How Alex Turner breaks the 4th Wall | Arctic Monkeys, TLSP

0:00 Intro
0:10 1. Stuck on the Puzzle
0:46 2. The Dream Synopsis
1:26 3. One Point Perspective
2:13 4. Big Ideas
3:12 Outro

[monicaes]

In 'She Looks Like Fun' there's a part where he says 'Key changes' and the key actually changes.

There's another example in the bridge of 'Four Out of Five' where he says 'I can lift you up another semitone' and just after that the final chorus is 1 semitone higher :)

Also! Not sure if this is a good example, but there's an interview where Alex Turner explains that in 'There 'd Better Be A Mirrorball' the initial line ('Don't get emotional') is meant to be a response to the instrumental intro.

[theseance]

I love how he actually is a lyrical genius

[pangik]

Probably my favourite 4th wall break from Alex is during Science Fiction.

"So I tried to write a song to make you blush, But I've a feeling that the whole thing may well just end up too clever for its own good."

[haliel]

I love thinking he couldn't find lyrics in Sweet Dreams TN when he says "I don't know what to say"

[bogdanrylski]

Verse 2 of "suck it and see"
"*I poured 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"

Makes reference to the distinctly pop-rock sound of the record.

[dylannn]

Don't forget sculptures

"Guess I'm talking to you know"

[theresamitchell]

from sculptures of anything goes 'puncturing your bubble of relatability/with your horrible new sound/baby those mixed messages ain't what they used to be/when you said 'em out loud' not to much in the song but self aware of the reaction to TBHC

[figueroaivanz]

Glad im not alone, absolutely love these little gems

[jewinvestigator]

In Red lights indicate doors are secured, the first part of the song describes a scene where they get denied from entering a taxi. Later in the song are the lyrics "Well how funny were that sketch earlier, up near that taxi rank?". The fact that he calls it a 'sketch' makes me think he's referring to his written account of the event in the lyrics, rather than the event itself. Almost like he's having a dialogue with the listener.

[aricypes]

A fourth wall break that comes mind is in My Plague by Slipknot in the first verse Corey sings “The only thing you really know about me is” followed by a long pause where lyrics should be. Then he comes back with “That’s all you’ll ever know” right before the chorus

[salmongod]

Bit of a stretch on the first one. In Stuck on the Puzzle, its in the Perspective of the main character in the movie Submarine. "Im not the kind of fool..." is just him saying how he isnt romantic, and he thinks people who make love songs are "fools". But then the following lyrics are how he has had a realisation, as he has found true love, and understands why people do it.

In the dream synopsis, the lyrics are almost making a mockery of his songs in his previous albums, when they were based souly off his own experiences in life. And the line "isnt it boring when i talk about my dreams", is more him explaining why hes moved away from that aproach of songwriting in his later albums.

I see where you're coming from in One Point perspective, but the whole song leading up to the line is Alex talking about his dreams as a younger version of himself. The last line "bear with me man i lost my train of thought", is almost a representative of modern day Alex turner, and the realisation that the dreams he had, haven't come true, or been what he was expecting.

With big ideas, "i had big ideas..." this is past tense, and most likely referring to the older albums, which gained large success and were inspired heavily by rock bands. The next line is a present version of this "but now the which reflects their newer work, such as the car, as it includes much more orchestral instruments, as opposed to the basic rock instruments from their old albums. The next line "and i cannot.... remember how they go", refers to how alex struggles to recreate the sound of the older albums, into new songs, he says - "even if I wanted to make a record that sounds like the ones we were making ten years ago, I don’t think I could"

The key with Alex turner's writing, is that its all metaphors, its quite complex, and in order to get a good understanding, you cant take it literally, or you get the wrong meanings.

[Tracey_]

Pretty iconic lines in Fake Tales of San Fransisco:
_And there's a super cool band, yeah_
_With their trilbies and their glasses of white wine_
_And all the weekend rockstars are in the toilets_
_Practicing their lines_
-
_"The band was wank and I'm not having a nice time"_

[desireemariec]

The track ‘Fire and the Thud’ - another example of true awareness. Supply and demand. Response and reply. He went in deep here. How? When? Where? Why ❤

“You showed me my tomorrow
Beside a box of matches
A welcome threatening stir
My hopes of being stolen
Might just ring true
Depends who you prefer
But if it's true you're gonna run away
Tell me where
I'll meet you there
Am I snapping the excitement
If I pack away the laugther
And tell you how it feels
And does burden come to meet ya
If I've questions of the feature that runs on your dream wheel
The day after you stole my heart,
Everything I touched told me it would be better shared with you
With you
And now you're hiding in my sleep
And the book reveals your face
And there's a splashing in my eyelids
As the concentration continually breaks
I did request the mark you cast
Didn't heal as fast
I hear your voice in silences
Will the teasing of the fire be followed by the thud? …”

🫵🏼Clever Man that Alexander David Turner.

[neilneilrebel]

Ello from the Philippines! I got to see them live here in Manila few days ago

[eustaciasworld]

cool video! I’m currently learning piano and I’d love if you could do some more Shadow Puppets tutorials. I’ve been searching for ‘Calm Like You’ and ‘My Mistakes We’re Made For You’ but can’t seem to find them anywhere!

[sandecesssvarias]

In Big Ideas it's "...remember how THEY GO" not "how it goes". So the sens eof the sentence is different. He's talking about their past hit songs, the fast ones. Now, with "The Car" they literally have an orchestra surrounding the songs, so now he doesn't know their past fast and hit songs go, the scene has changed too much.

[TeedChap]

I hate to be that guy but in "Big ideas" I'm pretty sure he sings "... remember how they go" because of the plural big ideas.