Do I Wanna Know? (Don't We All?)

So I chose to analyze a song by one of my favorite bands: Arctic Monkeys. My decision also ~may or may not~ be influenced by the fact that I am still vividly bitter about the fact that they had a concert in Covington last night and I didn't get to go. Gah I was so close too! (Not kidding, everything was planned out and then my ride bailed on me. at. the. last. minute. So bitter. Much bitter. Dom is probably going to kill me for ranting about this. And speaking like this. He can deal.) Regardless, the song I picked was 'Do I Wanna Know?' which has a theme of, not necessarily unrequited love, but more so passionate desire.

'Do I Wanna Know?' is the song writer's question to himself - would he rather be told that the feeling isn't mutual, or would he rather continue his self-inflicted torture.  The chorus is as follows:

(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

However, it is not only the chorus that reflects this song's theme of infatuation. Other lyrics such as 'Maybe I'm too busy being yours to fall for somebody new' and 'Been wondering if your heart's still open and if so I wanna know what time it shuts' and 'I dreamt about you nearly every night this week' and ''Cause there's this tune I found that makes me think of you somehow' and 'I'm sorry to interrupt it's just I'm constantly on the cusp of trying to kiss you.' It seems as if any lyric I choose will be able to successfully portray that theme. This song kills me every time I listen to it - every line is laced with desire and longing, almost an obsessive infatuation. He's lusting after this woman (who is more than likely and an ex he is trying to get back together with) - he dreams about her, music reminds him of her - he just can't get her out of his head. 

At one point, they were together because the song writer goes ' Been wondering if your heart's STILL open' implying that her heart was once open for him, but something changed between them and now he is stuck on her. That is why he wants to know if she feels the same way towards him. The ABAB rhyme scheme of the chorus is able to encapsulate this desperate desire and need to know perfectly - know/go and way/stay. By rhyming, the chorus becomes rhythmic and seems to portray a needy and urgent tone to the song. That tone reflects the urgent desire with which he wants an answer from him.

Another question again directed at himself 'So have you got the guts?' addresses his inability to decide whether or not he should tell her straight up and address their situation, even if it means facing rejection. The song is circuitous in nature, and reflects the song writer's inability to come to terms with the situation he is in. On one hand, he is desperate to define the relationship  in hopes of hearing she reciprocates, but on the other he is hesitant because he is aware that she could reject him. Thus implying that perhaps it is better for him to just the situation as it comes, never quite knowing his position? 

The emotion of this song is so powerful and is only made that much more powerful through the imagery the songwriter used. This song is about the idea of a glorified crush, and infatuation that consumes every aspect of one's life, and the hopeless attraction and draw a person feels to another. Every line paints an image. 'Sad to see you go', the song writer expresses his sadness at having to let his love go. 'I play it on repeat / Until I fall asleep / Spilling drinks on my settee' - here he recounts the song which reminds him of her, and alludes to the fact that even drunk he remembers her and can't get her out of his head. 'I don't know if you feel the same as I do / But we could be together, if you wanted to' - here he painting yet another image of himself in which he is drawing at strings, wearing his heart on his sleeve in the hopes that she will feel for him what he feels for her. Yet, those images are juxtaposed with lyrics such as 'sorta hoping that you'd stay' and 'sad to see you of  as to imply that even though he desperately wants her she will more than likely not reciprocate his feelings. 

The imagery and the rhyme of this song combined create a feeling of sick and exquisite pain that only seems to be experienced with love (or unrequited love in this case) and the kind of pain that comes with loving or lusting after someone you can't attain. 

Full song (plus an awesomely rad music video):