Named after a Chinese friend whose name sounds like the Mandarin pronunciat… Read Full Bio ↴Named after a Chinese friend whose name sounds like the Mandarin pronunciation of "bandstand," the Ting Tings -- a scrappy, dance-oriented duo consisting of singer/guitarist Katie White and drummer Jules De Martino -- formed in the Salford district of Manchester, England in 2006. Prior to forming the group, the pair worked together in 2001 when White was in the all-female punk-pop group TKO and De Martino wrote some songs for them. Later the pair reunited, and with another friend formed the trio Eskimo Kiss, which signed to Mercury Records but disbanded, in part due to changing personnel at the label. De Martino and White regrouped, working on their own music and others' at Salford's music commune The Islington Mill. Quickly signed to the local indie label Switchflicker Records, the Ting Tings released their debut single, "That's Not My Name," in the spring of 2007. Following the limited-edition, tour-only single "Fruit Machine," the Ting Tings signed to major-label Columbia later that year. The flipside of the Switchflicker single, "Great DJ," was released as the duo's debut Columbia single in March 2008, followed by the reissue of "That's Not My Name" with a new exclusive B-side remix.

"That's Not My Name" rose to the top of the U.K. charts in May 2008, the same month that the duo's debut album, We Started Nothing, appeared. The Ting Tings spent the rest of 2008 and a large part of 2009 touring in support of the album, which eventually sold over two million copies worldwide, won the 2009 Ivor Novello Award for Best Album, and earned the group a Best New Artist Grammy nomination that December. Early in 2010, De Martino and White moved to Berlin to work on songs for their second album. Inspired by the city's atmosphere and the cold weather, they went in a darker, more electronic direction with their new songs. In August 2010, the Ting Tings offered a taste of their new material, premiering the single "Hands" -- which was mixed by Calvin Harris -- on BBC Radio 1 and officially releasing it that October. After extensive touring and over eight months recording in Germany and Spain, in March 2012 the Ting Tings offered their sophomore album, Sounds from Nowheresville, a collection of songs inspired by the exuberant freedom of the Beastie Boys' classic Paul's Boutique. Two years later, third album Super Critical surfaced. Its October release date was preceded by the April release of first single "Wrong Club."

Keep Your Head
The Ting Tings Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

The room's green
It's got writing on the wall
It's got one chair
It's kinda small

Dirty shoes
Running past the door.
And then you go round

Beat yourself up,

Ten minutes to go,
And I wanna go home
Ten minutes to go,
Yeah, I've got to go home
Ten minutes to go,
And the air, it don't feel clear
Everybody disappear, you're
In it on your own

Fourteen,
Intimidated, and she's just fourteen
She's getting pulled from the opposite side,
Until it breaks down
Blame it on the wrong crowd
Stay, more make up, hair dye

Ten minutes to go,
You know she should have gone home
Ten minutes to go,
Yeah you should have gone home
Ten minutes to go,
And the air, it don't feel clear,
Everybody disappear, you're
In it on your own

You can't sleep,
You know it's over but you just can't sleep
You've gotta face it,
Gotta go outside
And do the day-walk
Living with the lights off,
Ain't nobody home

Ten minutes to go,
You know you wanna stay home
Ten minutes to go,
Yeah you wanna stay home
Ten minutes to go,
And the air, it don't feel clear,
Everybody disappear, you're
In it on your own

Keep your head
Keep your head
Just keep your head
Keep your
Head

You wanna keep ah
Keep it on the right side
If you know your gonna be coming off
It's gonna make you open your eyes
I said, now, open your eyes
You know it
You wanna keep ah
Keep it on the low side
Yes you gonna see ten minutes to go
And your keeping it heads up
Keep it low, be right
Push it kinda low

So, open your eyes.

Overall Meaning

The Ting Tings's song "Keep Your Head" seems to be about feeling out of place and wanting to escape a situation. The lyrics describe a room that is small and decorated with writing on the wall. The singer witnesses dirty shoes running past the door and feels alone and intimidated, like he or she is in it on their own. The second verse introduces a 14-year-old girl who is pulled from the opposite side until it breaks down. The chorus keeps repeating the phrase "ten minutes to go" which suggests that the singer is looking forward to leaving this situation. However, the song's last verse seems to suggest that the singer is stuck in this situation and cannot escape it.

Overall, the song's lyrics convey a sense of being trapped and wanting to escape. The singer seems to be struggling to keep their head up but is not successful in doing so. The song's message could be interpreted as a call to keep persevering and trying to stay positive even when things seem difficult.

Line by Line Meaning

The room's green
The room has green walls.

It's got writing on the wall
There is graffiti on the walls.

It's got one chair
There is only one chair in the room.

It's kinda small
The room is quite small.

Dirty shoes
Someone with dirty shoes runs past the door.

Running past the door.
The person with dirty shoes is running past the door.

And then you go round
You start to beat yourself up.

Beat yourself up,
You begin to blame yourself for something.

Ten minutes to go,
There is only ten minutes left.

And I wanna go home
The artist wants to leave and go home.

Yeah, I've got to go home
The singer has to go home.

And the air, it don't feel clear
The air feels uncomfortable or tense.

Everybody disappear, you're
Everyone else has left and you are alone.

In it on your own
You are by yourself in a difficult situation.

Fourteen,
A girl in the song is only fourteen years old.

Intimidated, and she's just fourteen
The young girl is feeling intimidated by others.

She's getting pulled from the opposite side,
She is being influenced or pressured by others with conflicting opinions or desires.

Until it breaks down
The situation gets worse until it completely falls apart.

Blame it on the wrong crowd
The girl is blamed for hanging out with the wrong group of people.

Stay, more make up, hair dye
The girl tries to change her appearance with more makeup and hair dye to fit in or impress others.

You know she should have gone home
The artist knows that the girl should have left and gone home.

And do the day-walk
The artist encourages someone to face their problems and confront them during the day.

Living with the lights off,
Someone is living their life in the dark or in a state of ignorance.

Ain't nobody home
There is no one there to help or support the person in need.

You know you wanna stay home
The singer knows that the person wants to stay at home.

And the air, it don't feel clear,
The environment feels uncomfortable or tense.

Everybody disappear, you're
Everyone else has left and you are alone.

Keep your head
Keep a level head and remain calm.

Just keep your head
Keep your cool and stay focused.

You wanna keep ah
You want to keep going.

Keep it on the right side
Continue on the right path.

If you know your gonna be coming off
If you know that you are going to fail or make a mistake.

It's gonna make you open your eyes
It will be a wake-up call to reality.

Yes you gonna see ten minutes to go
You will realize that you only have ten minutes left.

And your keeping it heads up
You are keeping a positive attitude.

Keep it low, be right
Keep a low profile but still do the right thing.

Push it kinda low
Take it easy and try not to draw attention to yourself.

Lyrics © CAPITOL CHRISTIAN MUSIC GROUP, Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Capitol CMG Publishing, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: KIRK FRANKLIN, PHILLIP BAILEY, MAURICE WHITE

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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