"Kiss with a Fist" first appeared with the same lyrics under the name "Happy Slap" on Ashok's (Florence Welch's previous band) first (and only) album
Plans. "Kiss with a Fist" was originally released as a non-album single and was later finalised as track number five on
Lungs. It is significantly the shortest track on the album and was co-written by Florence Welch herself along with Isabella Summers (who co-wrote the majority of the songs on the album with Florence) and Matt Allchin. The song is in an indie garage-rock style and features Christopher Lloyd Haiden on drums, Robert Ackroyd on bass guitar and Tim McCall on guitar. The track was both recorded and mixed by Richard Flack with producer, former Pulp bassist Steve Mackey (renowned for his work with
M.I.A.) credited as a co-mixer as well. 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. ==Critical reception==