Rebel Yell

By Billy Idol

Last night a little dancer came dancin’ to my door
Last night a little angel came pumping on the floor
She said “Come on baby I got a license for love
And if it expires pray help from above”
Because

In the midnight hour she cried – “more, more, more”
With a rebel yell she cried – “more, more, more”
In the midnight hour babe – “more, more, more”
With a rebel yell – “more, more, more”
More, more, more

She don’t like slavery, she won’t sit and beg
But when I’m tired and lonely she sees me to bed
What set you free and brought you to me babe
What set you free I need you here by me
Because

In the midnight hour she cried – “more, more, more”
With a rebel yell she cried – “more, more, more”
In the midnight hour babe – “more, more, more”
With a rebel yell – “more, more, more”

He lives in his own heaven
Collects it to go from the seven eleven
Well he’s out all night to collect a fare
Just so long, just so long it don’t mess up his hair

I walked the world with you, babe
A thousand miles with you
I dried your tears of pain, babe
A million times for you

I’d sell my soul for you babe
For money to burn with you
I’d give you all, and have none, babe
Just to, just to, just to, to have you here by me
Because

In the midnight hour she cried – “more, more, more”
With a rebel yell she cried – “more, more, more”
In the midnight hour babe – “more, more, more”
With a rebel yell she cried “more, more, more”
More, more, more

Oh yeah little baby
She want more
More, more, more, more, more

Oh yeah little angel
She want more
More, more, more, more

Thoughts?  And the song is about?  Why sit out the game, if there are many “right” answers?  So go ahead, what does this melody and lyric say to you?

I’d say that Billy Idol must be referring to the passion of romance, to put more of a point on the matter, the heat of passion, even the violence of love.  Are we not reluctant to say-out-loud that our pursuit of love, of sex is an obsession, our expression of violence?  Tenderness and violence in a rolling tangle…

The story is told that Billy Idol was once at a birthday party with Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Ron Wood.  He noticed they passed around a bottle from which they were taking swigs, a bottle labeled with the graphic of Confederate Calvary officer.  The Southern mash bourbon brand was Rebel Yell.  Idol asked Jagger and Richards if they’d mind if he used the label as a song title.

“I decided to make ‘Rebel Yell’ a cry of love instead of the battlefield, as I had no intention of singing about the Civil War. After all, ladies are the most powerful creatures in this world, and this would be an anthem to love between a man and a woman. I thought about Perri and started to sing.”

Ah language and love…  It is awesome to be alive.

And when you feel like a Rebel Yell, go ahead…