One For The Road

Anybody else thinks that the lyric goes "I knew you wouldn't fold" instead of "I knew you were the foe" after "i knew this would on the cards" ?

It's about a guy that goes to see a friend of his who can be really inspiring or totally destructive. She knows how to tap into his weaknesses and excesses in a way that could get seriously nasty for him for no reason. He goes there to get away from real life, which is also pretty rotten. He says, "You think it's dark outside? It's often worse in here". He's scared about how it might go this time, making sure he has a bit Dutch Courage before he begins. The person he meets is described in the next track on the album.

I didn't get rapey vibes from this at all. It sounds like he's anticipating the comedown from cocaine. The "shake, rattle, and roll" is the perfect description of that anxiety. He's in a quiet, tired headspace as the dawn approaches ("cracks in blackout blinds"), and this person is still high and chatty. I don't know, it definitely recalls that moment of disappointment when you know the nite is ending and you're about to come down ("don't get that sinking feeling, don't fall apart"). He's wondering if this person (who he's done this with before) will pour him a drink to ease the pain of it before he has to leave.

I think zart111963 is on to something... Honestly this song is so confusing hahaha. To me, its maybe not so much the friend zone but perhaps he wants to become closer to a love interest. However, that person only opens up to a limit and is otherwise not letting him get very close; something she seems to do for every guy before Alex and he is no exception ("There's no need to show me around baby, I feel like I've been here before")... its pointless to entertain the idea of furthering the relationship if he knows already that she "wouldn't fold", as if this is her pattern with men ("patterns on the ceiling"): every guy she's with is reckless and loses himself in the romance ("the cracks in black out blinds"), while she is feeling fine, she hasn't let her guard down. I guess he deems this life that she lives as one that is very dark; love is the light, but her heart is closed. In the present situation that mirrors their relationship, Alex knows already that she will send everyone home at the end of the night, including him, Alex wonders if she will kind of ironically show him hospitality in pouring him a drink as he leaves ("one for the road'). It is a gesture that is both welcoming and pushes him away at the same time. The last verse doesn't really fit with my interpretation though. Maybe he's wishing her well and hoping she doesn't fall apart from the close-calls to falling in love as well as loneliness she's chosen for herself ("the mixture" of being both with someone but distant, "don't get that sinking feeling, dont fall apart").

Much as I love this song, I keep getting the feeling it's about some kind of rape. Frankly, I tend to feel this way about the Monkeys and I think it's the menacing tone they manage to find, but I'll try and bear this out.

The bridge is where this whole idea comes from. I heard this song dozens of times before the narrative flow in this section started to sink in with me. It flows from pouring the last drinks (presumably, "one for the road" a round for both parties) into the mixture hitting her hard, comforting her against the sinking and falling apart, and then straight into discordant music and disaster.

The first lyrics in the song speak of a "relegation zone." I'm not a dictionary, so if you don't know what relegate means, look that up. It's got a negative connotation which goes really well with the word "zone. You've got a definite motive in the first verse.

I am basically thinking, frustrated friend zone situation boiling over into a drugging. Of course most of the lyrics are supporting the drug experience, as you can see from others comments.

In the chorus, it seems we follow a group back to "her" place, and the question is... once everyone is gone, will you pour me (I think, meaning "us") one last drink. This would be where the drugging presumably occurs.

In that light, "I knew this would be on the cards / I knew you wouldn't fold" becomes somewhat chilling. More chilling than that, the concept that the narrative isn't an isolated incident ("...no need to show me around... / ...I've been in here before...").

I love this song. Love it so much. But it's hard to hear without hearing this, and I wish someone could dissolve the guilt and convince me I'm wrong. It's a great song but it's gonna end up in my mind right there along side a song like "Every Step You Take."

I think that the rapey interpretation is plausible, but I think it can also be viewed from another angle that isn't so creepy. I choose to believe it's a song about a guy who's in the friend zone, and he thinks that this might be his chance to finally get intimate with this girl. From the start, he knew that eventually he'd get his chance (I knew this was in the cards) and he knew that she'd be interested (I knew you wouldn't fold). Then, when she pours him that one last drink, the mixture hitting her hard and the disaster that comes isn't her getting drugged, it's just her getting too drunk and passing out, and he missed his chance. He's still in the friend zone. Disaster. When interpreted this way, it's a song about sexual tension and missed chances, but not rapey.

Basically about having a session on drugs.

'The cracks in blackout blinds' when you're up all night getting wrecked and it's beginning to get light.

'So we all get back to yours and you sit and talk to me on the floor There’s no need to show me round baby I feel like I've been here before' when you've been for a night out and go back to the persons house that always hosts the post night out sessions

'The mixture hits your heart Don’t get that sinking feeling, don’t fall apart' when the drugs kick in...

I feel like this song is about meeting some one for the first time but then coming to realise that it really isnt. That is why he has been asking questions to get confirmations about the deja vu's he's been getting since the first song on the album. In this particular song he comes to realise the actions of this person is so familiar that he predicts all of them beforehand.

I know it barely has anything to do with the lyrics, but I'll say it anyway. This song always makes me feel sad-ish. It reminds me of the times of high school parties. When you don't get into the usual excessive drinking and doing stupid stuff, but the moments you meet someone and you talk all night, not noticing what happens around you.
"The cracks in blackout blinds Cast patterns on the ceiling but you're feeling fine I thought it was dark outside I thought it was dark outside" This is the moment that gets me sad. The night is over and the magic of the moment is lost and never coming back... IDC if that has anything to do with the actual meaning, but it always takes me back 15+ years and makes me feel the same way as I felt back then. And I don't even remember the girl...