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"
Have you got color in your cheeks?
Do you ever get that fear that you can't shift the type
That sticks around like summat in your teeth?
Are there some aces up your sleeve?
Have you no idea that you're in deep?
I've dreamt about you nearly every night this week
How many secrets can you keep?
'Cause there's this tune I found
That makes me think of you somehow and I play it on repeat
Until I fall asleep, spillin' drinks on my settee
(Do I wanna know?) If this feelin' flows both ways?
(Sad to see you go) was sorta hopin' that you'd stay
(Baby, we both know) that the nights were mainly made
For sayin' things that you can't say tomorrow day
Crawlin' back to you
Ever thought of callin' when
You've had a few?
'Cause I always do
Maybe I'm too
Busy bein' yours
To fall for somebody new
Now, I've thought it through
Crawlin' back to you
So have you got the guts?
Been wonderin' if your heart's still open
And if so, I wanna know what time it shuts
Simmer down an' pucker up, I'm sorry to interrupt
It's just I'm constantly on the cusp of tryin' to kiss you
I don't know if you feel the same as I do
But we could be together if you wanted to
(Do I wanna know?) If this feelin' flows both ways?
(Sad to see you go) was sorta hopin' that you'd stay
(Baby, we both know) that the nights were mainly made
For sayin' things that you can't say tomorrow day
Crawlin' back to you (crawlin' back to you)
Ever thought of callin' when
You've had a few? (You've had a few)
'Cause I always do ('cause I always do)
Maybe I'm too (maybe I'm too busy)
Busy bein' yours (bein' yours)
To fall for somebody new
Now, I've thought it through
Crawlin' back to you
(Do I wanna know?) If this feelin' flows both ways?
(Sad to see you go) was sorta hopin' that you'd stay
(Baby, we both know) that the nights were mainly made
For sayin' things that you can't say tomorrow day
(Do I wanna know?) Too busy bein' yours to fall
(Sad to see you go) ever thought of callin', darlin'?
(Do I wanna know?) Do you want me crawlin' back to you?
Do you ever get that fear that you can't shift the type
That sticks around like summat in your teeth?
Are there some aces up your sleeve?
Have you no idea that you're in deep?
I've dreamt about you nearly every night this week
How many secrets can you keep?
'Cause there's this tune I found
That makes me think of you somehow and I play it on repeat
Until I fall asleep, spillin' drinks on my settee
(Do I wanna know?) If this feelin' flows both ways?
(Sad to see you go) was sorta hopin' that you'd stay
(Baby, we both know) that the nights were mainly made
For sayin' things that you can't say tomorrow day
Crawlin' back to you
Ever thought of callin' when
You've had a few?
'Cause I always do
Maybe I'm too
Busy bein' yours
To fall for somebody new
Now, I've thought it through
Crawlin' back to you
So have you got the guts?
Been wonderin' if your heart's still open
And if so, I wanna know what time it shuts
Simmer down an' pucker up, I'm sorry to interrupt
It's just I'm constantly on the cusp of tryin' to kiss you
I don't know if you feel the same as I do
But we could be together if you wanted to
(Do I wanna know?) If this feelin' flows both ways?
(Sad to see you go) was sorta hopin' that you'd stay
(Baby, we both know) that the nights were mainly made
For sayin' things that you can't say tomorrow day
Crawlin' back to you (crawlin' back to you)
Ever thought of callin' when
You've had a few? (You've had a few)
'Cause I always do ('cause I always do)
Maybe I'm too (maybe I'm too busy)
Busy bein' yours (bein' yours)
To fall for somebody new
Now, I've thought it through
Crawlin' back to you
(Do I wanna know?) If this feelin' flows both ways?
(Sad to see you go) was sorta hopin' that you'd stay
(Baby, we both know) that the nights were mainly made
For sayin' things that you can't say tomorrow day
(Do I wanna know?) Too busy bein' yours to fall
(Sad to see you go) ever thought of callin', darlin'?
(Do I wanna know?) Do you want me crawlin' back to you?
Lyrics submitted by gemmalouise89, edited by lockergr, nancymck, gracezoe, MashaM, SteveMurf, jamesh37, Itey, Jaceofpcb, Percythegoat, RayOfDarkness, TeddyStorm, azzyxx, jayjodelein, arctlcm0nkeyz, Mienie, BobTheRhino, almaluz, gifoverit, indieflower, Hancockenstein, oliviagilmorem
Do I Wanna Know? Lyrics as written by Alex Turner
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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First, I'd like to agree that this is definitely the sexiest Arctic Monkey's song. With that being said, I think this is mainly about a physical relationship. It's about someone who he's very attracted to, they might have hooked up before, or they could have just came close. But he can't stop thinking about her. It seems with some of the lyrics like "And if so I wanna know what time it shuts Simmer down and pucker up I'm sorry to interrupt It's just I'm constantly on the cusp Of trying to kiss you" That he just wants something physical with her, but he also recognizes that he can't stop thinking about her, and wonders if maybe that's why it hasn't worked out with any one else... There's a reason why he keeps coming back to her. He wants her, kind of like addiction, a temptation, lust in its true definition. He wants her so much that, he'd be even willing to try for something real, if that's what she wanted. He'll take her any way he can.
But that's just my take on it. I think definitely with the music and the lyrics, its definitely about wanting something or someone bad. Whether you interpret it in a love way or a lustful way.
He'll take her in any way he can ( PS How many secrets can you keep? meaning she has more than two secrets and this thing happening seems to be a secret too for her and many secrets...