Best Song Ever (album edition): The Midnight Organ Fight - Frightened Rabbit
One of the best relationship albums every written
“You should look through some old photos. I adored you in every one of those. If someone took a picture of us now they'd need to be told. That we had ever clung and tied. A navy knot with arms at night. I'd say she was his sister but she doesn't have his nose. And now we're unrelated and rid of all the shit we hated. But I hate when I feel like this. And I never hated you.”
The Scottish band Frightened Rabbit wrote one of the best breakup albums of all time. Capturing all the feels that goes with a major breakup. This album is so awesome. But it is real. It is heavy some parts and beyond heavy in one particular part (TW: Suicide). And just so we’re all on the same page, Scott Hutchinson, the lead singer and songwriter for Frightened Rabbit, died by suicide around ten years after the release of this album in the exact same way he outlined in a song on this album. It was a hard day for me. It was a hard day for lots of people. The intensity of this album is unmistakable. I’ll say this again, but, if you’re having self harm you can dial 988 or text a friend.
The album is about the ending of a long term and important relationship. These two people have been together forever. And its clear that Scott views the other person as his savior. But, he agrees the relationship has run its course and it should end. But in the end, it crushes him. It doesn’t really go in chronological order of a breakup of a long relationship. It skips around to different pieces. Its a series of vignettes not in chronological order, but that tell a story (think the ending pieces of 500 Days of Summer).
Let’s dig in.
Modern Leper
The album kicks off with arguably the strongest song on the album (over 9M listens on Spotify as of 6/2023). I think we started here, because Modern Leper provides context on the relationship over time. Scott views himself as a broken and sick person. He is being saved by someone who must be a masochist:
“well are youuu a masociiist?”
because he hurts her over and over:
“Well I’ve crippled your heart 100 times and still can’t work out why. You see, I've got this disease. I can't shake and I'm just rattling through life ”
But she continues to come back and save him over and over again.
I love that his kick off to the album is:
“A cripple walks amongst you. All you tired human beings. He's got all the things a cripple has not. Two working arms and legs.”
He goes on to explain how he is fall apart (limbs are literally falling off in his song) and he continues to hurt her while falling apart and she continues to come back. So, she can,
“sit with me and start again and tell all about what you did today.”
But, (clearly?) this sort of relationship is not long with this world. It can’t work over the long term.
“Is that you in front of me? Coming back for even more of exactly the same. You must be a masochist. To love a modern leper on his last leg.”
I Feel Better
In this song there is hope (and realness). He is saying that he left the relationship and was so confused about his future life. But, now he is better. Sure, not all the time. But, he is generally better.
“I'll stow away my greys. In a padlocked case in a padlocked room.”
But, it’s worth noting that he starts off the song with, “
Though there is realness in the feeling better, there is extreme feelings of awesome and horrible,
“I feel better and better and worse and then better. Than ever, than ever, than ever.”
And, I love how he describes his new freedom in the bridge,
“Now I'm free in parentheses. And I'm not sure what I ought to do with it.”
“I'll stow away my greys. In a padlocked case in a padlocked room. Only to be released. When I sing all the songs I wrote about you. This is the last one I'll do.”
Good Arms vs Bad Arms
The other person invariably ends up being with other people. And Scott knew this. But this song seems written from the perspective of receiving some sort of confirmation that she is with someone else. I love the use of arms to be someones arms and the arms used in a battle at the same time. Throughout the song Scott constantly shows his arms to be the things that he is going to fight with to get the girl back and the arms to provide protection to her. But, more importantly, you can hear his fear his anguish throughout the song. Those feels are real here.
“Leave the rest at arm's length. Just roll over, boy, and don't make me do this. Leave the rest at arm's length. I am armed to the teeth and I'm heavy-set. Leave the rest at arm's length. I'm not ready to see you this happy. Leave the rest at arm's length. I am still in love with you, can't admit it yet.”
Fast Blood
This is a huge euphemism for sex. This song is about sex. Maybe the last of the relationship referenced in Old Old Fashioned or maybe the first of a new meaningless relationship mentioned in The Twist (both mentioned below). This is about great sex that is memorable.
“And your black eyes roll back. Midnight Organ Fight. Your's gives into mine. It's all right.”
Old Old Fashioned
The relationship is nearing the end. They both know it. Scott asks his partner to go back to the old days. When they were into each other. Back to when things were better, simpler, easier. Back when they actually connected over things. And it’s worth noting it doesn’t take much. Scott is ok with soft static. He doesn’t need a full connection.
“Oh, let's get old fashioned. Back to how things used to be. If I get old, old fashioned. Would you get old, old fashioned with me?”
So they turn off the TV and turn on the radio and dance to whatever is on the radio at the time. Going back to being old fashioned in a couple ways.
“I'll turn off the TV. It's killing us we never speak. There's a radio in the corner. It's dying to make us see.”
The Twist
I know this comes right after Old Old Fashioned, but I think this is a new person. This is Scott finding some connection post the old relationship - the person doesn’t know his name. I love how this song captures the energy of an evening looking for connection with someone. Again, Scott uses words to mean multiple things. He is talking about dancing the twist and uses excellent imagery to capture that moment of dancing,
“Lift your dress enough to show me those shins. Let your hair stick to your forehead (ahh).”
He is also using the twist to talk about twisting bodies in a hookup post dancing. I love how he brings all his insecurities to this song and the dance floor,
“Lets pretend I'm attractive and then. You won't mind, you can twist for a while. It's the night, I can be who you like. And I'll quietly leave before it gets light.”
In the end, as Craig Finn says, “we all want the same things,” and the third twist, “
The twist is that you're just like me. You need company, you need human heat.”
Oh man. How good is it that he doesn’t care if she knows who he is and how he captures it. This is a precursor to Keep Yourself Warm (below) where he calls out how unfulfilling one night stands are. But still, he captures the essence of all that in the following lines:
“You twist and whisper the wrong name. I don't care and nor do my ears (ahh). Twist yourself around me. I need company, I need human heat. I need human heat.”
Heads Roll Off
This is Scott coming to terms with what’s beyond the relationship. His life. And, his afterlife. And while he is a live, he’s, “going to make tiny changes to earth.” This is really an atheist’s view of life and the afterlife. Jesus is meaningless. There is no heaven with “a house in the clouds.” When we die, our heads roll off and we die.
“Jesus is just a Spanish boy's name. How come one man got so much fame?. To any me, it's pointless to anybody. That doesn't have faith. Give me the cloth and I'll wipe my face.”
But, other people will carry on and maybe they’ll carry on in someway that was impacted by you. So, make the most of your time on your time on earth. Be kind to people. Be good to yourself. But do good.
You can mark my words, I'll make changes to earth. While I'm alive, I'll make tiny changes to earth! Tiny changes to earth!
My Backwards Walk
It’s so hard to end a long relationship. Maybe the ending takes a long time. As we learn in Modern Leper, this other person is core to who he is. They can not stop being together. This is full of metaphors an imagery to illustrate how the end of a relationship looks and feels. I love the imagery here:
I'm working hard on walking out. Shoes keep sticking to the ground. My clothes won't let me close the door. These trousers seem to love your floor.
I love how this is expressed in how he’s trying to make himself better, but needs the other to do it. So, he’s, “done drawn a line, between you and me.” But, when he’s working on “erasing you,” he realizes, “I just don’t have the proper tools.” Because she has the proper tools. But, later we realize they keep coming back together. And they can’t stop being together. Even though its destroying them both. We know that its destroying the other person. But its also clear the other person is part of his destruction as well.
“I'm working on my faults and cracks. Filling in the blanks and gaps. And when I write them out they don't make sense. I need you to pencil in the rest. I'm working on drawing a straight line. And I'll draw until I get one right. It's bold and dark girl, can't you see. I done drawn a line between you and me. I'm working on erasing you. Just don't have the proper tools I get hammered, forget that you exist. There's no way I'm forgetting this.”
Keep Yourself Warm
This is the result of earlier decisions. And really the realization that we know from earlier on that Scott sings about in The Twist. In that same song, Scott sings that everyone needs human heat. And, at the beginning of the song Scott even says,
“My hole, I'll get my hole. I'll get my hole. Get my hole, get my hole. And I will find out more. It's a choo-choo train. A rocket launch. If we have a hormone race. I'm bound to finish first.”
But, ultimately, it doesn’t provide the connection he’s looking for. Just after he finishes the first verse, he comes to a very clear realization. This very direct and poignant song, has one key takeaway:
“No, you won't find love in a. Won't find love in a hole. It takes more than fucking someone. To keep yourself warm.”
But, one of my favorite set of lines on the album is later:
“I'm drunk, I'm drunk. And you're probably on pills. If we both got the same diseases. It's irrelevant, girl”
The chorus summarizes things nicely:
“Can you see in the dark? Can you see the look on your face? The flashing white light's been turned off. You don't know know who's in your bed. It takes more than fucking someone you don't know. To keep warm. Do you really think that for a house beat. You'll find your love in a hole?”
Poke
The end is here. It has arrived. And he is processing it. And he is realizing the entire relationship is dead or it is dying. He just wants it to be over. It is painful watching it die. They both need to grieve and mourn. I love how he starts the song questioning why he can’t cry about the end of the relationship at this point.
“Poke at my iris. Why can't I cry about this? Maybe there is something that you know that I don't.”
As he goes on to explain. They are no longer connecting. They are no longer in a relationship. They both need to get out. She wants him to try to win her back, but he won’t. He refuses to catch the mouse and present it to her in the way that will make her feel like he is trying enough.
“We adopt brand new language. Communicate through pursed lips. And you try not to put on any sexy clothes or graces. I might never catch a mouse. And present it in my mouth. ,To make you feel you're with someone who deserves to be with you.”
They have had a long relationship. They are something.
“But there's one thing we've got going. And it's the only thing worth knowing. It's got lots to do with magnets and the pull of the moon.”
And the relationship won’t die (as we’ve seen throughout this album, they keep coming back together).
“Why won't our love keel over as it chokes on a bone? And we can mourn its passing. And then bury it in snow. Or should we kick its cunt in. And watch as it dies from bleeding? If you don't want to be with me just say and I will go.”
But it needs to die. It needs to end. They are no longer connecting. You can see it in pictures. Its obvious to them. Regardless, that doesn’t take away from the pain of it ending (“I’ve got shin-splints and a stitch from we”). He is in physical pain from the relationship ending. They are divorced. They are no longer related. In theory, he should be happy. But, he hates how he feels right now.
“You should look through some old photos. I adored you in every one of those. If someone took a picture of us now they'd need to be told. That we had ever clung and tied. A navy knot with arms at night. I'd say she was his sister but she doesn't have his nose. And now we're unrelated and rid of all the shit we hated. But I hate when I feel like this. And I never hated you.”
I’m going to put a break here. Honestly, you can stop reading and you’ll get the gist of this album. You don’t need to hear the final song. Though its worth noting they played it every night on their 10th anniversary tour, so its for sure canon part of the album. But, its heavy. So, you can stop listening and reading here. I rarely listen to this song.
Trigger Warning. The next song is about suicide. If thats triggering for you, please stop reading and listening now.
Floating in the Forth
She leaves and he dies by suicide. This is such a tough song. I rarely listen to it. I am not the only one. This song doesn’t have a lot of listens relatively to the other songs with significant vocals; only I Feel Better has fewer listens (which is a strange song for people to skip). I suspect that this song has a lot of listens from people who don’t connect to the rest of the album. This is a very real song about suicidal ideation. I don’t want to spend a lot of time analyzing the details of this song. I will leave you with this quote from the genius notation:
In an interview with Noisey, Scott Hutchison detailed that the band did not play “Floating in the Forth” regularly. However, during The Midnight Organ Fight’s tenth anniversary tour, it was part of the set every night. He continued:
It’s a real thing. It’s a real thought […] I’ve gone 90 percent of the way through that song in real life. But at the same time it’s gratifying. It’s heartening to know that I’ve been through that, and I’m stood there performing that song, alive and feeling good about it.
10 years after the release of “Floating in the Forth” and less than a week after the Noisey interview was published, Scott was found dead on the banks of the Firth of Forth
If you’re experiencing thoughts of suicide or self harm there are resources to help. You can dial 988. Or you can talk to a friend. Don’t know what to say, just copy and past this message into an email or a text: “This is really hard for me to say but I’m having painful thoughts and it might help to talk. Are you free?”