This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
I etched a face of a stopwatch
On the back of a raindrop
And did a swap for the sand in an hourglass
I heard an unhappy ending
It sort of sounds like you leaving
I heard the piledriver waltz
It woke me up this morning
You look like you've been for breakfast
At the Heartbreak Hotel
And sat in the back booth
By the pamphlets and the literature
On how to lose
Your waitress was miserable
And so was your food
If you're gonna try and walk on water
Make sure you wear your comfortable shoes
Mystery's flashing amber
Go green when you answer
But the red on the rest of the questionnaire
Never changes
I heard the news that you're planning
To shoot me out of a cannon
I heard the piledriver waltz
It woke me up this morning
You look like you've been for breakfast
At the Heartbreak Hotel
And sat in the back booth
By the pamphlets and the literature
On how to lose
Your waitress was miserable
And so was your food
If you're gonna try and walk on water
Make sure you wear your comfortable shoes
Oh, piledriver
On the back of a raindrop
And did a swap for the sand in an hourglass
I heard an unhappy ending
It sort of sounds like you leaving
I heard the piledriver waltz
It woke me up this morning
You look like you've been for breakfast
At the Heartbreak Hotel
And sat in the back booth
By the pamphlets and the literature
On how to lose
Your waitress was miserable
And so was your food
If you're gonna try and walk on water
Make sure you wear your comfortable shoes
Mystery's flashing amber
Go green when you answer
But the red on the rest of the questionnaire
Never changes
I heard the news that you're planning
To shoot me out of a cannon
I heard the piledriver waltz
It woke me up this morning
You look like you've been for breakfast
At the Heartbreak Hotel
And sat in the back booth
By the pamphlets and the literature
On how to lose
Your waitress was miserable
And so was your food
If you're gonna try and walk on water
Make sure you wear your comfortable shoes
Oh, piledriver
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I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
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"I etched the face of a stopwatch on the back of a raindrop And did a swap for the sand in an hourglass"
I have this feeling that Turner, with his unpaired gift, just wanted to say the person was by a window, waiting for something, as the raindrops would slowly fall on the window, like when we watch time pass looking at sand falling in hourglasses... this is just a token, in my opinion, of how Alex humiliates a whole generation of composers with his lyrics...
Is it just me, or, the intro to this song sounds like an ambulance siren. And at the end it sounds like it's moved past us! Great song, anyway.
No comments? This is the Mardy Bum,Fluorescent Adolescent,Cornerstone of Suck It And See.Cool song,from that movie.
@Banezi93 I feel like some of the best Turner songs go completely unnoticed by a large amount of people. I think Piledriver Waltz has some of the most spectacular lyrics.
I just fucking LOVE the change to 3/4
The whole song is in a sort of 3/4... in the verses they play each chords in a 6 times pattern
Technically, the only part of the song not in 3/4 is the little intro bit. :P Assuming you were referring to the break before/after every chorus, that's just a tempo change.
i wish i knew what's a piledriver lol
It's about feeling empty and used after having sex with somebody you have feelings for.
'piledriver waltz'
clever name.
Alex Turner on 'Piledriver Waltz':
"This one is on the Submarine soundtrack although I didn’t write it specifically for that. I had a couple of things lying around that were too quiet to be Monkeys tunes — well, that’s what I thought, anyway. So I said, what about these and Richard [Ayoade] liked them. But then we were putting this together and I really thought it might fit in with 'Thunderstorms’ and 'Suck It And See’. So we thought why not just do another version [recorded with the full band] because the one on Submarine is just me and James, he played drums and there’s some strings and stuff on it. I think doing that Submarine album did lead me into some of the songs on this album too.”
Read more at nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/arctic-monkeys-alex-turners-guide-to-suck-it-and-see
Log Driver Waltz is a Canadian folk song with hidden sexual innuendo in the lyrics. Very well known in Canada because of an NFB animated short. Could be a coincidence, but I suspect not.
My interpretation is that the singer is talking about finally breaking up with a bad/controlling girlfriend.
"I etched a face of a stopwatch on the back of a raindrop, And did a swap for the sand in an hourglass" flipping over the hourglass signals the end of the relationship and the beginning of a new period of his life.
"I heard an unhappy ending, it sort of sounds like you leaving" The split was not amicable and there was a loud argument
"I heard the piledriver waltz, it woke me up this morning" the morning after the breakup, he's woken up by the sound of pile driver construction machines outside his house. Normally this would be an annoyance, but he's in such a good mood that it sounds like a waltz to him.
"You look like you've been for breakfast At the Heartbreak Hotel And sat in the back booth By the pamphlets and the literature On how to lose" After the breakup, his ex is acting sad in an over-the-top way to try to guilt him into coming back.
"Your waitress was miserable And so was your food" He's calling her out for only concentrating on the bad things, probably like she did during their relationship.
"If you're gonna try and walk on water Make sure you wear your comfortable shoes" She can act like a martyr (like Jesus walking on water) all she wants, he doesn't care and won't get back together with her.
"Mystery's flashing amber Go green when you answer" Green, amber represent the lights on a stoplight. Because she wants to get back together, she come clean about the 'mysteries' aka secrets she kept in the relationship (possibly cheating?)
But the red on the rest of the questionnaire Never changes" Red is also on a stoplight, and the red pen used to fill out questionnaires which record people's opinions. So he's saying nothing she says now is going to change his opinion about her.
"I heard the news that you're planning To shoot me out of a cannon I heard the piledriver waltz It woke me up this morning" Now what she knows he's seen through her tricks and is done with her for good, she can only badmouth and vent about him behind his back.In contrast, his mood has never been better.
I think it's about a break up. He sees it coming, but the way you say it to someone can be hard. It doesn't matter how you say it, the other will always be angry or sad.
"You look like you've been for breakfast At the Heartbreak Hotel And sat in the back booth By the pamphlets and the literature On how to lose Your waitress was miserable And so was your food If you're gonna try and walk on water Make sure you wear your comfortable shoes'
He was up all night and didn't sleep well so that explains the face. He thinks very hard about what he is going to say. But the harder he thinks the more he realize he is a loser. He comes to the realization that it is impossible to bring this news well so, if you want to do something impossible, better get comfortably dressed.