Arctic Monkeys – Fluorescent Adolescent

"Fluorescent Adolescent" as written by and Alex/bennett Turner....
You used to get it in your fishnets
Now you only get it in your night dress
Discarded all the naughty nights for niceness
Landed in a very common crisis
Everything's in order in a black hole
Nothing seems as pretty as the past though
That Bloody Mary's lacking a Tabasco
Remember when he used to be a rascal?

Oh, that boy's a slag
The best you ever had
The best you ever had
Is just a memory and those dreams
Not as daft as they seem
Not as daft as they seem
My love, when you dream them up

Flicking through a little book of sex tips
Remember when the boys were all electric?
Now, when she tells she's gonna get it
I'm guessing that she'd rather just forget it
Clinging to not getting sentimental
Said, she wasn't going, but she went, still
Likes her gentlemen to not be gentle
Was it a mega-dobber or a betting pencil?

Oh, that boy's a slag
The best you ever had
The best you ever had
Is just a memory, and those dreams
Weren't as daft as they seem
Not as daft as they seem
My love, when you dream them up
Oh, where did you go?
Where did you go?
Where did you go? Whoa

Falling about
You took a left off Last Laugh Lane
You just sounded it out
You're not coming back again

Falling about
You took a left off Last Laugh Lane
You just sounded it out
You're not coming back again

You used to get it in your fishnets
Now you only get it in your night dress
Started all the naughty nights with niceness
Landed in a very common crisis
Everything's in order in a black hole
Everything was pretty in the past though
That Bloody Mary's lacking in Tabasco
Remember when he used to be a rascal?


Lyrics submitted by sedders, edited by FClef, happysadfun, ponderst, jt, ElephantBones, rouf29

"Fluorescent Adolescent" as written by Alex Turner Johanna Bennett

Lyrics © EMI Music Publishing, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

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Fluorescent Adolescent song meanings
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104 Comments

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  • +14
    General CommentAnyone else think its about a relationship getting old? And then the woman in the relation ship cheats on the man in order to gain back some excitement in her life. (Love the song by the way and ive analysed the CORRECT lyrics below.)

    You used to get it in your fishnets
    (Which is sexy)

    Now you only get it in your night dress
    (Typical and boring)

    Discarded the naughty nights with niceness
    (Less sex more jsut being nice, perhaps having tea with the neighbours or something shit like that.)

    Landed in a very common crisis
    (This happens to most relationships)

    Everything's in order in a black hole
    (Relationship is comapred to a black hole its in order but its lifeless and dull and sucks everything that ever was into it)

    Nothing seems as pretty as the past though
    (It was better in the past)

    That Bloody Mary's lacking in Tabasco
    (Looking for more kicks in life than the same old boring relationship like adding more tabasco to the bloody mary)

    Remember when he used to be a rascal?
    (thats what he used to be like)

    Oh that boy's a slag
    The best you ever had
    The best you ever had

    (This is the woman looking back on the man and waht he used to be like this is apprent because of the last line of the first verse which tells the woman to remember.)

    Is just a memory and those dreams
    Not as daft as they seem
    Not as daft as they seem
    My love when you dream them up...

    (What he used to be like is just a memory and she dreams that he'll be the same again there not that daft but shes just making them up.)

    Flicking through a little book of sex tips
    (Trying to spice things up)

    Remember when the boys were all electric?
    (When she used to get all the boys)

    Now when she tells she's gonna get it
    (she thinks hses going to get sex)

    I'm guessing that she'd rather just forget i
    (sarcastic comment by the narrator she dosent want to forget it she wants to live it)

    Clinging to not getting sentimental
    (she dosent want to cling on for someone, settle down, she wants to relive the hayday when she was a 'fluroscent adolescent'.)

    Said she wasn't going but she went still
    (Perhaps she goes to cheat on her fella?)

    Likes her gentlemen to not be gentle
    (Everything in this relationship is just too comfy she wants excitement)

    Was it a megadobber or a betting pencil?
    (Ha don't know what this is about. But the first thing i thought of was that it was some sort of sex game or something and i dont know here the megadobebr or the betting pencil are going. Maybe shes comparing the size of her partners dick to this new fellas. No idea)

    Falling about
    (Shes drunk)

    You took a left off Last Laugh Lane
    (Turns down the road and laughs. She's ahd the last laugh at her boring fella)

    You just sounded it out
    (She just got it all out of her by having a bit of excitment with another guy not leading the boring drab lifestyle)

    You're not coming back again.
    (However she's not doing again... she dosen't need to shes had her fun its back to her normal life.)
    amypowerson April 13, 2007   Link
    • 11 Replies
  • +13
    General CommentI can see people are feeling very different messages from this song. But I really just see it as a song about getting older, about excitement dying down and basically getting to the time in your life when the *spice* of your life is gone. Excitement and fun are replaced with a regular suburban life, thats all I see in it.
    saureeon January 09, 2008   Link
  • +9
    General Commentim sure it's about a woman who used to be a 'fluorescent adolescent', but is now going through menopause 'That Bloody Mary's lacking a Tabasco'. She is remembering her days as a younger, more sexually attractive girl. 'You used to get it in your fishnets/ Now you only get it in your night dress' i.e she used to have sex when she went out in her fishnets, now only has sex in her nightdress (with herself...)
    she is remembering all her one night stands and how boys used to fall at her feet 'Remember when he used to be a rascal?' She wishes she was still like that, and was a bit naughty 'Likes her gentlemen to not be gentle/
    Was it a mega-dobber or a betting pencil?'
    Shes recently had sex with a man, maybe a male prostitute (slag is the english version for slut, usually used for girls but can be for boys too)
    Oh, that boy's a slag, the best you ever had (its the best she's had in ages, with the male prositute)
    The best you ever had is just a memory (she remembers being younger, the best of her life is gone)
    that's what i've always thought!
    jecouteon February 01, 2013   Link
  • +4
    Song MeaningIt's about a young woman who is losing her lustre.. and knows it. There's nothing else to be read into it, would you like to deconstruct the lyrics of "New Amsterdam" by Elvis Costella while you're at it?
    AlexTurnerMShadowsSunglasseson May 19, 2012   Link
  • +3
    General CommentJust a spelling fix, as I think the meaning has been nailed.

    Megadobber = mecca dauber
    JonathanBCon April 24, 2007   Link
  • +3
    General CommentI don't understand how some people think this is about a relationship. I just think this is such a straight-forward tale of a woman who's out of her sexual youth and is looking back on how things used to be. The lyrics, the title... all pretty evident.

    But, regardless, brilliant lyrics. The entire album is great.
    SlickEagleon July 02, 2007   Link
  • +3
    General CommentAlex said this song is basically about growing up.
    "you used to get it in your fishnets
    now you only get it in your nightdress..."

    fishnet resembles being young and now your older you go out to clubs and parties and where a nightdress.

    "Nothing seems as the past though" to being young and looking back at the good times
    "Remember when he used to a rascal?" remember him being Juvenile
    overdoitandhaveafiton February 24, 2012   Link
    • 1 Reply
  • +1
    General CommentI'm pretty sure this is about a woman growing older and less physically attractive, and realizing she has to sort of settle for whatever she gets, instead of having her pick. It's sort of funny they would write a song like this.
    bakismakion May 02, 2007   Link
  • +1
    General CommentYes bakismaki you are right, not the above comments. I think it is a woman who is hitting her forties, she used to be dripping wet, now she's just dripping (ie. everything went down south). They pity her really, but she loves to think she's young and mad (hence the title), so she sleeps with young men to make herself feel special and attractive
    dueyfinsteron May 04, 2007   Link
  • +1
    General Commentbakismaki and dueyfinster are right. i believe. it's just about a lady, in her 30's or 40's whos lost her touch and shes growing nostalgic about days where she was younger and crazy and shes trying too hard to go back tot he way she was, including sleeping with younger men, kinda like a mid-life crisis.
    oh_somedayon May 09, 2007   Link
    • 1 Reply

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