In this age when "there's only music so that there's new ringtones" (A Certain Romance), it has become increasingly difficult to find interesting, thought-provoking music that doesn't insult the intelligence of its listener (see: Katy Perry, Peacock).
Arctic Monkeys, an English indie rock band formed in 2002 by Sheffield schoolmates Alex Turner, Nick O'Malley, Matt Helders, and Jamie Cook, are clearly going against this trend. Alex Turner writes the lyrics for their songs, and I recently saw a comparison of his lyrics and the lyrics of Every Other Band Ever: where another singer might say "I miss her when she's away," Alex declares "She's a silver lining lone ranger riding / Through an open space / In my mind when she's not right there beside me" (from the song R U Mine?)
Simone always teases me for being so slow to understand dumb puns and jokes (just the other day I realized that the costume store on South Congress, Lucy in Disguise with Diamonds, is like THE BEATLES SONG LUCY IN THE SKY WITH DIAMONDS! whoooaaa), and I'm amazed whenever I hear any kind of wordplay - so I can barely keep up with Alex's brilliant, lightning-fast turns of phrase and witty lyrics. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Brianstorm, from their 2007 album Favourite Worst Nightmare. I was going to choose the best lyrics to include here, but really, it's all just so good. Listen to the whole thing here, or check out a cool lyric breakdown here.
Another of my favorite songs is Pretty Vistors (from the 2009 album Humbug), with the chorus "All the pretty visitors came and waved their arms / and cast the shadow of a snake pit on the wall." I love this line because although it seems initially nonthreatening, it hints at something dark and ominous writhing just beneath the surface and showcases Alex's incredible ability to create a vivid image with just a few well-chosen words. Many of the other songs from this album evoke a similarly menacing feeling; for example take these from Crying Lightning: "And though I tried so not to suffer the indignity of a reaction / There was no cracks to grasp or gaps to claw." Like Pretty Visitors, this song seems dark and urgent.
My whole life, I've always learned that the mark of a good book, poem, or movie is being able to find something new to think about whenever you revisit it, no matter how many times you might do so. I'm an obsessive song-listener anyway - if I find a song I like, I'll listen to all day, every day, until I can't stand to hear it ever again - but since I became fully entrenched in this Arctic Monkeys obsession, I've noticed a new meaning every time I re-listen to a song.
"I couldn't got the hang of poetry," Alex sings in the title track of their 2011 album Suck It and See, but time and time again he disproves this claim. Most of the lyrics to Arctic Monkeys' songs read like poems, and indeed the song "I Wanna Be Yours" (from their latest album AM) reworks punk poet John Cooper Clarke's poem of the same name. "I think he's a fantastic lyricist," Clarke says of Alex in an interview. "He's always changing, and as a band they won't be pinned down."
Although the band's sound changes dramatically throughout their many albums, Alex's distinct style is recognizable in all of them. In their first album, Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, Alex's lyrics seem simpler than his later work, but no less powerful. My favorite song from that album is When The Sun Goes Down, which is about a "scummy man" picking up a young prostitute. It's heartbreaking, and I love how Alex's anger at the man transposes perfectly to sorrowful tenderness for the girl:
Bet she's delighted when she sees him
Pulling in and giving her the eye
Because she must be fucking freezing
Scantily clad beneath the clear night sky
Reckless Serenade, from the album Suck It and See (2011), illustrates how far he has come as a lyricist, and shows how the general feeling of the band has shifted from rough, raw melodies to more polished, refined songs:
The type of kisses where teeth collide
When she laughs, the heavens hum a stun-gun lullaby
Those twinkling vixens with the shining spiral eyes
Their hypnosis goes unnoticed when she's walking by
Contrast those tender lyrics with the bitterness of these from Perhaps Vampires Is A Bit Strong But..., again from Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not:
'Cause all you people are vampires
And all your stories are stale
And though you pretend to stand by us
I know you're certain we'll fail.
Alex has never really opened up about his method of songwriting or the meanings behind his lyrics, showing a guardedness to discuss his intentions for his work which is typical of poets and authors of all kinds. "Does anyone even want to know what I think about it?" he says in an interview. Eventually he said that he was "quite happy" with how the lyrics for Arabella had turned out, and it's easy to see why:
Arabella's got a 70's head
But she's a modern lover
It's an exploration, she's made of outer space
And her lips are like the galaxy's edge
And her kiss the colour of a constellation falling into place
Alex also composed original songs for the movie Submarine, and his distinct lyrical style is present there too: "I etched a face of a stopwatch / On the back of a raindrop / And did a swap for the sand in an hourglass" (Piledriver Waltz), "And you can shriek until you're hollow / Or whisper it the other way / Trying to save the youth without putting your shoes on" (It's Hard To Get Around the Wind).
All these lyrics could easily stand alone, and sometimes when I'm reading them I almost forget that the songs they accompany are equally amazing. Alex singing them takes them to the next level, not to mention the incredible musical talent of the rest of the band. This performance of 505 never fails to give me chills, and I absolutely love this performance of I Bet You Look Good On the Dancefloor, when they headlined at Glastonbury last year.
~Maya
p.s. D is actually for Dangerous.
Arctic Monkeys, an English indie rock band formed in 2002 by Sheffield schoolmates Alex Turner, Nick O'Malley, Matt Helders, and Jamie Cook, are clearly going against this trend. Alex Turner writes the lyrics for their songs, and I recently saw a comparison of his lyrics and the lyrics of Every Other Band Ever: where another singer might say "I miss her when she's away," Alex declares "She's a silver lining lone ranger riding / Through an open space / In my mind when she's not right there beside me" (from the song R U Mine?)
Simone always teases me for being so slow to understand dumb puns and jokes (just the other day I realized that the costume store on South Congress, Lucy in Disguise with Diamonds, is like THE BEATLES SONG LUCY IN THE SKY WITH DIAMONDS! whoooaaa), and I'm amazed whenever I hear any kind of wordplay - so I can barely keep up with Alex's brilliant, lightning-fast turns of phrase and witty lyrics. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Brianstorm, from their 2007 album Favourite Worst Nightmare. I was going to choose the best lyrics to include here, but really, it's all just so good. Listen to the whole thing here, or check out a cool lyric breakdown here.
Another of my favorite songs is Pretty Vistors (from the 2009 album Humbug), with the chorus "All the pretty visitors came and waved their arms / and cast the shadow of a snake pit on the wall." I love this line because although it seems initially nonthreatening, it hints at something dark and ominous writhing just beneath the surface and showcases Alex's incredible ability to create a vivid image with just a few well-chosen words. Many of the other songs from this album evoke a similarly menacing feeling; for example take these from Crying Lightning: "And though I tried so not to suffer the indignity of a reaction / There was no cracks to grasp or gaps to claw." Like Pretty Visitors, this song seems dark and urgent.
My whole life, I've always learned that the mark of a good book, poem, or movie is being able to find something new to think about whenever you revisit it, no matter how many times you might do so. I'm an obsessive song-listener anyway - if I find a song I like, I'll listen to all day, every day, until I can't stand to hear it ever again - but since I became fully entrenched in this Arctic Monkeys obsession, I've noticed a new meaning every time I re-listen to a song.
"I couldn't got the hang of poetry," Alex sings in the title track of their 2011 album Suck It and See, but time and time again he disproves this claim. Most of the lyrics to Arctic Monkeys' songs read like poems, and indeed the song "I Wanna Be Yours" (from their latest album AM) reworks punk poet John Cooper Clarke's poem of the same name. "I think he's a fantastic lyricist," Clarke says of Alex in an interview. "He's always changing, and as a band they won't be pinned down."
Although the band's sound changes dramatically throughout their many albums, Alex's distinct style is recognizable in all of them. In their first album, Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, Alex's lyrics seem simpler than his later work, but no less powerful. My favorite song from that album is When The Sun Goes Down, which is about a "scummy man" picking up a young prostitute. It's heartbreaking, and I love how Alex's anger at the man transposes perfectly to sorrowful tenderness for the girl:
Bet she's delighted when she sees him
Pulling in and giving her the eye
Because she must be fucking freezing
Scantily clad beneath the clear night sky
Reckless Serenade, from the album Suck It and See (2011), illustrates how far he has come as a lyricist, and shows how the general feeling of the band has shifted from rough, raw melodies to more polished, refined songs:
The type of kisses where teeth collide
When she laughs, the heavens hum a stun-gun lullaby
Those twinkling vixens with the shining spiral eyes
Their hypnosis goes unnoticed when she's walking by
Contrast those tender lyrics with the bitterness of these from Perhaps Vampires Is A Bit Strong But..., again from Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not:
'Cause all you people are vampires
And all your stories are stale
And though you pretend to stand by us
I know you're certain we'll fail.
Alex has never really opened up about his method of songwriting or the meanings behind his lyrics, showing a guardedness to discuss his intentions for his work which is typical of poets and authors of all kinds. "Does anyone even want to know what I think about it?" he says in an interview. Eventually he said that he was "quite happy" with how the lyrics for Arabella had turned out, and it's easy to see why:
Arabella's got a 70's head
But she's a modern lover
It's an exploration, she's made of outer space
And her lips are like the galaxy's edge
And her kiss the colour of a constellation falling into place
Alex also composed original songs for the movie Submarine, and his distinct lyrical style is present there too: "I etched a face of a stopwatch / On the back of a raindrop / And did a swap for the sand in an hourglass" (Piledriver Waltz), "And you can shriek until you're hollow / Or whisper it the other way / Trying to save the youth without putting your shoes on" (It's Hard To Get Around the Wind).
All these lyrics could easily stand alone, and sometimes when I'm reading them I almost forget that the songs they accompany are equally amazing. Alex singing them takes them to the next level, not to mention the incredible musical talent of the rest of the band. This performance of 505 never fails to give me chills, and I absolutely love this performance of I Bet You Look Good On the Dancefloor, when they headlined at Glastonbury last year.
~Maya
p.s. D is actually for Dangerous.
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