this los campesinos song is structured eerily similarly to a utena duel song

I warned you- do Not make an enemy of me

the repeated motif "Got soul, got vision, got mind to leave here" reminds me of the seemingly related words sung in "When Where Who Which" and Paleozoic Within The Body.

Just something I thought was interesting - Los Campesinos RULES!I want to relate the lyrics of this to Revolutionary Girl Utena. Might as well go for it.

"He grows out his stubble just so that he can
Scratch at the sunburn, the colour of my arm
Civilians read bibles behind glass windows
Is this what constitutes normal behaviour?"

These verses don't make much sense to me. Maybe they have some kind of deep layered meaning but I'm not one to figure that out. I think it's more so just about the feel - like how weird Ohtori Academy is. Noone seems to really have a past - it's almost like Ohtori is their whole life.

"Got soul, got vision, got mind to leave here"

I don't really get what this means but it kind of highlights the absurd nature of the duels

"You soon made an enemy of me
I warned you, don't make an enemy of me
I'll take your heart with such little commotion
By crippling disease or with deadly love potion
I'll bind you and gag you and all's well that ends, I suppose"

I can see this being a potential theme for Saionji - Utena is a threat to his "ownership" of the Rose Bride. The part about "taking your heart" is about his obsession with Anthy and most importantly, CONTROL. And who has made an enemy of him? Utena. By vying for the Rose Bride as well Utena has made an enemy of him.

"I'll take your heart with such little commotion

By crippling disease or with deadly love potion
I'll bind you and gag you and all's well that ends, I suppose"

Once again, ties back into people trying to "take" the Rose Bride for their own.

"Got a call, are we not interesting?
Fair to say we are not interesting at all
Broke down laughing and screaming for more
But if this changed your life, did you have one before?"

In an aesthetic sense I can see this being part of the Shadow Girls' play. But how does this relate back to Utena?

...I'm not sure. The first 2 lines feel vaguely Utenaesque, but I can't really tie it back. It just.. feels utenalike!

"Broke down laughing and screaming for more

But if this changed your life, did you have one before?"

I see this part as about Anthy being """"saved"""" by Utena at the beginning of the show with the duels. Anthy is seen as a puppet, an empty vessel for people to drag around. If Utena saving her means she's now "liberated" (which she isn't, obviously), what was her life before? Was it even life?

You could also see this in a different point of view, of this lyric relating to Utena trying and failing to "save" Anthy.

Throughout the show, it is disproven time and time again that Utena's approach - of imitating the beautiful prince in shining armor - is flawed. Princes are cruel, violent, abusive. They have never existed - and once Utena realizes she is not a hero, only then can Anthy be saved.

"if this changed your life, did you have one before?" , then, would refer to Utena getting so caught up in hero mentality she refuses to actually understand Anthy.

"And what have we got that is of any use?
Allegiance to team that we cannot pronounce
Image seared, dermis spread across tiled floor
A taste on the tongue that you and me both abhor"

Reminds me of the confessional rooms in the Black Rose Duelist arc and the duel arena for that arc. It just .. feels right. The rows and rows of tables and chalk corpse outlines, and the striking imagery of caterpillars metamorphosing to butterflies.

"Allegiance to team that we cannot pronounce", specifically, could be about how dueling is futile in the end? I'm not the best Utena watcher.

This was fun to write.