In 2005, Tokyo Police Club started by accident one day in the ordinary suburb of Newmarket when Greg, Josh, Dave, and Graham decided that they missed playing music together, their previous band having broken up several months before. The four gathered in Josh's basement, plugging in instruments and making up songs almost at random, with no goal but to recapture the magic that they felt making music together. By the time summer came, TPC had quietly begun playing shows in the Toronto area, shows at which the very few people in attendance seemed impressed by what they saw. The band seemed likely to end here, with the various members preparing to go their separate ways in the fall, when fate intervened in the form of an invitation to play the Pop Montreal festival. Packing their instruments and girlfriends into a tiny university residence room, TPC spent a week immersed in music, spending days lazily wandering the streets of Montreal and nights rehearsing loudly in the tiniest of spaces, and topping it off in style with a sold out show that saw the band play for the first time to an audience that was actually interested. A few weeks later, all four had agreed that it was time to break their mothers' hearts and pursue that most elusive of pipe dreams: a career in the music business.
The boys got straight to business, playing a series of Toronto shows, and earning a reputation for live shows that were exuberant, lively, and unrestrained. In January, the very day that Dave returned for good from university, Tokyo Police Club signed up with esteemed Toronto label Paperbag Records to release their debut EP in Canada. In April 27, 2006, A Lesson in Crime was released in Canada and U.S (February 12, 2007, UK released), and the band spent the next months on the road, bringing their optimistic brand of wide-eyed post-pop to audiences across Canada, U.S. and Europe, and making many new friends along the way.
Responding to criticisms that A Lesson in Crime is too short (16:22), Graham Wright had this to say in an interview with Ukula: "It's very quick, quick, quick, one, two, three. Some of the songs don't have a lot of space in them and the album doesn't have a whole lot of room to breathe, but I think in the case of an EP this is a really good thing."
The Smith EP came in February 14, 2007. At a July 20, 2007 stop along the tour in Omaha, Nebraska the band announced the inking of a deal with Omaha based Saddle Creek Records during their live show at the Saddle Creek owned venue The Slowdown, to release their debut LP, entitled Elephant Shell, that was released on April, 22nd 2008 to much applause.
So what exactly is Tokyo Police Club? Perhaps EYE Weekly summed it up best when they wrote "[Tokyo Police Club] are undeniably catchy and raw, marrying danceable hooks with talk of robot masters and global emergencies, providing an upbeat soundtrack to our troubled times." Personally, however, I prefer Exclaim's proclamation that "somehow, the deeply innocuous subdivisions of Newmarket, Ontario have hatched a four-headed beast of tunefulness."
Bambi
Tokyo Police Club Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Why I came home wasted in the middle of the night
A tiny kingdom at the bottom of the trees
Where I was always a winner and I was usually right
Oh, you can watch it when you get a bit older
But for now in the bad bits, I should cover your eyes
She painted pictures with the tips of her fingers
Turning into black and white
Underneath the swinging lights
Buried awake
But I still got my stripes
'Cause you're the killer with the colored kite
I wanna tell you there's a really good reason
Why I came down easy, spinning threads to your throne
A tiny kingdom at the bottom of the trees
Where I was always a winner and I was barely alone
Turning into black and white
Underneath the swinging lights
Buried awake
But I still got my stripes
'Cause you're the killer with the colored kite
Tangled up, tongue tied
Don't know what to do
Tangled up, tongue tied
Don't know what to do
Turning into black and white
Underneath the swinging lights
Buried awake
But I still got my stripes
'Cause you're the killer with the colored kite
Turning into black and white
The first verse of Tokyo Police Club's song "Bambi" immediately sets a wistful tone, evoking the feeling of coming home drunk and looking for an excuse. Yet the reason for the singer's intoxication is not something gritty or degrading but rather a "tiny kingdom at the bottom of the trees," a place where he was "always a winner." Here, the imagery takes on a fantastical tone, hinting at the singer's desire for escape, perhaps even from reality itself. The second verse continues this theme, describing the singer as "spinning threads to your throne," a gesture that echoes the first verse's image of being "usually right."
The chorus of the song is where the thread of escape really takes hold. The phrase "turning into black and white" suggests a cinematic shift away from the world at large and toward the "swinging lights" of the singer's idealized kingdom. Meanwhile, the lyrics refer repeatedly to a mysterious "colored kite" and its "killer." The idyllic kingdom of the singer's imagination, then, becomes inextricably linked to themes of danger, potentially mirroring the singer's own uncertain state of mind.
Overall, "Bambi" presents a lush sonic and emotional landscape, one that seems to unfold like a dream. The song's themes of escape and fantasy, while potentially troubling, are offset by the band's lilting, melodic instrumentation and David Monks' almost plaintive vocals. In the end, "Bambi" suggests that sometimes it's okay to get lost in one's own private world, and that there might be hidden meanings and treasures waiting for us there.
Line by Line Meaning
I wanna tell you there's a really good reason
I have a valid explanation for my behavior
Why I came home wasted in the middle of the night
Why I arrived home intoxicated during the night
A tiny kingdom at the bottom of the trees
The imagination-based world located at the trees' base
Where I was always a winner and I was usually right
A place where I was consistently triumphant and typically correct
Oh, you can watch it when you get a bit older
You can observe it when you're more mature
But for now in the bad bits, I should cover your eyes
However, currently, I should shield your view from the unfavorable aspects
She painted pictures with the tips of her fingers
She created artwork utilizing her fingertips
Sewing buttons to Bambi, tying strings to a kite
Adding buttons to Bambi's clothing and fastening strings to a kite
Turning into black and white
Changing into grayscale
Underneath the swinging lights
Beneath the moving illumination
Buried awake
Enturbed, but conscious
But I still got my stripes
Even so, I possess my distinct traits
'Cause you're the killer with the colored kite
As you are the one who has the multi-hued kite, considered to slay others
Why I came down easy, spinning threads to your throne
What led me to easily come down while molding fibers for your seat
Where I was always a winner and I was barely alone
A place where I was perpetually victorious, but seldom solitary
Tangled up, tongue tied
In a state of confusion or hesitation
Don't know what to do
Experiencing uncertainty regarding the course of action
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: HOOK, MONKS, SCHROEDER, TESTER, WARNER, WRIGHT
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@syrmor
every few years this song pops in my head
@shrodingerscat9619
Okay then I’ll see you around
@lesh6453
Omg same - similar sounding songs will make me think of this one. This time it was Mother Mother - Body
@sickening_love1154
Wow. Nice seeing you here.
@bryan1235100
God bless same here
@shampou8069
hopefully by commenting this you’ll get a notification and come back to this song
@Romax-pg2is
Ilya Kuvshinov and his tribute to a long running manga series that just recently had an ongoing anime adaptation brought me here.
@unscripted483
Love haru. I love the anime
@faze_spec5820
I love the anime!!
@yoikri5972
Loki Ro yeah love haru😍