Franz Ferdinand is a Scottish rock band that formed in Glasgow, Scotland, U… Read Full Bio ↴Franz Ferdinand is a Scottish rock band that formed in Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom, in 2002 and played an important part in the post-punk revival of the 2000s. The band was composed of Alex Kapranos (lead vocals and guitar), Bob Hardy (bass guitar), Nick McCarthy (rhythm guitar, keyboards and backing vocals) and Paul Thomson (drums, percussion and backing vocals) until 2016 when McCarthy left them. The next year Julian Corrie (keyboards, synthesiser, guitar and backing vocals) and Dino Bardot (guitar and backing vocals) joined the band. As of October 2021, Audrey Tait (drums) has replaced Paul Thomson, after he amicably separated from the band.

The band first experienced chart success when their second single "Take Me Out" reached #3 in the UK Charts, followed by their debut album Franz Ferdinand which entered the UK album chart at #3. The band went on to win the 2004 Mercury Music Prize and two BRIT Awards in 2005 for Best British Group and Best British Rock Act. NME named Franz Ferdinand as their Album of the Year. From the album, three top-ten singles were released, "Take Me Out", "The Dark of the Matinée" and "This Fire". The band has also received several Grammy Award nominations.

The band is named after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria whose assassination was one of the main reasons for the start of the First World War. The band decided on the name after seeing a racehorse named Archduke Ferdinand win the Northumberland Plate in 2001, eventually coming to the decision as the alliteration and sound of the name appealed to them.

- Discography
Franz Ferdinand (2004)
You Could Have It So Much Better (2005)
Blood; Franz Ferdinand (2009)
Tonight: Franz Ferdinand (2009)
Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action (2013)
FFS (2015) (Collaborative album with the band Sparks)
Always Ascending (2018)
Hits to the Head (2022)

Goodbye Lovers & Friends
Franz Ferdinand Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Don't play pop music, no
You know I hate pop music
Just sing amazing godless grace

I don't wear bright colours, oh
You know I hate bright colours
I never liked you for the way you dressed
Anyway

Goodbye lovers and friends
So sad to leave you
When they lie and say
"This is not the end"
You can laugh as if
We're still together
You can laugh about it all
Anyway

I hope you didn't bring flowers
Hope you didn't write a poem
Hope you remember every fight

I know I could be noxious
Or occasionally cruel
But only to the ones
I loved

So goodbye lovers and friends
So sad to leave you
When they lie and say
"This is not the end"
You can laugh as if
We're still together
You can laugh about it all

Don't get inventory
Don't fake your memory
Don't give me virtues that I never had
Don't get sychophantal
We never were sentimental
I know that I took more than I ever gave

I don't need to be forgiven
But a moment from the living
Yeah that's the only thing I ask

So don't play pop music, no
You know I hate pop music
Just sing amazing godless grace

So goodbye lovers and friends
It's so sad to leave you
When they lie and say
"This is not the end"
You can laugh as if

We're still together
But this really is the end

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Franz Ferdinand's song Goodbye Lovers & Friends may seem like they are about a breakup or farewell, but they actually have a deeper meaning. The first verse shows a disdain for pop music and bright colors, which can be interpreted as a rejection of superficiality and artificiality. The line "Just sing amazing godless grace" suggests a desire for something more genuine, something that is not constrained by established norms or beliefs.

The chorus "Goodbye lovers and friends, so sad to leave you" leads us to believe that there is a separation taking place, and the use of the word "lovers" could refer to romantic relationships or friendships that have gone astray. The line "When they lie and say 'this is not the end', you can laugh as if we're still together" suggests that society may want us to pretend that nothing has changed, that the bond still exists, but in reality, it has come to an end.

The second verse speaks to the idea that we should not dwell on the past by listing things not to do, such as taking inventory and faking our memory. The line "I know that I took more than I ever gave" brings attention to the idea of being self-centered and not appreciating what others have done for us. The final line "But this really is the end" is a finality that cannot be misconstrued as anything other than a definitive goodbye.

Line by Line Meaning

Don't play pop music, no
I dislike pop music and would prefer if you didn't play it

You know I hate pop music
It's not a secret, I really don't like pop music

Just sing amazing godless grace
I'd rather you sing something else that's great but not religious

I don't wear bright colours, oh
Bright colours are not my thing and I don't wear them

You know I hate bright colours
You're aware of my distaste for bright colours

I never liked you for the way you dressed
Your style of dressing didn't draw me to you in any way

Anyway
Moving on

Goodbye lovers and friends
I'm saying goodbye to all my lovers and friends

So sad to leave you
It's very emotional for me to leave you all

When they lie and say
When people tell you that it's not really over

"This is not the end"
It really is the end and people who say otherwise are just lying

You can laugh as if
You can pretend that we're still together and laugh about it

We're still together
Even though we're not together physically or romantically

You can laugh about it all
You can laugh about our past experiences

I hope you didn't bring flowers
I don't think flowers are necessary and hope you didn't bring any

Hope you didn't write a poem
I don't expect you to have written a poem or anything of that sort

Hope you remember every fight
I hope you remember everything, even the bad times

I know I could be noxious
I understand that I wasn't always the best person to be around

Or occasionally cruel
I admit to being cruel at times

But only to the ones
But I only treated the ones I loved this way

I loved
Those I had strong feelings for

Don't get inventory
Don't go into detail about everything like it's an inventory

Don't fake your memory
Don't pretend to remember things that didn't happen or aren't true

Don't give me virtues that I never had
Don't praise me for good qualities I never had

Don't get sychophantal
Don't act like a sycophant or flatter me excessively

We never were sentimental
Our relationship was never based on sentimentality

I know that I took more than I ever gave
I'm aware that I may have been a taker in our relationship

I don't need to be forgiven
I don't require forgiveness from anyone

But a moment from the living
I would appreciate just one moment with the living, before I go

Yeah that's the only thing I ask
That's the only thing I'm asking for

But this really is the end
I want to emphasize that there's really no going back from this, the end is final

Lyrics © WARP MUSIC LIMITED, Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: ALEXANDER PAUL KAPRANOS HUNTLEY, BRYAN CHARLES HOLLON

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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