Por Mily Yorke
Especial para DISCOS PERFECTOS
“The bed is made” escribió una vez Jeff Buckley en, a mi entender, su mejor canción y así, con cuatro palabras, resumió lo que es la soledad. “You are the party that makes me feel my age” escribió Jarvis en, otra vez a mi entender, una de las mejores canciones de Pulp y así, con esa analogía, resumió lo que es sentirse en un estado de completa sumisión.
Ejemplos hay muchos, pero la realidad es una: hay muy pocos liristas que tienen la capacidad de aludir a situaciones cotidianas mediante frases originales, como buscando que esas situaciones renazcan con otra mirada. Alex Turner es uno de ellos.
El frontman de Arctic Monkeys de algún modo hereda esa sabiduría de Cocker pero, con menos alusiones a Sheffield, menos ironía, e igual cantidad de analogías por minuto, pone en papel toda esa ebullición que parece intraducible. Acá, un Top Five de canciones de amor que dan cuenta de ese talento:
Arctic Monkeys – Cornerstone
Del disco Humbug (2009)
El sentimiento es conocido: la búsqueda de una persona perdida en personas nuevas, la imperante necesidad de un reemplazo. Sin embargo, lo que hace Turner es restringir esa búsqueda a una serie de bares (The Parrot’s Peak, The Rusty Hook, The Cornerstone). Así es como esta gran canción de Humbug se convierte en la odisea nocturna de un hombre que tiene miedo de olvidar el rostro de esa mujer (“Tell me where’s hiding face, I’m worried I’ll get forget yoour face”), pero que sin embargo la quiere seguir amando de otras formas, con otros besos y rogándole a las demás que dejen llamarse por el nombre de esa chica a la que no encuentra en ninguno de esos lugares. ¿El remate? El muchacho errante se topa en The Cornerstone con la hermana de su ex, la única que le dice las palabras mágicas: “Yes, you can call me anything you want”.
Thought I saw you in the battleship
But it was only a look-a-like
She was nothing but a vision trick
Under the warning light
She was close, close enough to be your ghost
But my chances turned to toast
When I asked her if I could call her your name
I thought I saw you in the rusty hook
Huddled up in wicker chair
I wandered up for a closer look
And kissed who ever was sitting there
She was close, and she held me very tightly
'til I asked awfully politely, "Please
Can I call you her name?"
And I elongated my lift home,
Yeah I let him go the long way round
I smelt your scent on the seatbelt
And kept my shortcuts to myself
I thought I saw you in The Parrot's Beak
Messing with the smoke alarm
It was too loud for me to hear her speak
And she had a broken arm
It was close, so close that the walls were wet
And she wrote it out in letraset
No, you can't call me her name
Tell me where's your hiding place
I'm worried I'll forget your face
And I've asked everyone
And I'm beginning to think I imagined you all along
I elongated my lift home
Yeah, I let him go the long way 'round
I smelt your scent on the seatbelt
And kept my shortcuts to myself
I saw your sister in the cornerstone
On the phone to the middle man
When I saw that she was on her own
I thought she might understand
She was close, well you couldn't get much closer
She said I'm really not supposed to but yes,
You can call me anything you want
Arctic Monkeys - Despair in the Departure Lounge
Del EP Who the Fuck Are Arctic Monkeys? (2006)
Solo tres palabras para resumir esta canción: “Architecture Won’t Do”. Turner, en un hermoso gesto de autorreferencialiadad y, por qué no, de autoindulgencia, se dirige en tercera persona a una de sus novias para hacerle saber que las giras, los viajes, la agitada vida de un músico en ascenso importa poco y nada cuando ella no está ahí, esperándolo en uno de los tantos aeropuertos. Las “cosas lindas” que uno puede ver, los edificios, por más interesantes o abrumadores que resulten a la vista, para él no son disfrutables porque “nunca van a decir las cosas graciosas que ella dice”. En definitiva, todo resulta irrelevante cuando “no hay señal ni batería” en el celular para apaciguar el dolor de la distancia. Y que nadie venga a intentar levantarnos el ánimo porque Turner responde “Don’t say ‘Oh’, because you’ve got no idea”. A fin de cuentas, extrañar a alguien, donde sea que uno esté, es una sensación que no puede compartirse pero que, en palabras del músico, sí puede ser descrita.
He's pining for her
In a people carrier
There might be buildings and pretty things to see like that
But architecture won't do
Although it might say a lot about the city or town
I don't care what they've got keep on turning them down
It don't say the funny things she does
Don't even try and cheer him up, because
It just won't happen
He's got the feeling again
This time on the aeroplane
There might be tellys in the back of the seats in front
But Rodney and Del won't do
Although it might take your mind off the aches and the pains
Laugh when he falls through the bar
But you're feeling the same
'Cause she isn't there to hold your hand
She won't be waiting for you when you land
It feels like she's just nowhere near
You could well be out on your ear
This thought comes closely followed by the fear
And the thought of it
Makes you feel a bit
Ill
Yesterday I saw a girl
Who looked like someone you might knock about with
And almost shouted
And then reality kicked in within us
It seems as we become the winners
You lose a bit of summat
And half wonder if you won it at all
And don't say 'owt 'cause you've got no idea
And she's still nowhere near
And the thought comes closely followed by the fear
And the thought of it
Makes you feel a bit
...Ill
Despair in the departure lounge
It's one and they'll still be around at three
No signal and low battery
What's happened to me
Alex Turner - Piledriver Waltz
Del EP Submarine (2011)
Los sentimientos universales pueden ser traducidos en lenguajes personales. Como ejemplo de esto, nos encontramos con esta canción – de la cual hay dos versiones, una para Suck it and See y otra para el soundtrack de Submarine-, con un vals sobre el desamor que encierra algunas de las mejores analogías jamás escritas por Turner. Una relación se termina, ambos quedan mal, pero es él quien reconoce la situación (“You look like you’ve been for breakfast at the heartbreak hotel” /“Your waitress was miserable and so was you food”) y es él quien no tiene miedo de pensarse en desventaja (“I heard the news that you’re trying to shoot me out of a cannon”). Sin embargo, lo mejor de este valcesito para los corazones rotos es el paralelismo entre la indiferencia de la chica con las correcciones de los maestros en la escuela (“Green when you answer, but the red on the rest of the questionnaire never changes”). Brillante
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
Ohh, piledriver
Arctic Monkeys - Love is a Laserquest
Del disco Suck it and see (2011)
Para Turner, muchas situaciones son esencialmente lúdicas. Así como el camino a la fama de un cuarteto de jóvenes se asemejaba a la modalidad de un “Teddy Picker”, en este caso habla de una mujer para quien el amor no es más que es eso: un juego. Quizás sea una de las canciones más directas, sin eufemismos de Turner, pero en ella se vuelve a poner en evidencia su capacidad para sintetizar en pocas palabras (esas que pintan imágenes, como el de un hombre “con pipa, en pantuflas, y en una mecedora”), el amor no correspondido. Si queremos saber cómo se siente estar en el lugar del que adolece (mientras el otro olvida rápido) solo tenemos que escuchar dos frases (“Do you still think love is a laserquest or do you take it more seriously?” / “Do you like into the mirror to remind yourself you’re there or somebody’s goodnight kisses got that covered?”). ¿Lo mejor? Ese regreso a la esencia de “Cornerstone”, a la inevitable configuración de una fantasía: “You’re always busy being make-believe”.
Do you still feel younger than you thought you would by now
Or darling have you started feeling old yet?
Don't worry I'm sure that you're still breaking hearts
With the efficiency that only youth can harness
And do you still think love is a laserquest
Or do you take it all more seriously?
I've tried to ask you this in some daydreams that I've had
But you're always busy being make believe
And do you look into the mirror to remind yourself you're there
Or has somebody's goodnight kisses got that covered?
When I'm not being honest I pretend that you were just some lover
Now I can't think of her without thinking of you
I doubt that comes as a surprise
And I can't think of anything to dream about
I can't find anywhere to hide
And when I'm hanging on by the rings around my eyes
And I convince myself I need another
For a minute it gets easier to pretend that you were just some lover
When I'm pipe and slippers and rocking chair
Singing dreadful songs about summer
Well, I've found a better method of pretending you were just some lover
Well, I've found a better method of pretending you were just some lover
Arctic Monkeys – 505
Del disco Favourite Worst Nightmare (2007)
…y hablando de fantasías… ¿la canción más erótica de Arctic Monkeys? Probablemente. La voz de Turner comienza con una declaración (“I’m going back to 505”, se retoma lo de la vida en los hoteles de “Despair in the Departure Lounge”), nuevamente con la noche de su lado, y nuevamente con una fantasía omnipresente (“In my imagination you’re waiting lying on your side”). Pero toda la canción funciona a modo de orgasmo, con un inicio lento que va construyendo el clímax y con un final donde ese grito (“I crumble completely when you cry!”) es menos romántico y más desgarrado, más erótico, más de un masoquista que sigue adorando a esa mujer, aunque las manos de ella todavía puedan tomarlo del cuello. “505” es, más que una canción, una aventura que dice “acá estoy a tus pies, esperando a que me tomes”. Es, ni más ni menos, que sexo puro.
I'm going back to 505,
If it's a 7 hour flight or a 45 minute drive,
In my imagination you're waiting lying on your side,
With your hands between your thighs,
Stop and wait a sec,
Oh when you look at me like that my darling,
What did you expect,
I probably still adore you with your hands around my neck,
Or I did last time I checked,
Not shy of a spark,
A knife twists at the thought that I should fall short of the mark,
Frightened by the bite though its no harsher than the bark,
Middle of adventure, such a perfect place to start,
[Chorus]
But I crumble completely when you cry,
It seems like once again you've had to greet me with goodbye,
I'm always just about to go and spoil a surprise,
Take my hands off of your eyes too soon,
[Chorus]
...and a smile
