British alternative quartet Skunk Anansie played what their lead singer, Sk… Read Full Bio ↴British alternative quartet Skunk Anansie played what their lead singer, Skin, called clit-rock -- an amalgam of heavy metal and Black feminist rage. Skin began singing in high school for a classmate's band after considering the offer for over a year. Six years after that band broke up, the members of Skunk Anansie (including bass player Cass, guitarist Ace, and drummer Robbie France, who was replaced by Mark Richardson in 1995) met one another by chance. Their name was taken from the West African folktales of Anansi the Spider-Man, with a slight change of spelling and "Skunk" added to make the name nastier.
The group played its first gig at London's Splash club in March 1994, subsequently taking six weeks to record its debut album, Paranoid and Sunburnt, at a "haunted house" outside the city. The band's first single, "Selling Jesus," was featured on the soundtrack of the film Strange Days; Stoosh followed in 1996, and three years later Skunk Anansie returned with Post Orgasmic Chill. They broke up in 2001, with Skin moving on to a solo career (releasing Fleshwounds in 2003 and Fake Chemical State in 2006). The group re-formed in early 2009, playing sold-out shows and recording three new tracks for a greatest-hits album, Smashes & Trashes. The reunion went so well that they decided to stick together and record a new album, Wonderlustre, released in the autumn of 2010, with the track "You Saved Me" used in Zack Snyder's 2011 movie Sucker Punch, along with their remix of Björk's "Army of Me."
Sadly, former drummer Robbie France passed away after his aorta ruptured in January 2011. The band released its fifth album, Black Traffic, in September 2012 and backed it with an extensive European tour. The first single from the album was "Sad, Sad, Sad." The group followed this up with the live album An Acoustic Skunk Anansie: Live in London, a recording of their performance at Cadogan Hall, London in April 2013, before their sixth studio effort, Anarchytecture, arrived in 2016. The following year, the band put out 25live@25 -- a compilation album that traversed 25 years of live material.

Biography by Steve Huey

She's My Heroine
Skunk Anansie Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

I can't weep only cry
I can move, I deny
See my smile, eat, eat, eat
Fe fe feed you, so damn sweet
She's calling

She's my heroine
She's my heroine

Fingers going down, down
She's my heroine

You're too weird
Creep, creep, creep
Smiley faces so discrete
La la lover evil eyes
I can't sleep for her lies
She's calling, she's crawling
Smashed you in the face
Up against the wall
(There's) no one I can call

She's my heroine
She's my heroine

She's my heroine
She's my heroine

Overall Meaning

The song "She's My Heroine" by Skunk Anansie is a hauntingly beautiful tribute to addiction. In the first verse, the singer suggests that they are unable to process and release their emotions, only able to cry - this could be interpreted as a reference to substance abuse numbing their ability to feel or cope with life's challenges. The lines, "See my smile, eat, eat, eat", suggest a cycle of indulgence and denial, with the singer trying to distract themselves from the pain through hedonistic activities. The phrase, "Fe fe feed you, so damn sweet", evokes a sense of desperation, as if the singer is trying to appease an insatiable hunger - which could be the craving for the substance they're addicted to.

The chorus - "She's my heroine, fingers going down" - is a clear reference to drug use, with "heroine" being a homonym for the word "heroin". The wordplay here is interesting; in one interpretation, the singer may see their addiction as their hero - something that is giving them comfort and support - while the alternative interpretation paints a darker picture, suggesting that the singer is worshipping a substance that will eventually destroy them. In the second verse, the singer refers to their love interest as "too weird" and suggests that they are manipulative and deceitful, leading the singer to lose sleep over their lies. The line, "Smashed you in the face, up against the wall" adds a sense of anger and violence to the song, which may again be a reference to the destructive nature of addiction.

Overall, the lyrics of "She's My Heroine" are haunting and ambiguous, but perfectly capture the complicated nature of addiction and the conflicting emotions that it can evoke.

Line by Line Meaning

I can't weep only cry
I am unable to express my emotions fully and can only cry instead of weeping.

I can move, I deny
I have the ability to move forward in life, even if I am in denial or struggling to accept something difficult.

See my smile, eat, eat, eat
I may appear happy and content on the surface, but I am actually consuming my emotions and problems by overeating.

Fe fe feed you, so damn sweet
I may be offering comfort and sweetness to someone else, but it is at the cost of my own well-being and emotional stability.

She's calling
The person I am dependent on is reaching out to me for support or attention.

She's my heroine
The person I am referring to is my addiction or coping mechanism, but I am pretending that they are a hero or savior in my life.

Fingers going down, down
My addiction or coping mechanism is pulling me down and controlling my actions, even if it leads to self-destruction.

You're too weird
The people around me judge or reject me because of my dependence on my addiction or coping mechanism.

Creep, creep, creep
I feel like an outsider or outcast because of my addiction or coping mechanism.

Smiley faces so discrete
Despite my inner turmoil, I try to hide my true feelings behind a façade of happiness or positivity.

La la lover evil eyes
The object of my addiction or coping mechanism may appear attractive or loving, but it is ultimately destructive and harmful.

I can't sleep for her lies
My addiction or coping mechanism leads me to believe false promises or comfort, which ultimately keeps me from true emotional healing and rest.

She's calling, she's crawling
My addiction or coping mechanism continues to pull me in and control my actions, even when I try to resist or escape it.

Smashed you in the face
My addiction or coping mechanism has caused me physical or emotional harm, but I continue to turn to it instead of seeking true healing.

Up against the wall
I feel trapped and cornered by my addiction or coping mechanism, unable to move forward or seek help.

(There's) no one I can call
I feel isolated and alone in my struggle with addiction or coping mechanisms, unable to reach out for help or support.

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: DEBORAH ANN DYER, LEN ARRAN

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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