BBC Review
Songs that woozily sway between all-out romance and magpie-eyed reality.
Fraser McAlpine 2011-03-15
When considering this man's work, and his unrivalled ear for making words fall over themselves into a giddy heap, it’s too easy to just quote the lyrics and sit back, knowing a thing has been stated gloriously, and basking in the glow of a job well done. After all, anyone who can sell a line like "If you’re gonna try and walk on water make sure you wear your comfortable shoes" is someone who needs no puffing up.
What you don’t tend to hear so much about is his voice: that disdainful purr – part disappointed sneer and part tender encouragement. Whether picking holes in scenesters or detailing a perfect day, it’s a most effective vehicle for delivering a story or two.
These songs comprise the soundtrack to a film called Submarine, directed by Richard Ayoade; it’s a dark comedy, about a 15-year-old boy wanting to lose his virginity and keep his parents together, and Alex’s songs woozily sway between all-out romance and magpie-eyed reality in a manner which suggests he remembers the vertically steep learning curve of those years all too well.
Hiding Tonight, just a gently strummed guitar, some drones and twinkles and a wondrous, wistful lyric about a coconut shy, is effectively a fairground cousin to Richard Hawley’s Coles Corner, only this time the boy gets the girl. Glass in the Park is scarcely any more embellished, maybe a harmony or two, and just as swollen with that same first-love glow.
Meanwhile, It’s Hard to Get Around the Wind’s reproachful, flinty lyric is set to a folky fingerpick, and Stuck on the Puzzle carries itself like an early Lennon song, albeit one which replaces post-Beatles angst with a late-night head-scratch about the state of things. Which just leaves Piledriver Waltz, the most musically complex of the five proper songs here – two time signatures, no less – and the most reproachful.
And that’s it, apart from the brief snatch of ...Puzzle that opens proceedings: five swoony songs, sung beautifully, no duffers, and plenty of knotty lyrics to try and unravel. Another job well done.
All tracks composed by Alex Turner for Richard Ayoade's film 'Submarine' (2011).
Property of EMI
Tracks
1. Stuck on the Puzzle (Intro)
2. Hiding Tonight
3. Glass in the Park
4. It's Hard to Get Around the Wind
5. Stuck on the Puzzle
6. Piledriver Waltz
.......................
HIDING TONIGHT
C
Tomorrow I'll be quicker, i'll stare into the strobe light
flickerin' afloat i'll stay
Dm Fm C
But I'm quite alright hiding today
F C
Tomorrow i'll be faster, i'll catch what i've been chasing after
and have time to play
Dm Fm C
But I'm quite alright hiding today
Tomorrow I'll be quicker, i'll stare into the strobe light
flickerin' afloat i'll stay
Dm Fm C
But I'm quite alright hiding today
F C
Tomorrow i'll be faster, i'll catch what i've been chasing after
and have time to play
Dm Fm C
But I'm quite alright hiding today
F
And I would play the coconut shy,
C
And win a prize even if it's rigged
C7
I won't know when to stop and you can leave off my lid
F
And I won't even lose my fizz
Fm C Em Am F
I'll be the polkadots tie, I'll know the way back if you know the way,
C7
I won't know when to stop and you can leave off my lid
F
And I won't even lose my fizz
Fm C Em Am F
I'll be the polkadots tie, I'll know the way back if you know the way,
G Fm C
But if you are, I am quite alright hiding today
But if you are, I am quite alright hiding today
C F Fm C
F C
Tomorrow i'll be stronger, running colourful no longer
just in black and white,
Dm Fm C
I'm quite alright hiding, tonight
F
And I would have a game on the coconut shy
C
And win a prize even if it's rigged
C7
I won't know when to stop and you can leave off my lid
F
And I won't even lose my fizz
Fm
I'll be the polkadots tie,
C7
I won't know when to stop and you can leave off my lid
F
And I won't even lose my fizz
Fm
I'll be the polkadots tie,
C Em Am
I'll probably swim through a few lagoons
F
I'll have a spring in my step, and I'll get there soon
G G7
to sing you a happy tune
C Fm7
Tomorrow, you better bring a change of clothes
Am F
So we can sail our laughing pianos
C Am
along a beam of light
F G C
But i'm quite alright hiding tonight
I'll probably swim through a few lagoons
F
I'll have a spring in my step, and I'll get there soon
G G7
to sing you a happy tune
C Fm7
Tomorrow, you better bring a change of clothes
Am F
So we can sail our laughing pianos
C Am
along a beam of light
F G C
But i'm quite alright hiding tonight
.......................
GLASS IN THE PARK
Intro - D
D
There's glass in the park
Em A G
Darling, I can't help but keep making appointments
A D
To sweep beneath the climbing frame
D
If the sun's in your eyes,
Em A
I'll tighten your blindfold, baby
G A
Don't worry your foot won't get cut
D Dmaj7
Strut carelessly
Em A
And when you say that you need me tonight
D Dmaj7 Gmaj7
I can't keep my feelings in disguise
G Gbm Em G Gb Gb7 Bm Em Gb
The white part of my eye-balls il- lu-mi-nates
And when you say that you need me tonight
D Dmaj7 Gmaj7
I can't keep my feelings in disguise
G Gbm Em G Gb Gb7 Bm Em Gb
The white part of my eye-balls il- lu-mi-nates
G D
And I'll wait for you
G D Dmaj7
As if I'm waiting for a stone to stop
Em I've heard them talking
A A7
About how I'm gonna put you off
As if I'm waiting for a stone to stop
Em I've heard them talking
A A7
About how I'm gonna put you off
D
There's glass in the park
Em A
And now that I'm up off my knees
G A
I've picked up the speed
D
To jump your palaces
D
Then I shoot through the night
Em A
And suddenly all those once lost
Em A
concoctions froth
D Dmaj7
And chase the day away
Em A
And when you say that you need me tonight
D Dmaj7 Gmaj7
I can't keep my feelings in disguise
G Gbm Em G Gb Gb7 Bm Em Gb
The white part of my eye-balls il- lu-mi-nates
And when you say that you need me tonight
D Dmaj7 Gmaj7
I can't keep my feelings in disguise
G Gbm Em G Gb Gb7 Bm Em Gb
The white part of my eye-balls il- lu-mi-nates
G D
And I'll wait for you
G D Dmaj7
As if I'm waiting for a stone to stop
Em I've heard them talking
A A7
About how I'm gonna put you off
As if I'm waiting for a stone to stop
Em I've heard them talking
A A7
About how I'm gonna put you off
G Gb7
Tell me, how can I put you off when you're a matter of urgency?
Bm D7
I've got a million things that I need to do, but they're all secondary
Tell me, how can I put you off when you're a matter of urgency?
Bm D7
I've got a million things that I need to do, but they're all secondary
G A
Make sure you're not followed
D Bm
Meet me by the Death Balloon
Em A A7
Paraselene woman, I'm your man in the moon
G Gbm Eb G Gb
And like a grain of diamond dust, you float
G A D
And my devotion's outer crust cracks.
.......................
IT'S HARD TO GET AROUND THE WIND
Intro - C Dm G C
C
It's like you're trying to get to heaven in a hurry
and the queue was shorter than you thought it'd be
Dm G C
and doorman says you need to get a wristband
C
You got a lift between the pitfalls
but you're looking like you're low on energy,
Dm G C
Did you get out and walk to insure you'd miss the quicksand?
F C
Looking for a new place to begin
Dm G
Feeling like its hard to understand
C C7
But as long as you still keep peppering the pill
F D7
you'll find a way to spit it out again
C G Am
and even when you know the way it's gonna blow
F G C
it's hard to get around the wind
C Dm G C (x2)
C
Stretching out the neck on your evening
Trying to even out some deficit
Dm G C
But its sabre-toothed multi-ball confusion
C
And you can shriek until you're hollow
Or whisper it the other way
Dm G C
Trying to save the youth without putting your shoes on
F C
Looking for a new place to begin
Dm G
Feeling like its hard to understand
C C7
But as long as you still, keep peppering the pill
F D7
You'll find your way to spit it out again
C G Am
and even when you know the way it's gonna blow
F G C
it's hard, to get around the wind
Bridge - C G Am F G C
C G Am F E Am
C F D7 C G Am F G
C
I can hear you through my window
But I'm never quite sure who is who
Dm G C
But they want the world on a dessert spoon
C
It always sounds like they're fighting
or as if that's what they're about to do
Dm G C
It might not hurt now, but it's gonna hurt soon
.......................
STUCK ON THE PUZZLE
E Ab A
I'm not the kind of fool who's gonna sit and sing to you
Gb
About stars, girl.
E Ab A Gb
But last night I looked up into the dark half of the blue,
N.C.
And they'd gone backwards.
A B
Something in your magnetism
E Ab
Must have pissed them off
A B E Ab
Forcing them to get an early night.
A B E Ab
I have been searching from the bottom to the top,
A
For such a sight
Am - N.C.
As the one I caught when I saw your
E B Gbm
Fingers dimming the lights
E B Gbm
Like you're used to being told that you're trouble
E B Gbm E B Gbm
And I spent all night stuck on the puzzle
E Ab
Nobody I asked knew how he came to be the one
A Gbm
To whom you surrendered
E Ab A
Any man who wasn't led away into the other room
Gbm - N.C.
Stood pretending
A B
That something in your magnetism
E Ab
Hadn't just made him drop
A B E Ab
Whoever's hand it was that he was holding.
A B E Ab
I have been searching from the bottom to the top,
A
For such a sight
Am - N.C.
As the one I caught when I saw your
E B Gbm
Fingers dimming the lights
E B Gbm
Like you're used to being told that you're trouble
E B Gbm E B Gbm
And I spent all night stuck on the puzzle
E B Gbm
I tried to swim to the side
E B Gbm
But my feet got caught in the middle,
E Ab A Gbm
And I thought I'd seen the light
B A
But oh, no
Ab Gbm E B Gbm
I was just stuck on the puzzle.
E B Gbm
Stuck on the puzzle.
E B Gbm, E B Gbm
.......................
PILEDRIVER WALTZ
Intro - C Am E F C
C
I etched the face of a stopwatch
Am
On the back of a raindrop
E F
And did a swap for the sand in an hourglass.
C
I heard the unhappy ending
Am
It sort of sounds like you leaving
E
I heard the piledriver waltz,
F C
It woke me up this morning.
F
You look like you've been for breakfast
Dm Am
At the heartbreak hotel
F
And sat in a back booth by the pamphlets
Dm Am
And the literature on how to lose.
F G Am E
Your waitress was miserable and so was your food.
F
If you’re gonna try and walk on water
G
Make sure you wear your comfortable shoes.
C
Mysteries flashing amber
Am
Go green when you answer
E
But the red on the rest of the questionnaire
F
Never changes.
C
I heard the news that you're planning
Am
To shoot me out of a cannon
E
I heard the piledriver waltz,
F
It woke me up this morning
F
You look like you've been for breakfast
Dm Am
At the heartbreak hotel
F
And sat in a back booth by the pamphlets
Dm Am
And the literature on how to lose.
F G Am E
Your waitress was miserable and so was your food.
F
If you’re gonna try and walk on water
G
Make sure you wear your comfortable shoes.
C Am E F
Oh-oh-oh-oh Piledriver
C Am E F (x4)
Intro - C Am E F C
C
I etched the face of a stopwatch
Am
On the back of a raindrop
E F
And did a swap for the sand in an hourglass.
C
I heard the unhappy ending
Am
It sort of sounds like you leaving
E
I heard the piledriver waltz,
F C
It woke me up this morning.
F
You look like you've been for breakfast
Dm Am
At the heartbreak hotel
F
And sat in a back booth by the pamphlets
Dm Am
And the literature on how to lose.
F G Am E
Your waitress was miserable and so was your food.
F
If you’re gonna try and walk on water
G
Make sure you wear your comfortable shoes.
C
Mysteries flashing amber
Am
Go green when you answer
E
But the red on the rest of the questionnaire
F
Never changes.
C
I heard the news that you're planning
Am
To shoot me out of a cannon
E
I heard the piledriver waltz,
F
It woke me up this morning
F
You look like you've been for breakfast
Dm Am
At the heartbreak hotel
F
And sat in a back booth by the pamphlets
Dm Am
And the literature on how to lose.
F G Am E
Your waitress was miserable and so was your food.
F
If you’re gonna try and walk on water
G
Make sure you wear your comfortable shoes.
C Am E F
Oh-oh-oh-oh Piledriver
C Am E F (x4)
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