"Take Me Out"

Franz Ferdinand - Take Me Out (2004)

Yep, named after the Archduke of Austria whose assassination was the catalyst for the first World War



As I am always a sucker for false endings, this song is great. It comes to an end early on. Then kicks off again, but into what is essentially an entirely new song! The first song is less than a minute long. Sir Paul McCartney when he was Wings would occasionally do a song with multiple parts that were that short, but very few other bands would take a great concept for a song and make it a minute long piece of a full song rather than expanding it out into a track itself. From 0:55 until 1:04 they are vamping in between songs. Then from 1:04 until 1:23 the band is vamping on the new song. This is classic thing to do during a live performance for any band segueing from one song to another. It lets everybody check to make sure they're in tune, and ready to go. So to me it gives the overall feel that we are listening to Franz Ferdinand live.

The lyrics are about a doomed relationship framed as a sniper battle. Love doesn't get deadlier: /And if you leave here/You leave me broken, shattered I lie/. But regardless of the lyrics, this song is about getting people up and dancing.It works.