The Arctic Monkeys track Alex Turner called their “first proper love song”
The musical output of Arctic Monkeys is steeped in love. Alex Turner’s lyrics are relentlessly romantic and full of devotion, exploring the pains and pleasures of modern romance. Over indie rock guitars and whirring soundscapes, Turner’s poetic words ache with lovesickness, their weight often offset by the mundanity of his accompanying kitchen sink lyricism.
AM remains Arctic Monkeys’ most romantic record. The indie rock outfit’s most recent outings have leaned into wider themes, including politics and show business, but their 2013 record was almost entirely about sex and love. It contained some of Turner’s most intimate lyrics.
On ‘Arabella’, he declares: “My days end best when the sunset gets itself behind that little lady sitting on the passenger side, it’s much less picturesque without her catching the light, the horizon tries but it’s just not as kind on the eyes”. Desperate and devoted, it’s Turner’s lyrical longing at its best.
Turner’s sonic and lyrical preoccupation with romance has been a lengthy love affair. The slick frontman once named ‘505’ as the band’s first “proper love song”, the closing track to their sophomore record, Favourite Worst Nightmare. Speaking with NME, Turner dubbed it, “The first proper love song we’ve done… as in like, ‘Oh, it’s that one person.’” He also admitted that the song is about an ex-girlfriend.
This statement might come as a surprise – ‘505’ is certainly a song about love, but it’s not a love song in the typical sense. It’s devoted in the most poisonous sense of the word, at once soft, seductive and toxic. He softly declares, “I crumble completely when you cry”, amongst sensual imagery like “In my imagination you’re waiting lying on your side with your hands between your thighs”.
In between the romance in the song, Turner interweaves violent lines like, “I’d probably still adore you with your hands around my neck, or I did last time I checked”, and “The knife twists at the thought that I should fall short of the mark.” It’s some of Turner’s most poetic and painful lyricism, delivered over an iconic indie rock soundscape.
The song recently received a revived interest when it became a viral sensation on TikTok amidst nostalgia for the AM era and 2013 Tumblr. Turner, again, spoke to NME about the track, calling the surged popularity “genuinely moving”.
He continued: “Without having ‘505’ at the end of our shows for a few years around 2008, I’m not sure if it would have found the new life it has now.”
Turner concluded: “I hope that doesn’t sound like I’m taking credit [for the revival] – even if it wasn’t totally unexpected, the attention around [‘505’] is really quite special.” ‘505’ certainly is a special song, a demonstration of Turner’s lyrical prowess and a dark love song; it preempted the rest of Arctic Monkeys’ discography.
