When I first heard Damian’s song Down on the Bowery (released April 13, 2023), it didn’t take long to figure out the song was about Alison and the history of their recurrent stays at The Bowery Hotel located at 333 The Bowery in New York City’s lower East Side. But what intrigued me more were certain lyrics that made my ears instantly perk up. Specifically, “blood on the walls in a siren city, your face all cut up but you looked so pretty.” What in the world could that be about, I wondered. I even tweeted to Damian about it back in April, 2023:
I have so many questions about that lyric!
— Gingersnap (@GingersnapDamo) April 24, 2023
I filed my lyric question away in that cobweb brain of mine and then on July 25, 2023 Alison’s band The Kills released the song New York, also mentioning The Bowery. What the fork? Okay, I had to compare the two songs. In doing so I believe I subsequently solved a mystery about those lyrics, revealing an intimate encounter between two creatives. Moreover, Damian’s first single off his debut album was Down on the Bowery and The Kills’ first single off their new album was New York! Twinning much? 🙂
Now, avert your eyes if you lean on the prude side because I’m about to talk about s-e-x. What I decipher in these two songs feels so personal, like I’m somewhat invading their intimate moment, but these two creative artists have shared the experience in their songs for all of us to hear. So buckle up, bitches.
Full disclosure, Damian’s Down on the Bowery lyrics were available on the record jacket of his vinyl LP I own, but The Kills New York lyrics I gleaned from two different lyric websites, plus listening to the song over and over. I hope my transcription is as accurate as possible. And if I totally missed the mark on my interpretation of the songs, well, Damian recently told Weekend Magazine that he’s happy for people to listen to the album and join the dots themselves.
Damian wrote Down on the Bowery while he was in New York and the official video for the song was shot at Brooklyn Bowl in Williamsburg, New York. Go behind the scenes of the video shoot here.
Analyzing Damian’s song, his take on their Bowery encounter “found you waiting in a hotel room” is delivered in soft ecstasy “took a taxi to the moon.” He delicately sings about kissing “curl your tongue around mine,” their bodies connecting “let our limbs intertwine, climb up me like a vine” and finally their bodies as one “press your skin to my skin, join to me like a twin” as they roll in the hay. He sings of giving in to another “lay me open, walk right in; I fall in you, lose or win.” Then things start to heat up when he sings “a hurricane of hair and heat and happiness and hearts beating” and he’s in a hurricane of her wild, untamed hair, pulses high, until at some point her face gets cut, causing her to bleed. Ouch!
Read the full lyrics below.
Curl your tongue around mine
Let our limbs intertwine
Climb up me like a vine
Start me laughin’, stop me cryin’
Took a taxi to the moon
Found you waiting in a hotel room
Blood on the walls in a siren city
Your face all cut up but you looked so pretty
Press your skin to my skin
Join to me like a twin
Lay me open, walk right in
I fall in you, lose or win
Blood on the walls in a siren city
Your face all cut up but you looked so pretty
You held on to me like we were on the run
Breathless in a hurricane of hair and heat and happiness and hearts beating loud like a drum
Down on the Bowery, in the heat
Down on the Bowery, you came to me
Down on the Bowery, I cut your skin
Down on the Bowery, you let me in
Curl your tongue around mine
Let our limbs intertwine
Climb up me like a vine
I’ll start you laughin’, stop you cryin’
I’ll start you laughin’, stop you cryin’
I’ll start you laughin’, stop you cryin’…
Now let’s break down the song New York by Alison’s band The Kills. Both Damian and Alison took to Instagram to announce the release of the new singles. I noticed the album artwork for each single were playing cards that Alison makes as an artist, similar to other cards she creates and sells from her Chop Shop Catalogue.
The artwork for the New York single is the Statue of Liberty with a bleeding heart surrounded by a storm on the King of Spades. Is Damian her King of New York? 🙂
In the past Alison has created card art of Damian individually and of both of them as a couple, which my blogmate Damianista promptly purchased and gave to Damian as a gift at his Tabernacle gig in London back on November 20, 2022.
Alison’s take on their Bowery encounter in New York is much more in-your-face raw like prizefighters in the ring, which is exactly the story The Kills is telling its audience with their video of a boxing match. She’s not throwing in the towel, she’s amping up her prizefighter in the corner. Her guy is “racing” and “armed” (oh my, I might blush); he’s eager and raring to go. And remember that hurricane Damian sang about? Well apparently they collided and she bust her lip on his “But, eh, I bust my lips on yours!” I’d call that a knockout encounter 😉
The Kills music video ends showing Alison knocked out on the floor with blood on her lips, perhaps a metaphor for being knocked out by their whirlwind encounter, as well as a literal interpretation of Damian’s lyric “blood on the walls in a siren city” and her lyric “I bust my lips on yours.” You can hear her sharp pang of desire in the song “I’m awake and want it, Imma take something, let it be you” – she’s wanting more, she can’t get enough – “when you need a ride, you got me.” New York also divulges the lyric “you taste just like New York, before a storm takes hold” and to go one step further, that catchy hook is now plastered on The Kills merchandise. You can purchase a “You taste just like New York” t-shirt here.
While in New York promoting the new album and newly released singles, The Kills held a pop-up event on July 27, 2023 featuring a special DJ set, autographs and exclusive merch. Alison was over the moon that the band’s video was featured on the digital billboard in Times Square and she posed for a picture in front of this graffiti art near the pop-up.
Read the full lyrics of The Kills song below.
Wait for me, stay for me
You medicate my bad days
Hit all my highways
Speed for me, bleed for me
Steal me away from all the bad guys
‘Cause I’m nice
Down here on the Bowery
The city’s got me feelin’ high
Got me where you want me
In your midnight eye
Always remember, honey
When you need a ride
You got me, got me, got me going’
Got me runnin’ wild, ’cause
Eh, you taste just like New York
Before a storm takes hold
You were racing likе you were high and armed
And I’m alarmed
But, eh, I bust my lips on yours
How sweet, the night is dark enough
We’re only seein’ stars
You’re made for me, come back, babe
Leave a knife in the heart of me
Every time you go
I can’t keep my eyes on the road, oh-oh-oh
I’m awake and want it, Imma take something
Let it be you, you, you, you
Eh, you taste just like New York
Before a storm takes hold
You were racing like you were high and armed
And I’m alarmed
But, eh, I bust my lips on yours
How sweet, the night is dark enough
We’re only seein’ stars
You taste just like New York
Boom, boom, boom
What you do, do, do to me
Rippin’ from the deepest root of me
It’s easy for you to see
You got me where you want me
Boom, boom, boom
What you do, do, do to me
Rippin’ from the deepest root of me
It’s easy for you to see
You got me where you want me
Eh, you taste just like New York
Before a storm takes hold
You race like you are high and armed
And I’m alarmed
But, eh, I bust my lips on yours
How sweet, the night is dark enough
We’re only seein’ stars
You taste just like New York
You taste just like New York
You taste just like New York
And I’m alarmed
But, eh, I bust my lips on yours
How sweet, the night is dark enough
We’re only seein’ stars
Continuing along the lines of a boxing match theme, Alison was recently spotted in St Tropez with Damian sporting graffitied boxing shorts as part of her swimwear. A very punk rock move 😉
I joke when I say, Damian pulled no punches! But all of this boxing talk reminded me of the time he attended the Head Guard charity in London back in September, 2022.
So there you have it. When combined, the songs are all about climbing bodies, tongues, lips, taste, ride, hair, heat and high pulses (Damian=hearts beating; Alison=racing). We see two creatives writing about their love tryst that was a force of nature (Damian=hurricane; Alison=storm) occurring in the dark of the night (midnight eye), ending in pure ecstasy (seein’ stars), making us all blush. So what better way to end this blog post than with a Ship name for the two:
Damian (damn) + Alison (aliSIN) = DamnSin
Because it’s a damn sin what they’re writing and singing about! 😉
