How Alex Turner channelled country music and Patsy Cline into a hit Arctic Monkeys tune
According to Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner, songwriting is an entirely different game in the morning. “At other points in the day, you’re a bit more defensive,” he argues, adding to the growing list of other arresting sweeping statements the musician has made, directly and indirectly. There’s a lot to be said about his claim, however—especially considering how some of his deeper influences are figures you wouldn’t necessarily expect.
At the same time, imagining Turner writing most of the band’s hits so early in the day doesn’t make much sense, considering the typical nightlife-influenced disposition of their earlier albums against the intergalactic conceptual backdrop of his later lounge feel. Perhaps that’s because he likely doesn’t write in the mornings that often at all, saving space for the pieces where he feels the most sober in his ability to keep his exact meaning completely unfiltered.
However, all of these suspicions are always completely up for debate, considering how Turner presents himself in most interviews, which usually follow a similar pattern as he stumbles through different thoughts and emotions without ever really giving much away. Part of this centres around his naturally aloof personality, of course, but it’s difficult to ignore his deliberate restraint, especially when it comes to different influences and what makes him tick.
One such is Patsy Cline, whose impact on Turner has been known since he covered her gorgeous 1960s tune ‘Strange’ in 2012, taking Cline’s melancholic track and transforming it into one of his charming blends of emotional intensity underscored by his usual classically-leaning rasp. However, Cline seemed to have been a guiding force with certain aspects of Turner’s artistry since the 2009’s Humbug, when he enabled his adoration to come to the fore in more obvious ways with the lovelorn ballad ‘Cornerstone’.
According to the singer, this is one in which his rare affinity for writing in the mornings sprung into action, allowing him to put pen to paper “quite quickly” once he awoke without coming up with something “too cheesy”. At the same time, he admitted to listening to a lot of country music and made sure that the song structure resembled something Cline would have likely written herself.
As he explained to Vulture: “I was listening to a lot of country music when I wrote it, and it had that formula where the verses always end the same way.” He continued: “That happens a lot in Patsy Cline tunes. I started with the line, ‘I smelt your scent on the seat belt.’ In reality, I was sitting in the back of a taxi and I got this scent in my nostrils of whomever I was longing for. I may have also had the names of the pubs in mind.”
Although some of the lyrics reflected other aspects of his subconscious, likely more than he was comfortable with or expected, adopting a subtle change of pace by writing at an unusual time of day with a head swimming with country influences was undoubtedly what made ‘Cornerstone’ feel a standout not just on Humbug but their entire discography.
More so than any other Arctic Monkeys record, the song delivers Turner’s signature wordplay in a completely different light, almost reflecting his longing like the delicate pools of light that linger first thing in the morning, stark in their presence but almost timid in the desires they reveal—gentle yet insistent.
