‘505’: The Arctic Monkeys lyric that sums up modern romance
It’s hard trying to define the impact that Arctic Monkeys had on northern musicians when they first rose to fame. It was as though, all of a sudden, something shifted. People still wanted to drink and party, sure, but they were romantic and poetic about it. Never before had such a common way of life been described in such a beautiful way. They completely changed the way people viewed indie music and showed the north of England as the complicated and beautiful place it is.
It’s for this reason that a lot of people struggle to accept the new iteration of the band, one that seems patronising and abstract, the very thing that those early albums rivalled against. The world was laid bare, rolled out for all the world to see, but done in a way that felt genuine and wonderful. Some of the lyrics available on those first two albums, Whatever People Say I Am That’s What I’m Not and Favourite Worst Nightmare still live in the hearts of music lovers to day.
Whatever topic you would like to discuss, it’s touched upon in some way during those two albums. Alex Turner manages to write about queueing for a club that you’re likely to get turned away from, asking a taxi driver to allow one extra person in and the hardships that come with modern romance all in the same vein. However, despite the variation of these topics, it’s the latter we will focus on today.
How many people will have used Arctic Monkeys lyrics to tell someone else how much they love them? Love is an indescribable feeling, one that everybody feels and yet no one can correctly define. The pointlessness in seeking this definition is oddly something that we all share, apart from Alex Turner, it seems. He talks about love, whether it’s the happiness it can bring or the sadness, jealousy and loneliness, in a way that resonates worldwide.
Granted, a lot of these lyrics haven’t aged with us. As such, some lines that talk about clubbing and fancying girls in the same class as you don’t quite hit in the same way, even if the nostalgia of those lines is still there. However, there are some lyrics that live on and remain just as relevant as when they were first conjured. These include those penned on ‘505’, the closing track and timeless classic on Arctic Monkeys’ second album, Favourite Worst Nightmare.
Two chords are all that song needs—four minutes long and two chords. If you ever need to understand just how compelling these words are, it should be perfectly reflected in the fact we don’t need any further music than that to drag us through four minutes. From the first line, “I’m going back to 505 if it’s a seven-hour flight or a 45-minute drive,” we are ushered into a love story about two distant dreamboats who want nothing more than to be in the same room as one another.
While all of the lyrics in this song contribute to making it the romantic wonder that we recognise today, there is no escaping the fact that towards the closing section of the song is when things really ramp up. Specifically, the line, “I crumble completely when you cry, it seems like once again you’ve had to greet me with goodbye,” is one of the most timeless lyrics in music, which is as good today as it ever was.
Love’s nature means we are prone to miss it rather than enjoy it. While we may have moments of recognition, as is always the case with good things, we fail to recognise them as good until they leave. Memories and moments are greetings said with goodbyes as we struggle to look past the moments of being apart, so much so that they dominate the moments you’re together. This seems to resonate even more in the modern world, where we are disconnected from one another more than ever in every aspect of our lives.
The timeless nature of Arctic Monkeys’ lyrics will continue to be one of music’s perfect anomalies, but the lyrics in ‘505’ remain among the most poignant.
