Kiss With A Fist

Kiss With A Fist is the debut single of Florence + The Machine. The single appeared on the album Lungs, and in the extended play A Lot of Love, A Lot of Blood.

Background
The single was first appeared with a different title in Ashok's first album: Plans as "Happy Slap".

Originally, a great deal of confusion surrounded the song's meaning. With lyrics such as "broke your jaw once before", "split your blood upon the floor", "you smashed a plate over my head", "you gave a kick" and "I gave a slap" - the song was thought by many to be based on domestic violence, which Florence denies.

Florence explained the song's meaning on her MySpace:"'Kiss with a Fist' is NOT a song about domestic violence.""It is about two people pushing each other to psychological extremes because they are fighting but they still love each other. The song is not about one person being attacked, or any actual physical violence, there are no victims in this song. Sometimes the love two people have for each other is a destructive force. But they can't have it any other way, because it's what holds them together, they enjoy the drama and pushing each other's buttons. The only way to express these extreme emotions is with extreme imagery, all of which is fantasism and nothing in the song is based on reality.""Leona Lewis's 'Bleeding Love' isn't actually about her bleeding and this song isn't actually about punching someone in the mouth.'"The single was performed on BBC Introducing and at Academy 1 as part of the release's promotion. The song is also a regular feature of the band's performance setlist, being performed at numerous festivals in and around the UK, including Glastonbury, Brighton, the NME Awards tour, the Ben & Jerry festival and the Electric Picnic among others.

Florence further elaborated on her inspiration behind the song:"'I was 16 or 17 when I wrote this. I'd just fallen in love for the first time, and I'd also started hanging out with an older group of people, watching how their relationships worked. There was this one couple who were so cool, but so visceral and so intense. The guy never hit the girl, but I saw her lamp him a couple of times, and she'd always give as good as she got. But it wasn't really physical violence, it was more about the fact that their animal passion for each other was the thing that was attractive for them. It was how joyful destruction can be, and how alluring it is to be in a relationship so fiery. There was never a dull moment when they were around. I don't know how they do it! I'm a conflict avoider. I think I write about such intense things because I'm actually really bad at expressing anger.'"

Formats
UK CD Promo: UK 7" Vinyl/UK CD Promo:
 * 1) Kiss With A Fist — 2:04
 * 1) Kiss With A Fist — 2:04
 * 2) Hospital Beds — 2:14