sweet dreams xX
I think I have a favorite love song. And this is kind of a big deal.
Since I was a young girl I always loved Alex Turner. He always inspired me to breathe life into my lyrics, and push them until they pushed back.
Alex also always gave me hope. The way he wrote about the women he loved made it seem possible that in a world so void of it that love existed. And where it did, it was magic.
From the first time I heard "your love is like a studded leather headlock" off of the song "Suck it and See" 2011 album Suck it and See, i knew there was at least one real lover in the world left besides me - Alex Turner.
Before I jump into the song this post is about let me revisit that one.
The second verse is sooo magical.
"I pour my aching heart into a pop song. I couldn't get the hang of poetry. That's not a skirt girl, that's a sawn-off shotgun. And I can only hope you've got it aimed at me."
And of course ends it with "Be cruel to me, cus I'm a fooool for you."
His writing has got both the desperation of lovers throughout time, with a completely modern perspective, that few artists can ever get right. And he does it so seamlessly.
I would be lying if I told you anything else ever made me believe in that true, romantic, fiery love, but music. So i hold onto it and find these songs touch the ways that i feel and make me feel like im not crazy for 1. feeling this way about people and 2.believing its possible that someone could feel that way about me.
I can't confirm (and won't) that the Arctic Monkeys ever broke up, though I don't think they've played together in a loooong time.
Alex formed the Last Shadow Puppets before the Arctic Monkeys even reigned music, in 2007. It consists of a bunch of legends - Miles Kane, James Ford, and Zach Dawes. Miles Kane was famously present on "505", you know the song where Alex throws us into revolt as he sings "I crumble completely when you cry". He also is on...... the infamous and highly treasured song by Lana Del Rey, "Dealer". Yupppp. so legends all around.
Basically the Last Shadow Puppets kind of performed a bit more than the Arctic Monkeys did after like 2015. So they're kind of the latest bits we have of Alex's songwriting. And their sound is less rocky to me and more like folk, it's softer, less loud, less trying to prove anything because well, I think these musicians have all proved enough.
I honestly have my friend Cassidy to thank for reintroducing me to this song. "Sweet Dreams, TN" comes shyly off of the 2016 album "Everything You've Come to Expect". and it fucking rocks.
Immediately it brings us in with Alex singing "I just always sorta feel sick without you baby". Followed by a pretty repetitive instrumentation, but Alex is saying this and that you're so entranced by his line of thinking that the music makes it so much easier to love.
I loooveee the line "it's just the pits without you baby". hahah it made me start using "the pits" for everything.
Alex follows that line saying "it's like everyone's a dick without you baby, ain't I fallen in love?" and though you might think this is like a whatever line... to me.. I think it just places the song in a temporal landscape where calling someone a "dick" is modern lingo and not trying to be coy or charming any other way. it just feels like a guy saying "FUCK everyone's just a dick without you." can you hear it?
"And as your shrinking figure blows a kiss, I catch and smash it on my lips. Darling, I can't seem to quit. Completely falling to bits" AHHHH. butterflies.
then "the idea that you've existed all along is ridiculous" hahahha
then the song fucking bUILDSSSS and here comes Alex again with his emotional Capricorn self pours "It's love like a tongue in a nostril. Love like an ache in the jaw. You're the first day of spring with a septum piercing. Little Miss Sweet Dreams, Tennnnnnnnnesseeeeeeee"
Now if Alex can love a girl with a septum piercing, so can you.
Think about that.
