“Colossus” is the first piece of music since 2017’s praised debut album Brutalism by the Bristol post punk five-piece IDLES.
The song is the first single from their second album, Joy as an Act of Resistance.
[Part I]
[Verse]
I was done in on the weekend
The weekend lasted twenty years
The world's best bulimic bartend
Tender, violent, and queer
[Refrain]
Forgive me father, I have sinned
I've drained my body, full of pins
I've danced 'til dawn with splintered shins
Full of pins, full of pins
[Chorus]
Goes and it goes and it goes
Goes and it goes and it goes
Goes and it goes and it goes
Goes and it goes and it goes
[Pre-Chorus]
They laugh at me when I run
I waste away for fun
I am my father's son
His shadow weighs a tonne
[Chorus]
Goes and it goes and it goes
Goes and it goes and it goes
Goes and it goes and it goes
Goes and it goes and it goes
[Pre-Chorus]
They laugh at me when I run
I waste away for fun
I am my father's son
His shadow weighs a tonne
[Chorus]
Goes and it goes and it goes
Goes and it goes and it goes
Goes and it goes and it goes
Goes and it goes and it goes
[Refrain]
Forgive me father, I have sinned
I've drained my body, full of pins
I've danced till dawn with splintered shins
Full of pins, full of pins
[Chorus]
Goes and it goes and it goes
Goes and it goes and it goes
Goes and it goes and it goes
Go, go, go, go, go, go
[Outro]
It's comin', it's comin'
It's comin', it's comin'
It's comin', it's comin'
It's comin', it's comin'
[Part II]
[Intro]
(One, two)
I don't want to be your man, your man
I (Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
Don't want to be (Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
Your man (Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
Your man (Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
[Verse]
I'm like Stone Cold Steve Austin (Yeah, yeah, yeah)
I put homophobes in coffins (Yeah, yeah, yeah)
I'm like Fred Astaire (Yeah, yeah, yeah)
I dance like I don't care (Yeah, yeah, yeah)
I'm like Ted DiBiase (I)
I win no matter what it costs me (Don't want to be)
(Yeah, yeah, yeah)
I'm like Evel Knievel (Your man)
I break bones for my people (Your man)
(Yeah, yeah, yeah)
I'm on my best behavior (I)
(Yeah, yeah, yeah)
Like Jesus Christ, our savior (Don't want to be)
(Yeah, yeah, yeah)
I'm like Reggie Kray (Your man)
Colossus was written by Mark Bowen & Lee Kiernan & Jon Beavis & Adam Devonshire & Joe Talbot.
Colossus was produced by Paul Frazer.
DIY magazine described the song as “a blistering two-part rally against toxic masculinity, it’s an exhilarating, deeply important return.”. The lyrics raise a substantial problem of “being a real man” in the 21 century and the protagonist’s ways of tackling “man up” attitude.
Yes. “Colossus” was debuted at Simple Things Festival in Bristol, England on October 21, 2017.
This song was written purposely as the opener to the album; we always try and write records as an entity in itself with a brief. We wanted the first track to be cinematic and ominous, as a way of capturing the pressures of performance and grief. We wrote the first crescendo part in about 10 minutes...