Sacrilege

Album: Mosquito (2013)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • The first single by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs from their Mosquito album finds Karen O singing about "falling for a guy" with a "halo round his head." The track was premiered on February 25, 2013 on Zane Lowe's UK BBC Radio 1 show.
  • The bombastic, epic song's concept of the violation of the sacrosanct is emphasized during its outro as a 24-piece gospel choir takes the song to a spiritual climax.
  • The video stars British model turned actress Lily Cole as a promiscuous character who has a number of affairs with local residents (you might have seen her in Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus ). None of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs members make an appearance in the conceptual clip.
  • As the Broadway Gospel Choir recorded their vocals for this song, Karen O stood in the center of the group, absorbing the vibration of their pleading and praying. "I never experienced anything like that, man," she told Spin magazine. "It was hair-raising, it was spine-tingling."
  • Karen O told NME that the first version the band was recorded of this song was terrible. "Then it hit me," she continued. "'You know what would make it really great? A gospel choir.' I'd been listening to Lou Reed's Transformer a lot and I loved those soulful back-up singers."
  • Karen explained the song's meaning to NME: "You can think of this as someone who's out of your league and not knowing if you can hold court with them," she said. "It also could be about finding out something about someone you don't know already. There's a lot of Earth angels out there, man."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

90210 to Buffy to Glee: How Songs Transformed TV

90210 to Buffy to Glee: How Songs Transformed TVSong Writing

Shows like Dawson's Creek, Grey's Anatomy and Buffy the Vampire Slayer changed the way songs were heard on TV, and produced some hits in the process.

Sam Phillips

Sam PhillipsSongwriter Interviews

Collaborating with T Bone Burnett, Leslie Phillips changed her name and left her Christian label behind - Robert Plant, who recorded one of her songs on Raising Sand, is a fan.

Danny Clinch: The Art of Rock Photography

Danny Clinch: The Art of Rock PhotographySong Writing

One of rock's top photographers talks about artistry in photography, raising funds for a documentary, and enjoying a County Fair with Tom Waits.

Why Does Everybody Hate Nu-Metal? Your Metal Questions Answered

Why Does Everybody Hate Nu-Metal? Your Metal Questions AnsweredSong Writing

10 Questions for the author of Precious Metal: Decibel Presents the Stories Behind 25 Extreme Metal Masterpieces

Eric Clapton

Eric ClaptonFact or Fiction

Did Eric Clapton really write "Cocaine" while on cocaine? This question and more in the Clapton edition of Fact or Fiction.

Bill Withers

Bill WithersSongwriter Interviews

Soul music legend Bill Withers on how life experience and the company you keep leads to classic songs like "Lean On Me."