Who is ‘Mr Schwartz’ in the new Arctic Monkeys song?
The long-awaited seventh Arctic Monkeys album, The Car, has finally dropped, and, as ever, Alex turner’s illusive poetry has us guessing. The album carries loose themes as the Sheffield group touch back down on Earth following their lunar holiday in 2018’s Tranquillity Base Hotel and Casino.
The Car once again evokes a range of ideas and intriguing characters; upon the first listen, most people have been wondering who Mr. Schwartz, the subject of the like-titled penultimate track, might be. In two recent interviews, Turner has been quizzed on the origin of this intriguing character.
John Kennedy of Radio X recently asked Turner: “Mr. Schwartz. What’s going on here? Is there a Mr. Schwartz? Who is Mr. Schwartz?”
“Mr. Schwartz…” Turner began pensively. “Yeah, again, he’d appeared in… This is almost a sequel, there was another song we had before, in that La Frette session I was mentioning, which was the first time he cropped up, there. Nothing to do with [poet] Delmore Schwartz or [rock band] Brinsley Schwartz.”
Earlier in the interview, when discussing ‘Hello You’, Turner explained that Arctic Monkeys had begun working on a number of ideas in La Frette studios, France, in 2019 following the Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino tour.
The sessions at the end of 2019 sadly ground to a halt. “There was an idea that we had when we were on tour, of this kind of record that we were trying to make,” Turner added. “By the time we got to the studio, that wasn’t there anymore. And we hadn’t got to the next place yet.”
Following this damp squib of a session in France, the Covid-19 pandemic took hold of the world, and by March 2020, we were in the midst of the first lockdown. With ideas mulling over during the restrictive period, Arctic Monkeys returned to the studio with a more fleshed-out plan for The Car.
So, ‘Mr. Schwartz’ is based on Turner’s character, who first appeared in an abandoned song from the 2019 sessions. It’s unclear whether the character is based on anyone specific in real life, but if this, as yet unreleased, prequel one day greets our ears, more light could be shed on the matter.
Discussing ‘Mr. Schwartz’ in another recent conversation with Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1, Turner described his interpretation of the track and its mysterious subject.
“It feels like maybe there’s some sort of production going on in the background the whole time through this record [The Car],” Turner said. “Like someone’s setting up some lights and carrying a ladder and … I don’t know. It feels like he’s got something to do with that … But when I look at what’s written there, it just feels like there are things that allude to that, that keep cropping up.”
Meanwhile, the song’s lyrics seem to concur with Turner’s idea that Mr. Schwartz is some sort of backstage handyman or film crew member. “Mr. Schwartz is staying strong for the crew/Wardrobe’s lint-rolling your velveteen suit/ Smudging dubbin on your dancing shoes”
Later, the lyrics mention Mr. Schwartz mingling with the “grips”. “Mr. Schwartz is having tea with the grips/ Asking after all the wives and the kids/It’s at the heart of what the business is”
Listen to Arctic Monkeys’ brand new track, ‘Mr. Schwartz’, below.
