Arctic Monkeys: 10 Hidden Song Meanings
3. A Song Not Written About His Ex, But With His Ex
The bands most endearing hit, "Fluorescent Adolescent" was also written on a lazy day in a hotel room with his then-girlfriend Johanna Bennett. Many of the characters bought up throughout the song are actually exaggerated characters from their old school. No wonder the song has such a depth of sentimentality to it when it was composed during a period of reminiscence.
They even had a method of turning these memories into lyrics, which Bennett would claim:
"So as not to drive each other mad we started messing around with these words like a game, singing them to each other. It's great to think that it came from something we did for fun on holiday." Johanna Bennett, the Guardian.
That's how one of Turner's only lyrical collaborations came about. So many of the band's hits come out of Turner's romanticism - immortalising his good and bad relationships. "Fluorescent Adolescent" was created because of a relationship.
Lyrics like "those dreams weren't daft as they seem" help create sentimentality for the listeners but even more so for the writers: Turner and Bennett. What it truly means to them only they know, but it's immortalised too, now.
His affinity for John Cooper Clarke also came out with Fluorescent Adolescent, as the music video was inspired by his poem: "Out of Control Fairground".