#shut up im emotional over this

[xx-poetry-witch-xx]

just had to throw away my old combat boots, rest easy old friends, you served me well

[livelovecaliforniadreams]

[kafka-ohdear]

do you ever think bubbles & croz are a softer version of malark & muck.

[coffinsister]

"I don't speak English very well but it's our love for Andy and Leyley which connects us!"

Does this random person who just commented on my fic knows how much I love them can they feel my love through the screen can they can they

[daddy-long-legssss]

The Story Behind The Song: Arctic Monkeys’ early ambitions on ‘A Certain Romance’

Lucy Harbron – Far Out Magazine | January 17, 2024

It was 2006. Mortgages were crashing, and businesses were going bust. Tony Blair was on his last legs in office as the longest-serving prime minister since Margaret Thatcher, and the hangover of ‘Cool Brittania’ was beginning to set in with an unexpected ferocity. Things were bleak when a young Alex Turner sang, “There ain’t no romance around there” through the public’s speakers. Arctic Monkeys were about to write themselves into musical history as the voice of a new generation.

The final song on their debut album, there has always been something special about ‘A Certain Romance’. In 2022, after the release of their seventh album, The Car, Turner seemed to find himself reflecting back on that 2006 track. To the musician, that early cut holds a clue to everything that was to come as he said the piece “showed that we did actually have these ambitions beyond what we once thought we were capable of”.

Coming in at over the five-minute mark, ‘A Certain Romance’ almost feels like the Arctic Monkeys’ version of a rock opera, summarising all the themes, feelings and energy that came before it on their seminal album Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not. It has the cheekiness of ‘Fake Tales Of San Francisco’ and the catchy instrumentals of hits like ‘Dancing Shoes’ or ‘I Bet That You Look Good On The Dancefloor’. Utilising the northern charm of ‘Mardy Bum’, it stands as a final, neatly summarising point on the social commentary found in their early tracks like ‘From The Ritz To The Rubble’ or ‘Riot Van’. Really, it could be argued that ‘A Certain Romance’ is the ultimate example of Arctic Monkeys’ original sound, perfectly encapsulating all the things that made the world listen up and pay attention.

It’s like they seemed to know that, too, always allowing the song a special place. In fact, it was really the band’s opening remark. Years before the offer of a debut album came around, the group were a well-oiled machine with their own local hits. They had the northern live music scene in their hands as their homemade demo CD was passed around like everyone’s worst-kept secret. Beneath the Boardwalk features eight out of the 13 songs that would be on Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not, albeit in a slightly different, lower-quality version. But the opening number, ‘A Certain Romance’, sounds just the same.

It’s all there, from the rolling opening drums to that final guitar solo. Recorded and produced in a rented studio at only age 17, the existence of ‘A Certain Romance’, one of the band’s most explorative and energetic numbers, in this form this early in their career feels like a diamond sitting in a mine. It proves that they were always onto something special.

They never needed any help. In fact, their producer, Jim Abbiss, noted that they even seemed nervous about the help. “I think they were probably a bit weary, like ‘who’s this guy? And is he gonna make our sound this or that.’”

They didn’t want anything to change too much, as the group already had the songs figured out. Turner certainly did, as the track’s meandering narrative about hometown lads, fights, and local boredom is already there. Talking on a podcast, original member Andy Nicholson revealed the story behind the song. “We had a practice room with a pool table in, and we had a party in there, and we invited another band who were friends of ours, and we all had some drinks,” he said. “Then something happened, someone throws a pool cue, someone throws a pool ball, and everyone ends up fighting,” he added, explaining the lyrics, “there’s boys in bands / And kids who like to scrap with pool cues in their hands.”

But the magic of Arctic Monkeys lies in their nuance. What begins as a snooty analysis of his local landscape is a genuinely affectionate take. “Well, over there, there’s friends of mine / What can I say? I’ve known ’em for a long long time / And, yeah, they might overstep the line / But you just cannot get angry in the same way,” Turner sings, looking around at his bandmates and lifelong friends. ‘A Certain Romance’ is not only a time capsule for the group’s beginnings but is an ode to all the people who were there with them. It’s an ode to the hometown that made them and all its various characters.

But as the last guitar solo roars to life, there is an unspoken statement that they’re going to be bigger than what they came from. “I remember when we were recording ‘A Certain Romance’ and having a conversation with the producer about the final guitar solo,” Turner told NME, recalling the moment these songs were reworked for their debut. But they wouldn’t let anyone mess with ‘A Certain Romance’, knowing exactly what they were doing and trying to say with that one. In the 2003 demo version, all the feeling is already there, and Turner wouldn’t risk it.

“There’s something that happens at the end of that track where we break some rules in a single moment,” he continued. What happens at the end of the piece feels even more special, considering how the album was recorded. “These are the songs we wanna do, and I think this is the order we wanna do them in,” Alex Turner told their producer, recounting the conversation in 2007 to RadioX, “And he goes, ‘alright, we’ll try to record them in that order as well.’” As the final song, that last guitar solo is the last thing recorded for the album, standing as a cathartic outlet and a chance for the band to prove themselves.

“We focused on the [emotional] effect of the instrumentals over the words,” Turner reflected on the track, concluding, “and I feel like we’ve been trying to do that again and again since then.”

+

[goodfellowe]

Everyone she knows has moved on and is well on the route of putting their lives back together, and Kid doesn’t even know where to start on picking up the shattered remnants of her own. Despite everything, she still can’t get herself to fully let go of the past. Most days, being home is enough. More often than not, though, that sentiment never seems to last.

The Way Time Twists (AO3)

Epilogue: Sunrise

Kid reflects on the past few months, and what she's made of it.

Art by @mebssann.

[lambjock]

genuinely hope natalie keeps jackie's necklace in s3 -- that she fiddles with it and stares at it, a little crooked heart on a golden string, and thinks about jackie taylor and how never in a million years would she have given this gift to nat, and yet it now belongs to her anyways. the good luck charm. the blessing of protection. an undying promise of a love natalie has struggled to know her whole life ( i would never hurt you on purpose / you're my best friend and i'd do anything for you ) and most importantly it's something that replaced the cold steel of a knife against her neck in the form of their soccer captain's delicate heart. it's hers, hers, hers, and when her head is weighed with antlers the only warmth she feels is from a metallic shape that's long since indented itself against her sunken, bony skin. a love she'll pass down to prey she'll always feel sorry for but a love that'll return to her all the same. and maybe in a kinder life it was something nat rightfully earned rather than the premature consolation it really was. and maybe in that other world the necklace comes from a well maintained, plushy hand : dangled into nat's ring-clustered fingers with a smile. and instead of pitiful sorry i love you's, it's a sickly fond look, one that's just for her.

[immortalmoron]

I don't care what people say or think I'm gonna keep on enjoying plushies/stuffed animals.

The joy I get from them?? Getting home after a very draining day and just grabbing them and feeling a little bit better??? The comfort during the hard times?????

I fucking love them. Shout out to plushes.

[ronoexiste]

[zeeboomblebee]

Oh, to be a goose in a ritualized courtship display with a dedicated mate for life…

[trashbaget]

i just think the world would be so much better off if “eyewitness” (2016) were on a diddly damn streamer

[lightbulb-warning]

local audhd having idiot has to do something not related to their hyperfixation and fuCKING EXPLODES!!1!!!!!! /j

[soldier-poet-king]

INSANE tonight girlies and idk WHY

[widevibratobitch]

omw to play emotional support for my mom disguised as ✨fun family bonding time✨ for the rest of the week <3333 there's something so deeply wrong with me uwu teehee

[hoodiedeer]

is it an add thing that when someone asks me whats on my mind/what im thinking about I feel like every time I have to lie and frantically try to dig up something I was thinking about earlier

you missed when I was having a massive depressive breakdown 20 minutes ago, yes i forgot about it instantly because I was distracted by a passing train of 37 unrelated thoughts but if i dont prioritize something that matters over whatever wikipedia article I was just reading then I’d never get anything off my chest ever would i

[simptasia]

at this point i actually need my endless celeb crushes and my junk food to make me not turn to drugs