According to the Kiss With a Fist Songfacts, this sexually charged number was written when Welch was hanging out with art college dropouts. She told The Sunday Times: "It's about giving as good as you get."
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 song was first recorded as "Happy Slap" by Florence's earlier band, Ashok.
Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
