Echo & the Bunnymen is a British Post-punk band formed in Liverpool in 1978… Read Full Bio ↴Echo & the Bunnymen is a British Post-punk band formed in Liverpool in 1978. The original line-up consisted of Ian McCulloch (of The Crucial Three), Will Sergeant and Les Pattinson. There are many stories, probably apocryphal, that the quartet was completed by a drum machine known as "Echo".

By the time of their debut album, 1980's Crocodiles - a moderate UK hit - the drum machine had been replaced by Pete de Freitas. Their next, the critically-acclaimed Heaven Up Here, reached the Top Ten in 1981, as did 1983's Porcupine and '84's Ocean Rain. Singles like "The Killing Moon" (later used in the soundtrack to Donnie Darko, a film whose imagery owed much to the artwork of the band's early records.), "Silver," "Bring on the Dancing Horses," and "The Cutter" helped keep the group in the public eye as they took a brief hiatus in the late 1980s. Their 1987 self-titled LP was a small American hit, their only LP to have significant sales there.

McCulloch quit the band in 1988. De Freitas was killed in a motorcycle accident one year later. The others decided to continue, recruiting Noel Burke to replace McCulloch on vocals in Reverberation (1990), which did not generate much excitement among fans or critics. Burke, Sargeant and Pattinson split after that, but the surviving three fourths of the original band reformed in 1997 and released Evergreen (1997), What are You Going to Do with Your Life? (1999), Flowers (2001) , Siberia (2005), and the latest addition, The Fountain (2009). The group's old audience liked the return to their classic sound, and they also managed to gain a number of new, younger listeners.

Echo and the Bunnymen were managed early on by Bill Drummond, who went on to be a founder member of The KLF.

Polly
Echo & the Bunnymen Lyrics

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Polly put the kettle on
I met a man
And asked of them
He told me that
The pound was strong
I knew that bridge was falling
So jimmy put the gas masks on
And swam and swam

Up to the dam
And everyone came along
Don't think we can talk
____________ making war
Don't think we can risk it
Another heavy biscuit __________
Can i beat the count of ten
I'm lying just to stay alive
Dying in my _________ again
Taken to a dive
Trying to survive
When's it going to take you
And how's it gonna make you feel
You can't even spell it
So how you gonna tell
If it's real?
A bomb blew up my shelter
I never even felt a thing
I brushed away the dust and
Gave ole jimmy custer a ring
Don't think we can talk _______
____________ making war
Don't think we can risk it
Another heavy biscuit __________
Can i beat the count of ten
I'm lying just to stay alive
Dying in my _________ again
Taken to a dive
Trying to survive
I knew that bridge was falling
So jimmy put the gas masks on
And swam and swam

Up to the dam
And everyone came along

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Echo & the Bunnymen's song "Polly" seem to touch on themes of war and survival. The singer seems to be in the midst of some sort of conflict, where bombs are going off and gas masks are necessary. The song's opening lines, "Polly put the kettle on, I met a man, and asked of them," suggest a domestic scene, but the subsequent lines point to something much more dire. The man the singer meets tells him that "the pound was strong," which could be interpreted as a reference to the currency's strength during wartime. The singer then mentions a falling bridge, which could be a metaphor for a collapsing society or government. Jimmy, who is mentioned several times in the song, puts on gas masks and swims to a dam, and "everyone came along." It's unclear who these people are, but it's possible they are the singer's fellow survivors.

Line by Line Meaning

Polly put the kettle on
Start preparing for what's to come

I met a man
Encountered someone with knowledge

And asked of them
Inquired about what was happening

He told me that
Shared information

The pound was strong
The value of money was high

I knew that bridge was falling
I was aware that disaster was imminent

So jimmy put the gas masks on
Prepared for danger

And swam and swam
Struggling to survive

Up to the dam
Tried to get to safety

And everyone came along
Others followed in pursuit of safety

Don't think we can talk
Communication is difficult

____________ making war
Fighting is happening or imminent

Don't think we can risk it
It's too dangerous to try

Another heavy biscuit __________
Another difficult situation

Can I beat the count of ten
Can I survive for just a little longer

I'm lying just to stay alive
I'm pretending to be something I'm not in order to survive

Dying in my _________ again
Succumbing to a familiar struggle

Taken to a dive
Living in a place of desperation

Trying to survive
Struggling to stay alive

When's it going to take you
When will a catastrophic event overtake you

And how's it gonna make you feel
What emotions will it evoke in you

You can't even spell it
You don't have the capacity to understand or describe it

So how you gonna tell
How will you convey the magnitude of the situation

If it's real?
If this is actually happening

A bomb blew up my shelter
A place of safety was destroyed

I never even felt a thing
The damage was sudden and surprise

I brushed away the dust and
I refused to allow the tragedy to defeat me

Gave ole jimmy custer a ring
Reached out for help

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: IAN STEPHEN MCCULLOCH, WILLIAM ALFRED SERGEANT

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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