Witch Dance Lyrics
[Verse 1]
Open my legs, lied down with death
We kiss, we sigh, we sweat
His blackberry mouth stains my nightgown
I clean clothes
Wrap my legs around and it tastes like life
I twist, I fight
The foxes shatter in the night
[Chorus]
Show me the way
This feeling leaves the ick, the kick, the need
Show me the way
This feeling leaves the ick, the kick, the need
[Post-Chorus]
A shimmering landscape widen my eyes
Can I keep all this beauty forever inside?
[Verse 2]
I tear off my nightgown and run naked through the town
Run through rain, run through fog
Taking clumps of issue and cats and dogs and things that cannot speak
Ran to the ancestral plane, but they all showed up drunk and insane
When I asked what I could offer them
They said, "Gin and tonic or lithium?"
I asked, "Which way should I go?"
Through cigarette-smoke they said
"Child, how would we know?"
[Chorus]
Show me the way
This feeling leaves the ick, the kick, the need
Show me the way
This feeling leaves the ick, the kick, the need
[Post-Chorus]
'Cause I'm beyond reason
The way in the stage
A stranger came to my door
And I welcomed him in
My feet are bleeding
But I cannot stop, I have many, many miles
Yet to cross
[Bridge]
I came to a clearing
Full of wailing and keening
A well of tears that never runs dry
Women said, "We've been waiting
Waiting to meet you, it's only a matter of time"
Thrust my fists in the ground
And the Earth made a moaning sound, oh, oh
I could feel something shudder
Deeper and deeper down
[Outro]
And I met every monster from the bar to Broadway
And all their violent offers, I just turned them down
And your threats and your promises, they don't scare me
After all, there's nobody more monstrous than me (Woo)
Than me (Woo)
_________________ End ________________
Witch Dance Song Meaning (Florence + The Machine)
Background & Context
With the release of "Witch Dance" by "Florence + The Machine"—written by Florence Welch and Mark Bowen, and co-produced by Aaron Dessner, Welch & Bowen—on October 31, 2025, the band enters a renewed creative phase: one defined by ritual, reckoning and reclamation. The track appears on their album "Everybody Scream", released on the same day under Polydor & Republic.
While specific quotes about "Witch Dance" remain scarce (the song’s release is very recent), we can situate it in the broader arc of Welch’s artistic journey. In interviews surrounding this era, Welch described the album’s creation as born of a ferocious urgency after a period in which she experienced trauma and profound bodily loss. She also embraced themes of mysticism, witchcraft and folk horror as a way to reclaim power and place, revealing that she looked into these themes because they offered a way of taking control.
In that sense, "Witch Dance" can be seen as one piece of that larger tapestry: a ceremony in sound, language and imagery for wrestling with pain, transformation and self-possession.
Lyrical and Emotional Meaning
From the opening lines, “Open my legs, lied down with death / We kiss, we sigh, we sweat,” the song plunges into the body’s extremities: sex, closeness, mortality. The image of “his blackberry mouth stains my nightgown” evokes an ancient mark of ritual, the mixing of the sacred and the profane. The speaker wraps her legs around life just as she invites death: “it tastes like life / I twist, I fight.” There is no binary here; life and death merge in sweat and foxes that “shatter in the night.”
The chorus, “Show me the way / This feeling leaves the ick, the kick, the need,” reads like a plea for guidance, for the alchemy that turns visceral craving and revulsion into transcendence. It’s a surrender as much as a command, an invitation to the wild, the raw, the unpolished edges of desire and fear.
In the second verse the journey becomes more literal and mythic: running naked through town, through rain and fog, gathering “clumps of issue and cats and dogs and things that cannot speak.” The ancestral plane appears, drunk and insane, unable to provide clarity: “Child, how would we know?” The narrator is searching—not just for direction, but meaning in the chaos, the ancestral burden, the unspoken stories of women and their power.
The bridge crystallises the gathering storm: a clearing full of women wailing and keening, a well of tears that “never runs dry”, the earth making a moan “deeper and deeper down” as fists are thrust into the ground. The speaker isn’t just an observer; she interrupts the ritual. She becomes it.
And the outro is defiant: meeting monsters from bar to Broadway, turning them down, refusing both threats and promises. Because “there’s nobody more monstrous than me.” The line acknowledges that the deepest violence often comes from within. It’s the acceptance of the full self—shadow, wound and wildness.
What It Represents for the Artist and Audience
For "Florence + The Machine", "Witch Dance" marks an embrace of their long-standing fascination with feminist ritual, archetypes of witchcraft and the dark, mystical undercurrents of experience. Welch has long used the language of the occult to articulate women’s power, vulnerability and rebellion. Here she seems to dig deeper: not just metaphor, but excavation of the self after bodily loss, after feeling powerless. Welch has explained that she was processing something specific to this moment in time and that she felt if she hadn’t put it out now, it never would’ve come out.
For audiences, the song becomes a kind of communal incantation. It acknowledges that the path to transformation is neither clean nor safe: it is sexual, bodily, disrupted; it shakes you. It claims that the “monster” you fear might be you—but you can also invite her to dance. Through this lens, Witch Dance speaks to those who have felt the body betray them, or the self splinter, or power shift beneath their feet. It invites the listener to stand in the clearing, to feel the earth moan, and to respond.
Why It Matters
In an era where pop can steer safe, sleek and formulaic, "Witch Dance" reminds us of what happens when a writer leans into the raw, the archaic and the corporeal. It pushes beyond tidy hooks and instead unfolds like a ritual song—ferocious, messy and leavened with hope. With the creative team of Bowen and Dessner on board, the sonic palette supports that ambition: not just rock, but folk undercurrents, gothic imagery, and layers of shimmer and menace.
Ultimately, the song illustrates how feminine power can be reclaimed—not by sanitising the darkness, but by dancing with it. It insists on a path through fear, into the wild field of what it means to be human, wounded, radical and alive.
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FAQ Section
Who sung the song "Witch Dance" by Florence + The Machine?
The song "Witch Dance" was sung by Florence + The Machine.
Who wrote the song "Witch Dance" by Florence + The Machine?
Florence Welch & Mark Bowen.
Who produced the song "Witch Dance" by Florence + The Machine?
Aaron Dessner, Florence Welch & Mark Bowen.
Music Video
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Song Details
Artist: Florence + The Machine
Album: Everybody Scream
Genre: Rock
Language: English
Released: October 31, 2025
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