"Agnes" is a song by the British indie rock band Glass Animals. It is the eleventh and final song on their second studio album, How to Be a Human Being, and was released on August 26th, 2016. On June 7th, 2017 it was released as the album's fifth and final single.
Background[]
Meaning[]
Agnes is the sole personal song on How To Be A Human Being, and it is about a friend of Dave's who committed suicide.
Music Video Description[]
dear friends…nervously excited to share with you the video for Agnes. it’s hard to explain exactly how it feels inside a human centrifuge. you sit in a small egg-like pod about the size of a horse which hangs off a 50 foot steel horizontal frame. It looks like something out of a bond villain’s lair. it’s claustrophobic and uncomfortable and also incredibly hot.
slowly the whole thing starts to rotate like a helicopter blade. Faster and faster until every part of you becomes crushed under the extreme gravity. its like being slowly sat on by an elephant, or like your whole body being punched in slow motion. you have to flex every muscle and use every ounce of strength you have to keep going. breathing requires serious effort. movement becomes incredibly strained and almost painful. everything that once weighed 5 kilograms now weighs 50. its difficult even to keep your eyes open. it hurts in places you really didn’t know existed. veins and capillaries burst under the pressure and bruising begins. its a rapid physical overdrive.
the blood rushes from your brain making it impossible to think rationally or focus. your eyes are also drained and you get tunnel vision…only able to see small circles of the world directly infront of you and your sight goes completely greyscale…no more colour. your balance and spatial awareness goes and the world begins to spin like you’ve had way too much to drink. but the most striking thing is the way that the machine pulls on your heart. you can actually feel it struggling to beat and changing shape…flattening inside of your chest. Its similar to that horrible sinking, tugging heartache that comes only with complete and overwhelming sadness. and then you pass out.
we ran the centrifuge 18 times while i tried to sing along to a song which i find difficult to listen to at the best of times.
this was probably the most intense video-making experience I’ll ever have. But its the only way that we could just about begin to simulate for a moment what happens within Agnes.
speak soon, dave[1]
Videos[]
Live Performances[]
Music Video[]
Lyrics[]
Agnes, just stop and think a minute
Why don't you light that cigarette and
Calm down now, stop and breathe a second
Go back to the very beginning
Can't you see what was different then?
You were just poppin' Percocet
Maybe just four a week at best
Maybe a smoke to clear the head
Your head is so numb
That nervous breath you try to hide
Between the motions
That trembling tender little sigh
And so it goes
A choking rose back
To be reborn
I want to hold you like you're mine
You see the sad in everything
A genius of love and loneliness and
This time you overdid the liquor
This time you pulled the fuckin' trigger
These days, you're rollin' all the time
So low, so you keep gettin' high
Where went that cheeky friend of mine?
Where went that billion dollar smile?
Guess life is long
When soaked in sadness
On borrowed time
From Mr. Madness
And so it goes
A choking rose back
To be reborn
I want to hold you like you're mine
You're gone, but you're on my mind
I'm lost, but I don't know why
You're gone, but you're on my mind
I'm lost, but I don't know why
You're gone, but you're on my mind
I'm lost, but I don't know why
You're gone, but you're on my mind
I'm lost, but I don't know why
You're gone, but you're on my mind
I'm lost, but I don't know why
You're gone, but you're on my mind
I'm lost, but I don't know why
You're gone, but you're on my mind
I'm lost, but I don't know why
You're gone, but you're on my mind
I'm lost, but I don't know why
Trivia[]
- The actor for Agnes has many cameras around his neck.