505 Lyrics

If it’s a seven-hour flight or a 45-minute drive

In my imagination you’re waiting lying on your side

With your hands between your thighs

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

The knife twists at the thought that I should fall short of the mark

Frightened by the bite no it’s no harsher than the bark

A middle of adventure, such a perfect place to start

If it’s a seven-hour flight or a 45-minute drive

In my imagination you’re waiting lying on your side

With your hands between your thighs

It seems like once again you’ve had to greet me with goodbye

I’m always just about to go and spoil the surprise

Take my hands off of your eyes too soon

If it’s a seven-hour flight

Or a 45-minute drive

In my imagination you’re waiting lying on your side

With your hands between your thighs

And a smile

It’s about Alex Turner going to his girlfriend’s house (505) to dump her after being warned by his mother. He is clearly still in love with this girl, “I probably still adore you with your hands around my neck”, and tells how he will find it difficult to break up with her. The line “if its a seven hour flight or a forty five minute drive” shows his anxiety. The line means that it takes forty five mintutes to drive to her house, but it seems to take “seven hours” to get there on this occasion. The line “the knife twists at the thought that I should fall short of the mark” means that he is worried that he will not be able to break up with her, and he also writes “but i crumble completely when your cry”, and he does not feel able to go through with the task ahead His coming is a surprise, and when they break up even more, “i’m always just about to go and spoil the surprise”.

Agree. It’s about how hard the break up is for him because he’s still in love, but he wants to act like he is not. i lived this, very sad :c

Agree. It’s about how hard the break up is for him because he’s still in love, but he wants to act like he is not. i lived this, very sad :c

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. It’s about a long distance relationship.

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. It’s about a long distance relationship.

@scottBITW Thank you. I can’t believe that what @caspar said is the most upvoted interpretation on here. It couldn’t be farther from the meaning. @scottBITW is right, it is about long distance relationships.

@scottBITW Thank you. I can’t believe that what @caspar said is the most upvoted interpretation on here. It couldn’t be farther from the meaning. @scottBITW is right, it is about long distance relationships.

this song is amazing

“But I crumble completely when you cry” kills me

same

same

same here, love that he shows such vulnerability, but it freaking makes me wanna crumble!

same here, love that he shows such vulnerability, but it freaking makes me wanna crumble!

seems I’m not the only one who gets identified with this piece..

seems I’m not the only one who gets identified with this piece..

I will change a bit of the lyric… “But I crumbled completely when you cried”

I will change a bit of the lyric… “But I crumbled completely when you cried”

“I crumble completely when you cry,” that part gives me goosebumps <3 especially cuz its Alex Turner singing it.

I like this song a lot. When he says, “I’d probly still adore you with your hands around my neck,” I’m pretty sure that he’s saying even when this girl drives him crazy he will always love her.

everyone is wondering what 505 is….My best guess is the number of an appartment or hotel room.

“It seems like once again you’ve had to greet me with goodbye,” I guess here he is saying that everytime he gets to see her it seems like he always has to leave right away and they don’t get a lot of time together.

And the part about the hands between your thighs….not sexual. I do that when i’m cold or just laying in my bed sad or bored.

Anyway, love this song…It’s mature of the Arctic Monkeys

@arcticmonkeysgirl 505 is new Mexico area code

@arcticmonkeysgirl 505 is new Mexico area code

@arcticmonkeysgirl yes! Just seeing this -I have friends in ABQ and Santa Fe, even though I’m all the way over on the other side

@arcticmonkeysgirl yes! Just seeing this -I have friends in ABQ and Santa Fe, even though I’m all the way over on the other side

i take back what i said about the ‘no evidence he is in love with this girl’ its sounds like hes absolutely tortured about this girl but is unsure if he’s in love with her or not ‘I probably still adore you With your hands around my neck Or I did last time I checked’

okay now other people comment iv gone on enuf !!

well impressed with this song, i’m glad too because as much as i like brianstorm…this show’s a good progression. as for what it’s about maybe tour and leaving a loved one, not really thought about it as only jsut heard it. love the lines about thinking of her lying there in his imagination though.

Well, everyone has pretty much done a nice job of summing up the meaning of this song. I definetly think its a great song. It’s definetly one of their more meaningful songs =]

Well, everyone has pretty much done a nice job of summing up the meaning of this song. I definetly think its a great song. It’s definetly one of their more meaningful songs =]

Wicked song and a great different side to the AM

me and franksmellman are cool cause we signed up just because of this song, :P. it sucks i was looking at this like a week ago and no one had commented it yet, and i really wanted to be first cause you just know in a year there will like a 1000+ comments on this song cause thats how good it is!!!

Here’s an extract from MOJO magazine, its what Mr Turner said the song is about : “penned on a late-night train journey alone from Philadelphia to New York to rendezvous with his then-girl-friend in the hotel room of the title”

i love this song sooo much, lyrics “I probably still adore you, With your hands around my neck, Or I did last time I checked” really get me, because i know that feeling, and can relate to it.

thankyou AM!!!!

Best son on the album? Maybe but, Do Me a Favour, Teddy Picker, This House Is a Circus…. I could say them all, only song i skip is brianstorm.. lol, the same thing happened to Danni California

meh, hope it helped, depsite the ramblin’

I always suspected this song was about him going to meet a girl he loved, though my first interpretation was about an ex that the singer missed. I originally saw 505 either as their apartment number they used to live in or maybe a time frame (may 2005). lines like

“I probably still adore you With your hands around my neck Or I did last time I checked”

“The knife twists at the thought that I should fall short of the mark”

“But I crumble completely when you cry It seems like once again you’ve had to greet me with goodbye”

can all just show how completely in love with this girl he still is and it’s like she doesnt accept or doesnt want him

@sonofabob Long distance relationship. The girl cries because they have to say goodbye. And 505 is a area code.

@sonofabob Long distance relationship. The girl cries because they have to say goodbye. And 505 is a area code.

People over-analyzed this, while others took it too literally. First, the “505” thing to me has always been a hotel room number, backing evidence being the rest of the song, referencing a drive or a flight to get there, imagining someone there waiting for him on the bed, and having to say goodbye after everything is over. I saw some people saying 505 could be symbolism for SOS. Not saying it’s not possible but it doesn’t really make sense due to the fact that the song itself isn’t really a cry for help, at least in my opinion. It does not seem at all like Alex is not enjoying what the song depicts, and even though it may take some sacrifice, he keeps going back.

The line “if it’s a 7 hour flight or a 45-minute drive” to me is pretty simple. Wherever he is and wherever the other person is, it doesn’t matter. If he’s in Japan and she’s in London, or if he’s in Germany and she’s in Argentina. It doesn’t matter, they’re still going back to 505 to see each other.

“In my imagination you’re waiting lying on your side, with your hands between your thighs” I think this line is sufficient to say that the relationship is pretty sexual. Obviously the rest of the song also depicts the feelings they may have for each other apart from the great sex, but this line is homage to what he imagines she’ll be doing waiting for him to get there, which is masturbating thinking about him (hence the “hands between your thighs”). And in the last repeat of the chorus where he adds “and a smile!” at the end of the line… That’s how I’ve always pictured that line in my head. Obviously I could be wrong, he could just be saying that she’s waiting for him with her hands between her thighs completely clothed. But honestly, I don’t think so.

“I’d probably still adore you with your hands around my neck,or I did last time I checked” Seems to be referencing a rough patch. She may have cheated on him, though the relationship doesn’t exactly seem like the most conventional. She may have left him hanging at one point. Regardless, he still loves her no matter what she does to him. Still going back to 505.

“A knife twists at the thought that I should fall short of the mark” He’s a little self-conscious. This girl may be a bit out of his league and since the relationship, as mentioned before, is not that conventional (they don’t seem to make it clear what they are, boyfriend/girlfriend, fuck buddies, friends with benefits, etc) he’s scared that he may not be good enough for her or that at some point she may get bored of him, that he’ll “fall short of the mark.” A knife twists at this thought.

“Frightened by the bite though it’s no harsher than the bark” He’s scared she may leave him yes, but he knew she was out of his league from the very beginning; the girl is very attractive and she doesn’t usually go for guys like him.

“But I crumble completely when you cry, it seems like once again you’ve had to greet me with goodbye” Having to leave 505 is one of the hardest parts, and probably the thing that’s tearing them apart the most. “Greet me with goodbye” seems to reference that it feels like they spend a very short amount of time together, too short. Almost like they say hello and goodbye in the same breath.

“I’m always just about to go an spoil a surprise, take my hands off of your eyes too soon” He probably said “I love you” first and she didn’t say it back. This line could reference to many things and each time I listen to the song I come up with something different for this line, but for the most part it has to do with him revealing something to her that she doesn’t really want to see.

That song is great in its simplicity. “505” was the hotel room in New York where Alex Turner’s then-girlfriend resided for a short period of time. He’s intending to split up with her, but in his heart of hearts he doesn’t want to. I believe we’ve all had the same feeling at some point in our lives.