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"Shake It Out" is the second track and first official single from Florence and the Machine’s sophomore album, Ceremonials.
The song is about having a hangover and wanting to shake it out. Speaking to XFM radio, Florence explained:
"I wanted to just shake something out, shake out these regrets, shake out these things that haunt you. It was one of those songs that came in about half an hour and when you've got a hangover, it is almost like a hangover cure. You're like, thank you! I don't want everyone to think that I always write songs with a hangover! Cause I don't, I really don't. But with this one I have to say there was a bit of one lurking in my mind as I wrote it. It was like I was trying to write a hangover cure."
Background[]
"Shake It Out" was written by Florence Welch and Paul Epworth, while production was handled by Epworth. The song was recorded in London at Abbey Road Studios where the whole second album was finished. On September 14, 2011, Florence Welch went to XFM to premiere Florence and the Machine's second single from their second upcoming album Ceremonials.[1] Welch elaborated the songwriting process of the song adding that it can be compared to a really good hangover cure.[1] During an interview with MTV News she described the recording process:
"I think I came to the studio with a bit of a hangover, and it was one of those strange days where you're not really sure where a song comes from. [Producer] Paul [Epworth] just had these chords on the organ, and they sounded optimistic and sad at the same time. And I was thinking of regrets, like, you know when you feel like you're stuck in yourself, you keep repeating certain patterns of behavior, and you kind of want to cut out that part of you and restart yourself. [...] So this song was kind of like, 'Shake yourself out of it, things will be OK,'. [Because] sometimes I have to write songs for myself, reminding me to let it go. But then, the end refrain of 'What the hell' is really important as well, because you'll dance with the devil again at some point, and maybe it will be fun. I've heard he does a really good foxtrot."[2]
Welch also said that "Shake It Out" was a "... magic one. I feel weird because I'm always talking about how I'm writing songs when I'm hung over most of the songs weren't but 'Shake It Out' was. Like 'Cosmic Love' (it was) written when you're not feeling too great. It became the ultimate hangover cure, and then it became about something bigger. Like trying to get rid of 'hangover ghouls'."[3]
Lyrics[]
Regrets collect like old friends
Here to relive your darkest moments
I can see no way, I can see no way
And all of the ghouls come out to play
And every demon wants his pound of flesh
But I like to keep some things to myself
I like to keep my issues drawn
It's always darkest before the dawn
And I've been a fool and I've been blind (I've been blind)
I can never leave the past behind
I can see no way, I can see no way
I'm always dragging that horse around
All of his questions, such a mournful sound
Tonight I'm gonna bury that horse in the ground
'Cause I like to keep my issues drawn
But it's always darkest before the dawn
Shake it out, shake it out
Shake it out, shake it out, ooh whoa
Shake it out, shake it out
Shake it out, shake it out, ooh whoa
And it's hard to dance with a devil on your back
So shake him off, oh whoa
And I am done with my graceless heart
So tonight I'm gonna cut it out and then restart
'Cause I like to keep my issues drawn
It's always darkest before the dawn
Shake it out, shake it out
Shake it out, shake it out, ooh whoa
Shake it out, shake it out
Shake it out, shake it out, ooh whoa
And it's hard to dance with a devil on your back
So shake him off, oh whoa
And it's hard to dance with the devil on your back (shake him off)
And given half the chance would I take any of it back? (shake him off)
It's a fine romance, but it's left me so undone (shake him off)
It's always darkest before the dawn (shake him off)
(Oh whoa, oh whoa)
And I'm damned if I do and I'm damned if I don't
So here's to drinks in the dark at the end of my road
And I'm ready to suffer and I'm ready to hope
It's a shot in the dark aimed right at my throat
'Cause looking for heaven, found the devil in me (oh whoa)
Looking for heaven, for the devil in me (oh whoa)
But what the hell, I'm gonna let it happen to me, yeah
Shake it out, shake it out
Shake it out, shake it out, ooh whoa
Shake it out, shake it out
Shake it out, shake it out, ooh whoa
And it's hard to dance with a devil on your back
So shake him off, oh whoa
Shake it out, shake it out
Shake it out, shake it out, ooh whoa
Shake it out, shake it out
Shake it out, shake it out, ooh whoa
And it's hard to dance with a devil on your back
So shake him off, oh whoa
Ooh, ooh-ooh, ooh, ooh-ooh (what the hell)
Ooh, ooh-ooh, ooh, ooh-ooh
Ooh, ooh-ooh, ooh, ooh-ooh
Ooh, ooh-ooh, ooh, ooh-ooh
Ooh, ooh-ooh, ooh, ooh-ooh
Ooh, ooh-ooh, ooh, ooh-ooh (what the hell)
Ooh, ooh-ooh, ooh, ooh-ooh
Ooh, ooh-ooh, ooh, ooh-ooh
Music video[]
On October 3, 2011, the video for "Shake It Out" premiered on the band's official YouTube channel. It features Welch wearing a red gown and singing while attending a 1920s-era masked ball,[4] evoking references to works such as Eyes Wide Shut,[5][6] The Great Gatsby and "The Lady of Shalott". Welch described the video saying, "Think of a psychedelic 1920s dress party with a demonic twist. Possession meets The Great Gatsby."[7] She further described the direction of the video "We were kind of going for a sort of 'Gatsby at West Egg'-style house party but with maybe slightly ritualistic and sort of satanic undertones and séances. That was such a fun video to shoot, for me especially, because I had all my friends down there, and they all came and we all got to dress up and do a casual séance in this beautiful art-deco mansion. It's basically a party house; there's one room which was purely just for cutting flowers. My best friend is sitting with me in the tree at the end of the video, and we just got to hang out in a tree for a while. It was really fun."[2] It was directed by Dawn Shadforth who previously directed the video for "Drumming Song" and it was shot at the Eltham Palace, London.[2][8]
Michael Roffman of the website Consequence of Sound, compared the video with the work by Madonna because of "the hazy cinematography and the choir-like theatrics."[5] Entertainment Weekly’s Kyle Anderson praised the video calling it a "five-minute technicolor blast"[6] and praised the fashion used in it as well as the references to Eyes Wide Shut.[6] Andrew Martin of Prefix Magazine wasn't satisfied with the video saying "the track's music video is still an over-the-top affair filled with Old World imagery and glitter-covered dresses and suits. But it's not quite as outrageous as it could have been, even if things do get really dramatic at times. I guess I was picturing something more arena-sized, though maybe that's because the track is so goddamn huge."[9] RJ Cubarrubia of Billboard wrote that "although the video feels somewhat dark and mystical, like a secret society meeting with unsettling masks and a slightly possessed Welch, the vibe is ultimately joyful and inspiring, with the party guests and Welch visibly bursting with happiness by the video's end."[10]
Larry Fitzmaurice of Pitchfork Media said, "the video is cinematic and features a really weird party where people are wearing masks."[11] Katie Hasty of HitFix compared the video with the works by Annie Lennox and added that "the imagery will leave a mark on fans and aspiring fans to boot."[12] Leah Collins of Dose also compared the video with Annie Lennox’s "Walking on Broken Glass".[8] Spin’s Marc Hogan wrote, "the video doesn't have the clearest plot, [but] it does depict Florence Welch dancing with masked, formally attired men, a visual that sparks comparisons to the posh orgy of Stanley Kubrick's film Eyes Wide Shut, but a bacchanal does not break out. Instead, a white-dressed Welch escapes to the woods, while a red-dressed one parties inside with some seriously creepy people. 'I'm damned if I do, and I'm damned if I don't,' she sings."[13]
Composition[]
"Shake It Out" is a four-and-a-half-minute baroque pop[14] song which contains "swelling, gospel-flavored pop, with churchy organ and pounding drums setting a cathartic scene for Welch's fiery singing" in the lines "It's hard to dance with the devil on your back. So shake him off!"[15] Digital Spy's Robert Copsey stated: "earthy drums are dressed with bells and tambourines before Flo chants 'Shake it out, shake it out, ooh-waaoah!' on the song's anthemic and dangerously addictive chorus."[16] Consequence of Sound's Alex Young concluded that the song "takes approximately 37 seconds to build up before a pulsating drum enters".[17] AllMusic's James Christopher Monger commented that when the swelling guitars, organs, and strings, staccato percussion, and Florence Welch's "air-raid siren of a voice" start in the song, begins a "battle over which one is going to launch itself into the stratosphere first."[18] In the song, Welch sings about dancing with a devil in the lyrics "It's hard to dance with a devil on your back".[19][20] Lewis Corner of Digital Spy found references to "exorcism of demons and regrets with a backdrop of village church organs and ritualistic thuds and jingles courtesy",[21] while Ryan Dombal of Pitchfork Media found lyrics talking about "getting past one's troubles."[22]
Rolling Stone’s Jody Rosen wrote, "'Shake It Out' is a treatise on heartbreak and spiritual rebirth. I am done with my graceless heart/So tonight I'm gonna cut it out and then restart, she cries, over guitars and keyboards that heave and chime. This is the sound of a human turbine – a wind machine."[23] In his review of Ceremonials, Rob Harvilla of Spin wrote: "Consider rapturous call to arms 'Shake It Out,' a feast of droning organs and concussive drums that begins as an assassination/martyrdom attempt, throwing Flo to the clichés instead of the lions: 'It's always darkest before the dawn,' 'Damned if I do and damned if I don't,' 'At the end of my rope,' 'It's a shot in the dark,' and all-time Catholic-hymn classic 'It's hard to dance with a devil on your back.' Yet she rips the throat out of every line with that bazooka alto, turns even the banalities into profundities."[24]
Critical reception[]
"Shake It Out" received widespread critical acclaim. A writer of The Huffington Post called the song "a pitch-perfect end-of-summer anthem" and concluded, "seriously, if you can get something like this out of a hangover, more power to you."[25] A writer of The Guardian wrote that "Shake It Out" had a "quiet-to-loud-louder-really-quite-loud dynamic" and said that it was perfect for a winner of The X Factor.[26] Writing for the magazine Dose, Leah Collins compared the song with the band's previous single "What the Water Gave Me" and called it "bombastic, humming with church-organ, jangling with tambourine and booming with Florence Welch's cannon-blast voice."[27] Spinner's Theo Spielberg praised the song saying, "beginning with a sweeping organ the song quickly hits its stride, spreads its wings and settles comfortably into a stadium-sized atmosphere."[28] He further concluded, "that you can imagine hearing it on Glee as much as NME Radio is enough to already deem this a future classic."[16] Laura Foster of Clash magazine wrote that the song was one of the six "massive" anthems on Ceremonials and praised the "power balladry".[29]
Alex Young of the website Consequence of Sound praised the anthemic nature of the song and concluded that the "sing-a-long-approved chorus takes over and it keeps you under its spell for the remaining three minutes."[17] Barry Nicolson of NME concluded that the chorus of the song "announces itself with a sudden, overpowering immensity akin to sheets of ice being atomised by a ruddy great hammer. It's as though indie's self-styled Lady of Shalott has discovered how to emote through a bullhorn."[30] Richard Smirke of Billboard called the song "a rousing pop-rock number in the spirit of 'Dog Days Are Over'".[31] Jillian Mapes of the same publication commented: "Welch's goth-pop allure is summed up in the chorus of the album's dramatic first single: 'It's hard to dance with the devil on your back, so shake him off.'"[32] Matthew Cole of Slant Magazine noted that the first four songs on the album were the best ones including the "instantly gratifying anthem 'Shake It Out'."[33]
Pitchfork Media’s Carrie Battan chose the song as a "Best New Track" and added that it's "even more massively anthemic than the already-anthemic singles off Lungs. Huge drum hits drive the track from the onset, and Welch's voice is in peak form throughout, nearly spilling over the edge as of the song. She clearly has a lot of weapons at her disposal, but 'Shake It Out' reveals pure adrenaline as her most powerful."[34] Robert Copsey of Digital Spy praised the song calling it "a perfect introduction to the LP."[16] In another review of the song he wrote: "'Shake it out, shake it out, ooh woaaah!' she belts over crashing symbols and glittery synths on the chorus; the result, a good ol'-fashioned knees-up of a song that wouldn't sound out of place in an East London pub or the McKinley High stage."[35] Will Hermes of Rolling Stone called the song "mighty" and compared Welch's vocals with Glinda the Good Witch.[36] Entertainment Weekly’s Kyle Anderson commented that "Welch's soul is constantly in peril here, forcing her to dance away from devils" in the "swinging, jubilant" song.[19] Andy Gill of The Independent, and Lewis Corner of Digital Spy, put the song in their lists of songs to download from Ceremonials.[21][37] Kitty Empire of The Observer wrote that Welch's vocals sound "multitracked, and are augmented by a chorus of friends."[38]
Recognition[]
On the Triple J Hottest 100 list, "Shake It Out" was ranked at number thirteen.[39] On Slant Magazine’s year-end list of Best Singles of 2011, "Shake It Out" was ranked at number thirteen.[40] The writers of the website further commented, "If lyrics about freedom, overcoming regrets that have been collected 'like old friends here to relive your darkest moments,' and the simple truth that it's hard to dance with a devil on your back doesn't move you, then perhaps the final 60 seconds of 'Shake It Out' will, which forsakes language altogether and builds to a cacophony of bone-rattling organ, tribal percussion, and intersecting vocal parts that find Florence Welch finally succumbing to her demons and having drinks in the dark at the end of the road with the rest of us."[40] At the 2012 NME Awards on February 29, 2012, "Shake It Out" won in the category for Best Track. At the 2013 Grammy Awards, the song was nominated in the category of Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. In 2019, Pitchfork ranked the song as the 174th best song of the 2010s.[41]
Refrences[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 http://www.xfm.co.uk/news/2011/florence-new-single-is-like-a-hangover-cure
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1673238/florence-and-the-machine-shake-it-out.jhtml
- ↑ http://www.nme.com/news/florence-and-the-machine/59749
- ↑ http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/news/a343639/florence-and-the-machine-attend-masked-ball-in-shake-it-out-video.html
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 http://consequenceofsound.net/2011/10/video-florence-and-the-machine-shake-it-out/
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 http://music-mix.ew.com/2011/10/03/florence-and-the-machine-shake-it-out-video/
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20110923070728/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/blogs/thread-count/florence-welch-on-being-a-pop-witch-and-her-favorite-london-fashion-20110916
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 http://www.dose.ca/music/Watch+Florence+Machine+Shake+Video/5499745/story.html?cid=dose_nav_drop
- ↑ http://www.prefixmag.com/media/florence-the-machine/shake-it-out-video/57042/
- ↑ http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/viral-videos/466937/florence-the-machine-unveil-mysterious-shake-it-out-video
- ↑ http://www.pitchfork.com/news/44186-video-florence-and-the-machine-shake-it-out/
- ↑ http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/immaculate-noise/posts/watch-florence-the-machine-shake-it-out-in-stylized-new-video
- ↑ https://www.spin.com/2011/10/florence-machine-drop-2nd-ceremonials-cut/
- ↑ http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/465357/florence-the-machine-ceremonials-track-by-track-review
- ↑ https://www.spin.com/2011/09/florence-and-machine-share-second-new-song/
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/thesound/a340576/florence-and-the-machines-new-album-ceremonials-first-listen.html
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 http://consequenceofsound.net/2011/09/check-out-florence-and-the-machine-shake-it-out/
- ↑ https://www.allmusic.com/album/ceremonials-mw0002228356
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20540085,00.html
- ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/oct/27/florence-and-the-machine-ceremonials-review
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/albumreviews/a348373/florence--the-machine-ceremonials-album-review.html
- ↑ http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/reviews/albums/16004-ceremonials/
- ↑ https://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/ceremonials-20111101
- ↑ http://www.spin.com/reviews/florence-and-machine-ceremonials-universal-republic
- ↑ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/15/florence-and-the-machine-shake-it-out-ceremonials_n_963838.html
- ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2011/sep/15/florence-machine-ceremonials
- ↑ http://www.dose.ca/Shake+With+Florence+Machine+Song+Released+Album+Details+Revealed/5401893/story.html
- ↑ http://www.spinner.com/2011/09/14/florence-and-the-machine-shake-it-out-ceremonials/
- ↑ http://www.clashmusic.com/reviews/florence-and-the-machine-ceremonials
- ↑ http://www.nme.com/reviews/florence-and-the-machine/12419
- ↑ http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/467115/florence-the-machine-the-billboard-cover-story
- ↑ http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/465357/florence-the-machine-ceremonials-track-by-track-review
- ↑ http://www.slantmagazine.com/music/review/florence-and-the-machine-ceremonials/2666
- ↑ http://www.pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/12525-shake-it-out/
- ↑ http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/singlesreviews/a344370/florence--the-machine-shake-it-out-single-review.html
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20111025065955/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/blogs/editors-picks/florence-and-the-machine-shake-it-out-20111024
- ↑ https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/album-florence--the-machine-ceremonials-island-2376712.html
- ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/oct/30/florence-machine-ceremonials-review
- ↑ http://www.perthnow.com.au/entertainment/perth-confidential/triple-js-hottest-100-countdown-2012/story-e6frg30l-1226254990618
- ↑ 40.0 40.1 http://www.slantmagazine.com/music/feature/the-25-best-singles-of-2011/293/page_2
- ↑ https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/the-200-best-songs-of-the-2010s
[]
 | |
|---|---|
| Tour • Merch • Photoshoot • Producers | |
| Discography | |
| Releases | Ceremonials |
| Tracklist | Only If for a Night • Shake It Out • What the Water Gave Me • Never Let Me Go • Breaking Down • Lover to Lover • No Light, No Light • Seven Devils • Heartlines • Spectrum • All This and Heaven Too • Leave My Body |
| Deluxe | Spectrum (Say My Name) • Breath of Life • Take Care (BBC Live at Maida Vale) • Remain Nameless • Strangeness and Charm • Bedroom Hymns • What the Water Gave Me (demo) • Landscape (Demo) • Heartlines (acoustic) • Shake It Out (acoustic) • Breaking Down (acoustic) • What the Water Gave Me (acoustic) |
| Extra Releases | Sweet Nothing • Over the Love • Midnight • I Come Apart |
| Other Eras | |
| Lungs • Ceremonials • How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful • High As Hope • Dance Fever | |