You take your white finger
Slide the nail under the top and bottom buttons of my blazer
Relax the fraying wool, slacken ties and I'm
Not to look at you in the shoe
But the eyes
Find the eyes

Find me and follow me through corridors, refectories and files
You must follow, leave this academic factory
You will find me in the matinée, the dark of the matinée
It's better in the matinée, the dark of the matinée is mine
Yes, it's mine

I time every journey
To bump into you accidentally, I charm you and tell you
Of the boys I hate, all the girls I hate, all the words I hate
All the clothes I hate, how I'll never be anything I hate
You smile, mention something that you like
Oh, how you'd have a happy life if you did the things you like

Find me and follow me through corridors, refectories and files
You must follow, leave this academic factory
You will find me in the matinée, the dark of the matinée
It's better in the matinée, the dark of the matinée is mine
Yes, it's mine

So I'm on BBC Two now
Telling Terry Wogan how I made it and
What I made is unclear now
But his deference is and his laughter is
My words and smile are so easy now
Yes, it's easy now, yes, it's easy now

Find me and follow me through corridors, refectories and files
You must follow, leave this academic factory
You will find me in the matinée, dark of the matinée
It's better in the matinée, the dark of the matinée
You will find me and follow me through corridors, refectories and files
You must follow, leave this academic factory
You will find me in the matinée, the dark of the matinée
Better in the matinée, the dark of the matinée is mine
Yes, it's mine


Lyrics submitted by talkischeap

Dark of the Matinée Lyrics as written by Robert Hardy Alexander Paul Kapranos Huntley

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

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The Dark of the Matinee song meanings
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    General Comment

    personally i just think it's a simple love song, if you want it to connect with you in a hetero or homosexual way, as in most songs.. it's easy to see it that way.. but i don't think arguing whether it's hetero or homo is really worth the time, it's whatever you want to make it..

    i assume it's a time frame of high school.. the way he talks about this girl/boy (take your choice) it gives me a feeling of that akward teen crush stage.. at bit insecure (staring at shoes), a bit obsessed (time every journey, i bump into you ACCIDENTLY)....

    the lines: Of the boys I hate, all the girls I hate All the words I hate, all the clothes I hate How I'll never be anything I hate You smile, mention something that you like Oh, how you'd have a happy life If you did the things you like

    i really believe don't have any deeper meaning then used to create and show his disatisfication and unhappiness at that point in time..

    ...it also shows the difference between the two.. he sees more then the 'academic factory', using the theathre as an escaping point, picturing something bigger.. maybe fame.. something more then what he has at that point...

    ..it's a stereotype that people who spend much to time at movie theathers are dreamers... i take that and put it into context for this song.... he's a dreamer hoping for something more

    that line also gives you an understanding on how he's different from her.. and most.. most people focus on the things they do like, and what they want to do..

    ..his view is a bit more pesstimistic.. he focuses on what he hates, and what he doesn't want to be.. probably giving him the drive and ambition that leads to the next verse...

    ....he's on BBC now, he's made it. When i think he says 'my smiles are so easy now' i don't think he means that in anything else but that...

    ...in the 'academic factory' his unhappiness is clearly stated, the whole song is about his dissatisfication and his escape from it..

    ..i think although he questions what 'making it' really is.. some of the dissatisfication that was present in younger days are gone.. and he's finally happy

    xpsychicheartsxon January 10, 2005   Link

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