Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age has praised Turners' ability to pick lyrics, from seemingly nowhere, and commit them to music without ever having written them down, and with the sheer quantity of lyrical gems he's thrown at us over the years (with sometimes blinding speed) It's a wonder why the whole of the US hasn't converted to (Arctic) Monkey-mania yet.
With his effortless ability to yank us from our desks, through our headphones, into the suburbs and clubs of his native Sheffield, England, Alex delights in titillating us with his descriptions of girls in green dresses, gorgeous beyond belief, with popped collars and sunglasses on indoors.
While his lyrical style has changed fairly heavily over the years, his cheek still comes poking through, even when sporting his rock-god in a pompadour persona of late.
He's thoroughly made fans of myself and Mr. Svoronos, we'll be first in line when they come to Richmond in February, but until then, here is a list of our personal, Top 5 favorite Alex Turner lyrics, and what they mean to us.
Jacks' Top 5
1. "And I bet she told a million people that she'd stay in touch / Well, all the little promises - they don't mean much / When there's memories to be made / And I hope you're holding hands by New Years' Eve"
"Only Ones Who Know" - Favourite Worst Nightmare
This lyrics always gets to me, being delivered in a faint croon over minimalist strums of a guitar. It reminds me of that girl, that girl or guy who we've all had or known. They've always made promises to keep in touch with old friends, but being in a committed relationship can make that quite a task, and friends can become acquaintances, can become people you know. If the relationship turns sour, It's natural for the person who's let old slip away to make room for the new to go back and rekindle old flames, and, in my opinion, this song is told from the perspective of Turner after his girl has done just that. After she left he wistfully croons that he hopes she's holding hands by New Years Eve, and imagines her out having fun reconnecting with all the people that she put on the sidelines when she was with him. It's bittersweet, and one of my favorite demonstrations of Alexs' softer side.
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2."May suggest there's somewhere from which you might know her / Just to get the ball to roll /
Drunken monologues, confused because / It's not like I'm falling in love, I just want you to do me no good / And you look like you could"
"No. 1 Party Anthem" - AM
The imagery in this song is palpable. Turner takes us right into the thick of it, a party with sweat on the walls and certified mindblowers. This song leaves no room to spare when describing the girl on the prowl, who locks eyes with Alex and invites him over to laugh at her jokes. A night that calls everyone to "put off the search for your soul" and just go with it. The lyric slinks along perfectly, while our lucky Mr. Turner makes small talk with a girl whom he's decided he wants to loose a night with, and not a minute more. That kind of certainty of living in the moment, and for the night, is comforting amongst an album of heartbreak and longing.
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3."And I elongated my lift home / Yeah I let him go the long way round / I smelt your scent on the seatbelt / And kept my shortcuts to myself"
"Cornerstone" - Humbug
A simple song that chronicles the ambling, almost out of body experience that comes with heartbreak.
Still reeling from a relationship gone bad, Turner wanders around town, hoping to catch a glimpse of the object of his affections, and he keeps projecting her onto familiar places and faces on his journey. I relate to this song quite a bit, as I'm sure many of us do, because of the unique mindset you can sometimes put yourself in. Even though it causes him pain, he let's the cabbie "take the long way round" just so he can bask in the bittersweet memories that it brings him. Be it mistaking other girls for her, or intentionally immersing himself in painful memories that a small town can bring up, Alex let's his emotions get the better of him as he asks local girls if he can "please call you her name". Oh, Alex, sweetie, that's won't help at all.
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4."Not shy of a spark / A knife twists at the thought that I should fall short of the mark / Frightened by the bite, though it's no sharper than the bark / Middle of adventure, such a perfect place to start"
"505" - Favourite Worst Nightmare
An emotional sledgehammer of a song, it was hard to pick any one lyric out. This is the song I would end the show with, a crescendo of massive proportions bringing to close my favorite Arctic Monkeys album. The simple lyric conveys his desperation, and grim determination to keep it together with the girl that he would still adore "with her hands around his neck". Fearing both the bark and the bite, both the inevitable confrontation with the woman and the turmoil in his head leading up to it, Turner lays into the final verse with desperate conviction, lamenting on his inability to hold on to that which was most precious to him. The knife gives it's final twist as she "greets him with goodbye" and Alex wraps up, in my opinion, one of the finest rock albums in recent memory.
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5."Well I'm so glad they turned us all away, we'll put it down to fate / I said a thousand million things that I could never say this morning / Got too deep, but how deep is too deep?"
"From the Ritz to the Rubble" - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
Defiantly slurred by a drunken Turner as he's being thrown out of the party, this was another lyric that was a hard pick because I think that this is the finest song that they've ever wrote. A journey of the attempts to shmooze into a club, the drunken escapades and flings that follow and the groggy haze of the next morning. Every verse perfectly immerses us in the night life and bad decisions of Alex and companies' youth. From squaring off with the bouncers, all the way to grimly admitting that "that girl's a different girl today", Turner walks us through a typical Saturday night according to Arctic Monkeys. Once the haze ascends, and Sunday morning comes knocking loudly on the door, the song turns the corner in a huge guitar breakdown laced with regretful lyrics and Alex contemplating just HOW deep is too deep? Maybe he'll learn next week, but probably not. This album is a time capsule that perfectly represents the wild youthful exuberance of the nightlife and adventures of lads trying to meet girls and have fun, the time before all the soured relationships and burdens of fame weighed so heavily on young Mr. Turners' shoulders. One of the most triumphant records of the the last 10 years, Whatever People Say is nearly flawless in execution, and will be playing in my turntables, digital or otherwise, for years to come.
Stay tuned for Zack's Top 5.
