Army of Me - Background

Background

"I’m a polar bear and I’m with five hundred polar bears, just tramping over a city. The lyric is about people who feel sorry for themselves all the time and don’t get their shit together. You come to a point with people like that where you’ve done everything you can do for them, and the only thing that’s going to sort them out is themselves. It’s time to get things done. I identify with polar bears. They’re very cuddly and cute and quite calm, but if they meet you they can be very strong."

"Army of Me" was written in 1992 by Björk and Graham Massey, during one of the first recording for Debut, along with "The Modern Things", but Björk decided to put the songs on hold and to wait for releasing them. Even so, Björk performed the songs during some dates on her Debut Tour and on some dates "Army of Me" was called "If you complain once more".

The lyrics of the song are about Björk's brother, as revealed by the singer and show Björk daring him to move up and find a job to keep his life on, and also for him to not fall into bad things and learn to defend himself: "It's actually written to a relative of mine who had been a bit out of order for a while. I'm not sure why I wrote it. Maybe I felt that Debut had been such a polite, shy album - there was a side of me that was so shy and such a beginner, I was very flattered when everyone loved Debut but also a bit confused because it wasn't really me. Maybe "Army Of Me" was an attempt to balance it out".

The singer further explained the lyrics: "Imagine you’re in a club full of heavy metal types and grunge people; "Army Of Me" is like someone’s granny blasting out over the PA and saying, ‘Snap out of it! Stop whining! Wash your hair! Smarten yourself up!’".

The single was released on April 21, 1995 as a 2CD edition. The first CD contained the Icelandic version of "You've Been Flirting Again" and the cave version of "Cover Me", both from Post. The cave version of "Cover Me" was recorded in a cave in Bahamas, and sounds of flying bats can be heard in the background. The single also contained "Sweet Intuition", a song composed by Björk and Black Dog, whose lyrics will be the base of the composing for another song written by Björk for Madonna: "Bedtime Story". The second CD contained, among other remixes, a version of "Army of Me" which features the Skunk Anansie. The track was recorded and mixed in less than 7 hours, as recalled by the band and features Björk making heavy use of screaming vocals.