Never really been alive before
I always lived in my head
And sometimes it was easier
Hungover and half-dead
[Chorus]
I'm back in town, why don't we go out?
Let the rats spin around our feet
The full moon shines down on these dirty streets
I'm back in town, why don't we go out
To that ninth street diner?
And carry on slowly, torturing each other
'Cause it's always the same
[Post-Chorus]
I came for the pleasure, but I stayed
Yes, I stayed for the pain
[Verse 2]
It's lit up like a movie scene
That halogen glow
And if you get spat on, that's just your big city baptism
You're the star of the show
[Chorus]
I'm back in town, why don't we go out
And never go to sleep?
Throw our dreams out, let them pile up on the streets
I thought that I was here with you
But it was always just an empty room
'Cause it's always the same
About
Back In Town is a “love song to New York”; the last song that Florence wrote before having to return to the UK after starting recording for Dance Fever in New York in March 2019.
Speaking to Absolute Radio, Florence states:
‘Back In Town’ was the last song I wrote when I got to New York. It’s kind of a love song to New York and the amazing sort of manic loneliness New York creates[…]
I had packed my bags to go and make Dance Fever and spend a month in New York. My fantasy always tricks me to think that I’m going off to have a kind of romantic adventure and it’s always an empty room[…] So I was already questioning my relationship to songwriting and performance, and then wrote Back In Town and had to get out of town.
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
It’s a very ironic song, because the album at this point has gone completely illogical. […] ‘Free’ and ‘Back in Town’ were the last ones that we wrote before I had to go home, so yeah, ‘Back in Town’, ‘I’m back in town!’ and now I’m home. […] This song is very much like a New York love song as well, ‘cause New York was where I was gonna record the record, it was such a complicated relationship with it, 'cause if you go to New York is kinda like being in a movie of your own life, and you end up doing really insane stuff because none of it feels real, it feels like some kind of hyper reality. I think I was trying to describe that feeling. It’s such a place of fantasy that I create what’s gonna happen there.
—via Radio X
- 1.King
- 2.Free
- 3.Choreomania
- 4.Back in Town
- 8.Cassandra
- 10.Daffodil
- 11.My Love
- 12.Restraint
- 13.The Bomb
- 14.Morning Elvis
- 16.Free (Acoustic)
