Robbers

Album: The 1975 (2013)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This song is about two lovers who aren't good for each other. She's having second thoughts but they keep putting off the inevitable end of the relationship. In doing so they are robbing each other of happiness.
  • The video finds frontman Matthew Healy and his girl rob a shop at gunpoint to fund their alcohol and drug addiction. The clip was inspired by one of the singer's favorite movie characters. "I got really obsessed with the idea behind Patricia Arquette's character in True Romance when I was about 18," he said. "That craving for the bad boy in that film, it's so sexualized," he added. "It was something I was obsessed with."

    "'Robbers' is about a heist that goes wrong," Healy added. "I suppose you can read it as a metaphor, and a girl who's obsessed with her professional killer boyfriend. It's a romantic ideal."

Comments: 1

  • Bold from EuropeHe was just high when he wrote the song. I find more beauty in the melancholy behind the metaphor of a disastrous relationship!
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Lori McKenna

Lori McKennaSongwriter Interviews

Lori's songs have been recorded by Faith Hill and Sara Evans. She's performed on the CMAs and on Oprah. She also has five kids.

TV Theme Songs

TV Theme SongsFact or Fiction

Was a Beatles song a TV theme? And who came up with those Fresh Prince and Sopranos songs?

Joan Armatrading

Joan ArmatradingSongwriter Interviews

The revered singer-songwriter talks inspiration and explains why she put a mahout in "Drop the Pilot."

Graham Parker

Graham ParkerSongwriter Interviews

When Judd Apatow needed under-appreciated rockers for his Knocked Up sequel, he immediately thought of Parker, who just happened to be getting his band The Rumour back together.

Allen Toussaint - "Southern Nights"

Allen Toussaint - "Southern Nights"They're Playing My Song

A song he wrote and recorded from "sheer spiritual inspiration," Allen's didn't think "Southern Nights" had hit potential until Glen Campbell took it to #1 two years later.

How "A Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss" Became Rock's Top Proverb

How "A Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss" Became Rock's Top ProverbSong Writing

How a country weeper and a blues number made "rolling stone" the most popular phrase in rock.