Every Arctic Monkeys Single Ranked Worst To Best
10. Leave Before The Lights Come On
The final song that the Arctic Monkeys wrote before making it big, Leave Before the Lights Come On could just have well been on the Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not track listing. Sounding like a song missing off their debut album, this track features some of the Arctic Monkeys’ very best guitar playing and lyrics that should have been massive.
Leave Before the Lights Come On ended up being released as a hype builder for the band’s second album Favourite Worst Nightmare. It explores the feelings after a one night stand and the jarring nature of waking up next to someone you don’t love (or don’t even know). The music video features Kate Ashfield and Paddy Considine and represents the cyclical nature of bad actions.
It’s criminal that a song as good as Leave Before the Lights Come On didn’t end up on an Arctic Monkeys album but it’s the sheer brilliance of this track that has meant the endurance of its popularity. This song has everything that made the band’s first album a milestone in British poetry and needs to be forever remembered as a classic.