The Knife won a Swedish Grammy award for best pop group of the year 2003, but they boycotted the ceremony by sending two representatives of another artist group dressed as gorillas with the number 50 written on their costumes, apparently as a protest against male dominance within the music industry. Their album Deep Cuts was also nominated for a Swedish Grammy as the best record of the year 2003, although that award went to The Cardigans. It was also in 2003 that the The Knife was featured as Artist of the Week at HitQuarters, which helped them gain greater attention in the worldwide music community.
The group became prominent in late 2005 when José González covered "Heartbeats" on his 2003 album, Veneer. The song was used by Sony in a commercial for Bravia television sets, and released as a single in early 2006. The group commented on this in a Dagens Nyheter article, claiming that Sony paid a large sum of money to use the song. In view of the group's left-wing views and non-commercial philosophy, they excused this transaction on the basis that the money was needed to establish their record company.
The Knife's song "We Share Our Mothers' Health" from their album Silent Shout was featured by the iTunes store as a free song of the week in late 2006. This song was also featured in the ABC series Ugly Betty, as well as an episode of CSI: NY.
In February 2005, the Knife performed their first ever live show at London's ICA, appearing with Rex the Dog and playing in front of a video created for the event by artist/film maker Andreas Nilsson. With this one live performance The Knife embarked on a major tour in 2006, and after selling out shows worldwide, a DVD of the tour was announced. The DVD was released in Sweden on November 8, 2006, and is titled Silent Shout: An Audio Visual Experience.
Silent Shout was named the best album of 2006 by Pitchfork Media.
At the Swedish Grammy awards in January 2007, The Knife won in all six categories they were nominated in: Composer of the Year, Music DVD of the Year, Producer of the Year, Pop Group of the Year, Album of the Year and Artist of the Year. Again, they did not attend the award ceremony.
In 2009 the duo wrote the opera Tomorrow, In a Year, celebrating 150 years since Darwin's Origin of Species was published.
In April 2013 they released the album Shaking The Habitual.
In 2014 Karin Dreijer revealed in a interview that the Knife were calling it quits for good. "When we finish the tour now in November we will close down, it’s our last tour," they said. "We don’t have any obligations to continue, it should only and always be for fun."
Handy-Man
The Knife Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I thought that you were the one
Looking good, I assumed you were handy
You introduced yourself as handy
I thought you were the handy-man
I laid my love in your hands
Andy my man
Then something went wrong
And the feeling was so gone
Slipped the hammer on your thumb
And the saw got caught in your thong
I thought you were the handy-man
I laid my love in your hands
Andy my man
I thought you were the handy-man
Then something went wrong
And the feeling was so gone
Slipped the hammer on your thumb
And the saw got caught in your thong
I thought you were the handy-man
I laid my love in your hands
Andy my man
I thought you were the handy-man
I thought you were the handy-man
I laid my love in your hands
Andy my man
I thought you were the handy-man
Handy-man
Handy-man
Handy-man
I thought you were the handy-man
Handy-man
Handy-man
Handy-man
I thought you were the handy-man
The lyrics to The Knife's song "Handy-Man" are a playful commentary on the power of assumption and the deceptive nature of appearances. The singer encounters someone who gives off the impression of being skilled and competent, initially assuming that they are a "handy-man." The singer even lays their love in this person's hands, entrusting them with their feelings, desires, and vulnerabilities. However, something goes wrong and the person's true nature is revealed. They slip with a hammer and get a saw caught in their thong, revealing that they are not as capable or trustworthy as the singer had assumed.
Through this narrative, the song highlights the danger of making assumptions based on superficial appearances and emphasizes the importance of looking beyond what may be visible on the surface. The upbeat, almost comical tone of the song serves to underscore this message, as the melody and lyrics are at odds with the disappointing outcome of the encounter.
Overall, "Handy-Man" is a song that encourages listeners to be thoughtful and intentional in their relationships and to avoid making assumptions based on incomplete or superficial impressions.
Line by Line Meaning
When I saw you
As soon as I laid eyes on you
I thought that you were the one
I initially believed that you were the perfect match for me
Looking good, I assumed you were handy
Based on your appearance, I assumed that you were skilled at manual labor
You introduced yourself as handy
You confirmed my assumption about your abilities when you introduced yourself as 'handy'
I thought you were the handy-man
I held onto the belief that you were a skilled worker
I laid my love in your hands
I entrusted my heart and affection to you
Andy my man
A term of endearment for you - Andy
Then something went wrong
Unfortunately, the situation changed for the worse
And the feeling was so gone
My emotions towards you had dissipated
Slipped the hammer on your thumb
You inured yourself by accidentally hitting your thumb with the hammer
And the saw got caught in your thong
You had an accident with the saw, which resulted in it getting caught on your clothing
I thought you were the handy-man
Despite these accidents, I still held onto the belief that you were a skilled worker
Handy-man
Repeating the term used to describe what I thought you were
I thought you were the handy-man
Once again reinforcing my mistaken idea of your skills
I laid my love in your hands
Continuing to emphasize how I had trusted you with my affection
Andy my man
A sweet term to call you
Handy-man, handy-man, handy-man
Repeating the term I had initially used in disbelief and disappointment
I thought you were the handy-man
Reiterating my misguided belief in you
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: KARIN ELIZABETH DREIJER ANDERSSON, OLOF BJORN DREIJER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Gyrbae
I like to think that when I'm not using my utility tools they're having a fabulous party in the toolbox.
Daniëla Brune
One of my favourite bands!
Blind and deaf
this song is so tight, why they never played it live
Lana Korvin
pity all good handymen are taken, this song is always on when i can't find a handyman
uskidsknow19
i fckin love this band
SwedishMongooseDelivery
this video still haunts me
Omar Safter
I forgot this song existed
Raistlin Majere
I came here lookin' to hire someone to fix my water heater, but now I'm scared, and I want out of this place. Still, though, need that handy-man, can anybody give a solid reference? 😹😹😹
Rolf Bengtsson
This is really good
Elvis HC
so goooood