bridge:
Don't drag me down i'm not falling down (X2)

One-two-three,
If you wanna take a shot at me, well get in line, line
One-two-three,
Baby I've had all my shots and I'm fine
One-two-three,
If you haven't had enough of me, well get in line, in line
One-two-three,
You deserve it now it's alright

One-two-three
You can drown in mediocrity, it feels so light, so bright?
One-two-three
???
One-two-three
Give it to me easily if you don't mind, this time
One-two-three
Yeah, make it sweet & syrupy with rhyme

Don't drag me down i'm not falling down (x6)

Chorus
???fear
It's already here
There's lots to fear (???)
Whose side are you on?

Good lord, peoples.

I think my favorite bit is "(???), well you’re using it like a whore." It's feminist Mad Libs! What could we put there? Iraq? The Alaskan Wildlife Refuge? The Constitution? Indie rock? I'm also a big fan of the final stanza. Whose side are you on, man? WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON?!?!?!

Oh sure, I could explain this away if I wanted to--I'd focus on the switch between "go away" and "don't go away" in the first verse to indicate ambivalence about finding and maintaining an audience, cast the final resolution to "please go away" at the end as a coy come-on playing hard to get, mention the "I am lying to you" thing, present the swagger of the bridge as a self-conscious use of rock readymades quite deliberately going for a well-established pleasure point--but I can't, because lord, it's all so sincere. I mean: "You can drown in mediocrity, it feels so light, so bright?" I mean: "All you want is entertainment / rip me open it's so freeing [or possible 'freezing']"? Even giving them the benefit of the doubt and seeing it as self-incrimination, just offhand I'd say it gets beat by a Pulp b-side ("The Professional"). But even that's a hard route to justify, critically. It seems entirely plausible that they wrote this being pissed off at television.

The sincerity is hard to deny because it basically comes down to: Sleater-Kinney don't want you to like them. If you're liking them, you are not being true to the spirit of Sleater-Kinney! If you downloaded the leaked album, you are similarly betraying the S-K code of ethics! Enthusiasm is for the weak!

Ideally, Rammstein would translate this into German and cover it.
posted by Mike B. at 1:37 PM 0 comments