So this has been.my favorite song of OTEP's since it came out in 2004, and I always thought it was a song about a child's narrative of suffering in an abusive Christian home. But now that I am revisiting the lyrics, I am seeing something totally new.
This song could be gospel of John but from the perspective of Jesus.
Jesus was NOT having a good time up to and during the crucifixion. Everyone in the known world at the time looked to him with fear, admiration or disgust and he was constantly being asked questions. He spoke in "verses, prophesies and curses". He had made an enemy of the state, and believed the world was increasingly wicked and fallen from grace, or that he was in the "mouth of madness".
The spine of atlas is the structure that allows the titan to hold the world up. Jesus challenged the state and in doing so became a celebrated resistance figure. It also made him public enemy #1.
All of this happened simply because he was doing his thing, not because of any agenda he had or strategy.
And then he gets scourged (storm of thorns)
There are some plot holes here but I think it's an interesting interpretation.
I thought I saw you in the Battleship
But it was only a look alike
She was nothing but a vision trick
Under the warning light
She was close
Close enough to be your ghost
But my chances turned to toast
When I asked her if I could call her your name
I thought I saw you in the Rusty Hook
Huddled up in wicker chair
I wandered up for a closer look
And kissed whoever was sitting there
She was close
And she held me very tightly
'Til I asked awfully politely
"Please, can I call you her name?"
And I elongated my lift home
Yeah, I let him go the long way 'round
I smelt your scent on the seatbelt
And kept my shortcuts to myself
I thought I saw you in the Parrot's Beak
Messin' with the smoke alarm
It was too loud for me to hear her speak
And she had a broken arm
It was close
So close that the walls were wet
And she wrote it out in Letraset
"No, you can't call me her name"
Tell me, where's your hiding place?
I'm worried I'll forget your face
And I've asked everyone
I'm beginning to think I imagined you all along
I elongated my lift home
Yeah, I let him go the long way 'round
I smelt your scent on the seatbelt
And kept my shortcuts to myself
I saw your sister in the Cornerstone
On the phone to the middle man
When I saw that she was on her own
I thought she might understand
That she was close
Well, you couldn't get much closer
She said, "I'm really not supposed to, but yes
You can call me anything you want"
But it was only a look alike
She was nothing but a vision trick
Under the warning light
She was close
Close enough to be your ghost
But my chances turned to toast
When I asked her if I could call her your name
I thought I saw you in the Rusty Hook
Huddled up in wicker chair
I wandered up for a closer look
And kissed whoever was sitting there
She was close
And she held me very tightly
'Til I asked awfully politely
"Please, can I call you her name?"
And I elongated my lift home
Yeah, I let him go the long way 'round
I smelt your scent on the seatbelt
And kept my shortcuts to myself
I thought I saw you in the Parrot's Beak
Messin' with the smoke alarm
It was too loud for me to hear her speak
And she had a broken arm
It was close
So close that the walls were wet
And she wrote it out in Letraset
"No, you can't call me her name"
Tell me, where's your hiding place?
I'm worried I'll forget your face
And I've asked everyone
I'm beginning to think I imagined you all along
I elongated my lift home
Yeah, I let him go the long way 'round
I smelt your scent on the seatbelt
And kept my shortcuts to myself
I saw your sister in the Cornerstone
On the phone to the middle man
When I saw that she was on her own
I thought she might understand
That she was close
Well, you couldn't get much closer
She said, "I'm really not supposed to, but yes
You can call me anything you want"
Lyrics submitted by life_aint_chess
Cornerstone Lyrics as written by Alex Turner
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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First thing: The girl in the final verse is not a prostitute. Why is it that people instantly think "prostitue" when the word "corner" is mentioned? A cornerstone is generaly the plaque in a building that states when the building was built and who officialy opened it etc. Nothing to do with corners or prostitutes! But that is not the meaning of the word "cornerstone" in these lyrics...
S: (n) basis, base, foundation, fundament, groundwork, cornerstone (the fundamental assumptions from which something is begun or developed or calculated or explained) "the whole argument rested on a basis of conjecture" (Retrieved from Princeton University WordNet Search, wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn).
So basically, in the line "I saw your sister in the cornerstone", the songwriter as saying that as soon as he sees the sister he gets the assumption that he's found his answer. He may even be dreaming while his mind is getting ahead of him before he has even talked to the girl.
Now before I continue I must say that I believe the girl he is looking for in everyone else hes passed away. I don't see how his obsession could have reached its current point unless she was dead. Also the girls ghost is mentioned early in the song. This would also explain the remainder of my analysis for the final verse.
So the girl is dead, the songwriter and the girls sister meet. Both thier lives aren't going very well at the time. We know the guy has been looking for the girl in everyone else and the sister is "on her own" and in a dead-end job ("on the phone to the middle-man"). "She was close, you couldn't get much closer", obviously, because genetically she is the sister of the girl.
So to wrap up the final verse, the guy sees the sister, sees that shes having a hard time following the lost of her sibling. His mind starts to go wild and at this point he may very well have already fallen in love with the sister. While he is not in a stable state of mind he goes over to the sister and asks her outright. She is so down and lonely that she needs him just as much as he needs her and they ultimatly fall in love.
Well thats my analysis of the song anyway. I think the most importent thing is that everyone draws thier own meanings from the song - or any song for that matter. But I'd love to know what you think of my explaination so please comment on it.
Cheers guys! sneakydust
i'd agree, except for the part in the final verse where he states she was on the phone to the 'middleman' which to me is an obvious reference to a pimp
I really want to believe the girl in the final verse is not a prostitute... But the term "sister" could mean someone who ressembled the loved one the most.<br /> "You can call me everything you want" plants the doubt because that's common streetwalker slang....
Your explaination for the song was great but I have a diffrent thought about some of it. In my opinion the girl that he imagined everywhere was only his imagination. "I'm beginning to think I imagined you all along" he might of came to his senses at that moment. And when he sees her sister he doesn't think that she is the "girl" even though she most likely looked a lot alike her. So maybe all he wanted was his imaginary girlfriend and the girl he found was close enough to what he imagined that she is like the sister of the perfect girl.
@sneakydust <br /> Pretty much agree with this, except I'd considered the 'middleman' to be a vicar or priest - the middleman between earth and heaven. Her sister was on the phone arranging her sisters funeral, thus tying in the fact they girl is no longer alive. <br /> <br /> I'm probably way off the mark, but just what run through my head when I hear this tune.
@sneakydust Middleman is such a loose term, could be her boyfriend. She could be so depressed that she says, "You can call me anything you want."
Amazing song, maybe the best one in Humbug. Well obviously the song is about a guy that can't get over a girl, and this dude keeps on looking for that girl's image in other girls. But Alex's poetic sense of story-telling makes this situation much more beautiful. The only thing I can't figure out is the song's end, that makes it look like it has a good ending for our fella', or perhaps somewhat sad, for the fact that calling a girl in another one's name, well that's just fictional love. And of course, the guy won't come to an overture. what do you think?
You seem like a wise Guy ....<br /> <br /> Cornerstone .... the aftermath of "do me a favour" perhaps ... the same girl involved?
The girl is dead.<br /> <br /> A believe it is a happy ending. The tone of the music picks up.<br /> <br /> But the guy finds love in the girls sister, its sad in a way, but he does find new love and is still keeping the memory of the dead girl.<br /> <br /> Thats just my 2cents
I think you are right Franky-San. It's about a boy who can't get over a girl, but I think she left. leaving him wondering around for her. He wants her, but she isn't there so he has to find another just like her and he gets the closest with her sister. That's just what I think. Only Alex truly knows. : )
I think it's about a guy who has lost a girl, and is going out again trying to find a new girl who reminds him as close as possible to his ex;he still isn't totally over his ex. The "Battle Ship", "Rusty Hook", "Parrots Beak", and the "Cornerstone" are bars that he has been going to in search of a new love. At each one he finds a girl with mutual interest but he blows it everytime trying to make this girl a clone to his ex. I believe that it was a taxi taking him home from a bar in the 5th verse and let the driver take the long way home so he could have some extra time to inhale his ex's scent which he came across in the car. The last part about the sister, if you take it seriously, would be the cloest he could ever get to being with his ex again without actually being with her. I too think that there's something with the pirate references. Pirates are always on quests and journeys in hunt of theri long lost treasure.
"Can I call you her name" seems to work as "can I call you my lover" sorry if that's stating the obvious.<br /> <br /> "Messing with a smoke alarm" I think this means she was in a crowded dance club, waving arms in the air. (I've also heard this dance move referred to as "screwing in a light bulb".)<br /> <br /> "So close that the walls were wet" this reminds me of crowded dance clubs where it can get so hot & humid that condensed sweat drips from the ceiling & everyone/everything becomes saturated. <br /> <br /> "She wrote it in letraset" I think this is a poetic reference that can be literally translated as "sign language". IE she flipped him off with one or two fingers.<br /> Cheers Indiebopper for the wiki reference: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letraset<br /> <br /> My best guess as to why her scent was on the seatbelt: he and the original girl were in a relationship. They were in a cab riding back to his place. The relationship ended during the cabride, and she got out, leaving him to be consumed by his thoughts, and willingly haunted by her scent. ...Possibly the last time he saw her.<br /> <br /> After many unsuccessful attempts to replace his heart's lost love, in desperation he withdraws from the quest and seeks comfort by attempting to recreate that love with a prostitute. She is initially uncomfortable with what he wants because it's unprofessional to be affectionate, in the same way that a prostitute "is really not supposed to" kiss clients on the lips (as we all know from watching the Julia Roberts movie 'Pretty Woman'). But this hooker must like him, or feel sorry for him, because she agrees to make love / act like his lover.<br /> <br /> Thanks to Hampton90 & others who suggested the pirate-ish names of the pubs are a reference to adventurous quest for lost treasure, while the Cornerstone where he ends up refers more to a fallback / retreat to a lower path. I love that!<br /> <br /> BTW GREAT Band! ...But I hope their next album is a bit more optimistic about love & romance. Their previous offerings had charming touches of romantic innocence and themes of cheeky idealism in a less-than-ideal world, but with Humbug romantic ideals take a much bleaker perspective, as with this song. Cheer up lads it's not all bad! :)
This is the song the Bakery on really, really good crack.
"she wrote in in letraset" en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letraset
At first listen, this is the song that is my instant favourite on Humbug.
In every verse, i think he is talking about different pubs. Battle Ship, Rusty Hook, Parrots Beak. Not sure why they are all to do with pirates or something but i'm sure there is a reason.
I think anyone can relate to this, it is about never quite getting over "her". We all compare our new girl with the old one, its normal. I think the way Alex Turner is saying, "Can i call you her name?" is just a poetic way of describing this. Every girl he comes across, is just not the same as the previous.
At the end I dont think he literally means her sister, i think this is another poetic way of saying someone who reminds him of her. A spitting image.
I am a bit confused about the 3rd verse about the smoke alarm and why she has a broken arm? Anyone got any ideas?
Well I think that he wants to refer to her personality when he talks about "broken arm", and that "she's messing with the smoke alarm": <br /> <br /> He obviously talks about different girlfriends he has had in his life, and that he compares them...and with "broken arm" he wants to describe her personality. Maybe she's had a broken arm literally, or he means that she is an adventurous and lively girl that needs a thrill, and maybe because of that she is messing with the smoke alarm....because she wanted to set off the alarm because she wants attention or is always searching for a kick in her life.<br /> Maybe she was way too lively for him, so that "he couldn't hear her speak".<br /> <br /> That's what I think. (and I hope everybody understands what I mean, writing in a different language is not so easy....I am German)
Battle Ship, Rusty Hook, Parrots Beak<br /> they have to do with pirates because arctic monkeys love pirates and vikings, they put pirates and viking in a lot of their songs.
@Killerofthechase you are on to something, this comment and the one where she might have passed away seemed to stick out for me, you know in a way maybe the smoke alarm could be refering to his mind, as awareness of smoke as in bad air, or you know bad enviroment, so she could be playing with his smoke alarm aka mind? dunno there might be something there
To me it sounds a lot like 'The Bakery'. The music and lyrics are written in a pretty similar way. These lyrics are pretty self-explanatory really. He misses a girl so he tries to replace her with a similar girl and asks if he can call them 'her' name. It gets a bit weird towards the end though, with the bit about him and 'her' sister. Best track on 'Humbug' for me.
in my opinion the song talks about a boy who fell for a girl who is gone now, so he misses and every time he sees a girl, he think it's her, but she's not. about the taxi thing, it may be a taxi or not, maybe it's just a friends car, and the smell of the girl is around so he doesn't want to arrive home just to breath that scent. the lines "tell me where's your hiding place... along" are pretty obvious, he wants to know where the girl is, and not to forget her face because he is beginning to think he's imagined her. lovely song by the way, probably my favourite from humbug. & sorry for my english..
I beleive that the reference to names of the bars he go's to are linked with pirates because thats what they do... they seek there treasure they lost! opinions??? i'd have to agree that is my favourite on the album at the minute!!
that's definitely cleared the whole pirate-y up for me, nice idea :)
this reminds me of "catcher in the rye" a little because of the quest and going from bar to bar... it's a bit like that thing holden has for janie. also, the elongated taxi ride reminds me of that, though in CITR it seems to be unintentional, it's more like holden is distracted by something and gives the wrong address to the driver. maybe, who knows, going to new york played him the same tricks as holden...
also, this is a bit corny (but it is the CORNerstone after all) the "smelt scent on seat belt" can be literal if someone with the same perfume was in the car just before him [it has happnened to me before to smell the scent of someone i know at places where he wasn't], and i think was alex means here is he's so distracted by this distinctive smell that he loses his train of thought and misses out giving indications to the driver and just lets himself drift in a fantasy about the girl...
and of course, i agree with the Bakery similarities. we could say the Bakery was the demo to this, and this is the sophisticated version, in terms of lyrics anyway...
*jane