Analysis Homework

Do I Wanna Know? – Arctic Monkeys

Have you got colour 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
Spilling drinks on my settee

(Do I wanna know?)
If this feeling flows both ways
(Sad to see you go)
Was sorta hoping that you'd stay
(Baby we both know)
That the nights were mainly made for saying things that you can't say tomorrow day

Crawling back to you

Ever thought of calling when you've had a few?
Cause I always do
Maybe I'm too busy being yours to fall for somebody new
Now I've thought it through

Crawling back to you

So have you got the guts?
Been wondering if your heart's still open 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
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 feeling flows both ways
(Sad to see you go)
Was sorta hoping that you'd stay
(Baby we both know)
That the nights were mainly made for saying things that you can't say tomorrow day

Crawling back to you

Ever thought of calling when you've had a few? (calling when you've had a few)
'Cause I always do ('cause I always do)
Maybe I'm too busy being yours to fall for somebody new?
Now I've thought it through

Crawling back to you

(Do I wanna know?)
If this feeling flows both ways
(Sad to see you go)
Was sorta hoping that you'd stay
(Baby we both know)
That the nights were mainly made for saying things that you can't say tomorrow day

(Do I wanna know?)
Too busy being yours to fall
(Sad to see you go)
Ever thought of calling darling?
(Do I wanna know)
Do you want me crawling back to you?

In this song by the Arctic Monkeys, there are a few language techniques that are used throughout the lyrics that I found interesting. Rhetorical questions are used frequently throughout the lyrics, “Do I wanna know?”, “So have you got the guts?”, this is used to emphasise the feelings and thoughts towards the person that this song was written about and to stimulate a response but does not necessarily impose an answer. I think that this could be because the writer of this song would prefer for the person that this is aimed at to think about how he’s feeling as the answer is quite obvious.

In the lyrics an idiom has been used, “Are there some aces up your sleeve?”. This has been used because the writer feels like the person who it has been aimed at may have an advantage that no other knows about and may come as a surprise to some. This could portray how the song writer thinks that some people are a mystery.

Elisions are used, such as “wanna”, “sorta” and “summat”, which reduces the formality of the language giving a much more informal approach and to also improve the flow of the sentence. As well as this, contractions have been used throughout the text, “can’t”, “you've”, “I've”, which is also used for the same reasons and so the syllables can flow much easier to the rhythm of the song. Also, the words “baby” and "darling" have been used which gives the song a slight hint of an intimate register which makes it more familiar between who’s singing the song and who the song is being sung about.