"The View from the Afternoon" as written by and Alex Turner....
Anticipation has a habit to set you up
For disappointment in evening entertainment but
Tonight there'll be some love
Tonight there'll be a ruckus yeah regardless of what's gone before
I want to see all of the things that we've already seen
The lairy girls hung out the window of the limousine
Of course it's fancy dress
And they're all looking quite forlorn in bunny ears and devil horns and how
Anticipation has a habit to set you up
For disappointment in evening entertainment but
Tonight there'll be some love
Tonight there'll be a ruckus yeah regardless of what's gone before
I want to see all of the things that we've already seen
I wanna see you take the jackpot out the fruit machine
And put it all back in
You've got to understand that you can never beat the bandit, no
And she won't be surprised and she won't be shocked
When she's pressed the star after she's pressed unlock
And there's verse and chapter sat in her inbox
And all that is said is that you've drank a lot
And you should bear that in mind tonight
Bear that in mind yeah
You should bear that in mind tonight
Bear that in mind
And you can pour your heart out
For a reason it would block
Oh you send her after nine o' clock
Anticipation has a habit to set you up
For disappointment in evening entertainment but
Tonight there'll be some love
Tonight there'll be a ruckus yeah regardless of what's gone before
And she won't be surprised and she won't be shocked
When she's pressed the star after she's pressed unlock
And there's verse and chapter sat in her inbox
And all that is said is that you've drank a lot
And you should bear that in mind tonight
Bear that in mind yeah
You should bear that in mind tonight
Bear that in mind
And you can pour your heart out
Around three o' clock
When the two-for-ones have done the writer's block
For disappointment in evening entertainment but
Tonight there'll be some love
Tonight there'll be a ruckus yeah regardless of what's gone before
I want to see all of the things that we've already seen
The lairy girls hung out the window of the limousine
Of course it's fancy dress
And they're all looking quite forlorn in bunny ears and devil horns and how
Anticipation has a habit to set you up
For disappointment in evening entertainment but
Tonight there'll be some love
Tonight there'll be a ruckus yeah regardless of what's gone before
I want to see all of the things that we've already seen
I wanna see you take the jackpot out the fruit machine
And put it all back in
You've got to understand that you can never beat the bandit, no
And she won't be surprised and she won't be shocked
When she's pressed the star after she's pressed unlock
And there's verse and chapter sat in her inbox
And all that is said is that you've drank a lot
And you should bear that in mind tonight
Bear that in mind yeah
You should bear that in mind tonight
Bear that in mind
And you can pour your heart out
For a reason it would block
Oh you send her after nine o' clock
Anticipation has a habit to set you up
For disappointment in evening entertainment but
Tonight there'll be some love
Tonight there'll be a ruckus yeah regardless of what's gone before
And she won't be surprised and she won't be shocked
When she's pressed the star after she's pressed unlock
And there's verse and chapter sat in her inbox
And all that is said is that you've drank a lot
And you should bear that in mind tonight
Bear that in mind yeah
You should bear that in mind tonight
Bear that in mind
And you can pour your heart out
Around three o' clock
When the two-for-ones have done the writer's block
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From what I gather, the song is about going out with your hopes up to get laid despite all the times you have failed before, getting very drunk and sending a message to a girl/X which at the time of writing you think is beautiful and complimentary poetry, but to the receiver just seems like the un-coherent ravings of a p*sshead.
Around three o' clock
When the two-for-ones undone the writer's block"..
...but getting really pissed and sending her loads of stupid messages until she gets sick of you and blocks your number...and all she says back is "you've drank a lot".
"I want to see all of the things that we've already seen
I wanna see you take the jackpot out the fruit machine
And put it all back in
You've got to understand that you can never beat the bandit, no"
the fruit machine is the pokies, the fruit on the reels... take the jackpot, win a heap of money...
"and put it all back in" lose it again on the pokies
"You've got to understand that you can never beat the bandit, no" you can never really win on the pokies...
but i dont get the "I want to see all of the things that we've already seen"
In Wikipedias words:
"Writer's block is a phenomenon involving temporary loss of ability to continue writing, usually due to lack of inspiration or creativity."
The lines clearly refers to that the person doesn't dare can't formulate what he's wanting to say until he's gotten drunk enough.
I like the reference to the pokies though, fuckin' rad.
i just read through the comments to make sure someone else didn't already write this...my interpretation seems like a combination of what other people have said but never quite put together
"Anticipation has a habit to set you up
For disappointment in evening entertainment but
Tonight there'll be some love
Tonight there'll be a ruckus yeah regardless of what's gone before
I want to see all of the things that we've already seen
The lairy girls hung out the window of the limousine
And course it's fancy dress
And they're all looking quite forlorn in bunny ears and devil horn"
so its talking about nights out always ending up with nothing significant happening, particularly between this guy and the girl he likes. but this guy is committed to changing that tonight, and is determined to hook up with this girl. he will see all the things that he usually sees when he goes out (but tonight will be different because he will get this girl)
"I want to see all of the things that we've already seen
I wanna see you take the jackpot out the fruit machine
And put it all back in
You've got to understand that you can never beat the bandit, no"
they went out to a casino (apparently, where they usually go) the fruit machine is one of those slot machines, where you can win a jackpot and decide whether to gamble it all again. apparently this girl is really good, and nobody can ever beat her. so this verse is basically describing the night out.
"And she won't be surprised and she won't be shocked
When she’s pressed the star after she’s pressed unlock
And there’s verse and chapter sat in her inbox
And all that is said is that you've drank a lot"
so she won't be suprised when the guy texts her, cause he usually does. the "press the star and then unlock" references when you have to unlock your phone to check a text. "a verse and a chapter sat in her inbox" is that he sent a really long text. and all that this text means to her is that you drank too much (again).
"And you should bear that in mind tonight
You can pour your heart out but reason it will block
'Owt you send her after nine o' clock"
so the guy should remember that as much as he professes his love to her in that text, logic and reasoning will dispell anything that he sends the girl after 9PM (because the girl will just assume he's too drunk by then and write it off as nonsense)
"And you can pour your heart out
Around three o' clock
When the two-for-ones undone the writer's block"
just reiterating that he'll only be able to admit his love for her after he's drunk too much (the two for ones suggesting a deal on the drinks).
so its not really about a couple, but about a guy trying and failing to pull a girl during a night out
As it's already been said, it's simple and there is no hidden meaning. With the exception of "Perhaps Vampires...", all of their first album was very literal; it was only on the second album that Alex starting experimenting broadly with metaphor and simile - "Old Yellow Bricks", "Teddy Picker", "This House is a Circus"...
This song is literally the view from the afternoon, looking forward to the evening. When you're daydreaming about your forthcoming night out - especially when you're you're a teenager as the AMs were when this was written - you have big expectations. Tonight you're gonna pull a girl, you're gonna be generally lucky... But... the truth is it will end up being a night similar to the others you've experienced; you will just get too drunk in the same pubs and clubs you always end up in and eventually do something embarrassing, something that seemed to make sense at the time. One such embarrassing act is sending silly text messages to girls you like. I'm sure most of us have done the drunken text message thing, I have a friend who would text girls love statements whenever he was pissed - as Alex says, all it really communicates to the girl concerned is that you were very drunk when you wrote it, regardless of the words you used.
So yeah... brilliant song, with a direct meaning that is so easy to relate to.