Dance Fever Analysis- Heaven is Here

I think you're right about the outlaw imagery with "and I ride in my red dress," especially with the gun in her hand. I wonder if that whole verse starting with "more Catholic taste than the devil" through the speaker being depicted as a rider in a red dress might be an allusion to the Book of Revelations and the "whore of Babylon" who rides on a great beast in a red and purple dress, covered in gold and jewels.

Erin

the "And all of the fish, let them flounder I went to the water, drank every drop I'll turn your sea to a desert" part really reminds me of the recurring motif in Florence's work, which is water. In other songs, especially on "ceremonials" it represents enormous emotions such as depression, anxiety as well as an escape from reality (often times by drowning). In later albums she tried to cut herself from this ideas in her writing, but it just kept coming back. Here I think speaker is confronting their dark desires (drinking the whole sea, as well as the bottle), not really to resolve them, but as an outlet for their frustration with being stuck with their darkness, with the only hope being writing songs but as stated in the last lines, it's the very thing which put them in this position

Florence wrote this song right after she was able to return to the studio after lockdown so she put a lot of anger and grief into the song. It's formatted sort of in a way like a curse, you can definitely get that vibe in "All of the fish let 'em flounder. I went to the water, drank every drop. I'll turn your sea to a desert!"

Aeros Sylphid

Interesting! I can see that!

English Teacher KP

So the second part where she says "Oh, bring your, boy, bring your bottle Open your mouth, pour it down his neck Heaven is here if you want it" Has always made me think of addiction. Growing up with an alcoholic father, getting drunk was his way to "see heaven" in a sense. I think in this context I saw it more of a metaphor for finding bliss while pouring the liquor down his throat.

Sydney

The idea of the devil having Catholic taste along with Hell being glittery and golden is interesting because historically the Catholic Church has been criticized for overly opulent and wealthy. I mean they used to make people pay for “tickets to heaven” in the form of indulgences. That’s kind of similar to the speaker here. Heaven is here for the taking if you’re willing give something valuable for it. (Side note: Hocus Pocus and Holes are absolute classics).

Sav Miller