The Darkness were the shining beacon of musical light that came to us out of the depths of Lowestoft in the glorious summer of 2003. Though they may not have been around for all that long, they left an indelible mark on the souls of many with their stunning music (not to mention Justin's flamboyant outfits!!)
Many saw them as a joke band, just a simple bit of fun, but not me. While, sure, they WERE fun and had songs featuring great plays on words and double meanings (the first song of theirs I ever heard, 'Growing On Me', being a great example of that) but I always felt that they took being fun very seriously and that, for them, this was a vocation and not a great big hoot. I still think that 'Love Is Only A Feeling' is a classic song of our times and the fact that Guns 'N' Roses (aka Axl Rose & 'friends') ripped off part of the 'I Believe In A Thing Called Love' intro to use as the opening riff of the 'Chinese Democracy' album says a lot in my opinion. The Darkness were amazing.
By the winter UK tour in 2004, though, you could see it was all going awry and Frankie Poullain's departure shortly afterwards, in my opinion, sealed the fate of the band as they never seemed like the same potent force afterward. That said, their second album 'One Way Ticket To Hell...And Back' still had a heap of great songs on them, some of which I had heard at Wembley Arena at the last gig of theirs I attended. This week's song was one of them.
'Dinner Lady Arms' is a song that has been known, on several occasions, to move me to tears with the poignancy of the lyrics. The yearning for reconciliation with the one you truly love when you know that it's you who's made it fall apart. Despite masking it with lines about dinner ladies (though the staff who work dinner time at school, generally ladies, are always the ones you would seek solace and comfort in if you'd hurt yourself...a bit like the one you love when you're older so not an entirely inappropriate analogy), it shows that if you get past any issues you may have with Justin's hair or dress and then past some of the 'strange' analogies, you'll find that Justin Hawkins is a fantastic lyricist who has been grossly overlooked for all the aforementioned 'issues' that people create.
So please, ladies and gentlemen, sit back and enjoy todays song (with a rather nice home-made video someone's done!!)
The Darkness - Dinner Lady Arms
We had a good thing, it was a blast
That was a long time in the past
You went through changes & I walked away
And I have regretted that to this day
I may not always have quite so much hair
But what you saw in me will hopefully always be there
I'll never hurt you again, I swear
So put your
Arms around me
Your dinner lady arms, put your
Arms around me
Your dinner lady arms
I couldn't figure out where your figure had gone
I thought that I could live without you honey
I was so wrong, put your
Arms around me
Your dinner lady arms
Your dinner lady arms
Forgive and forget I caused you some pain
Find it in your heart to start again
I know I'll never be your Mr. Right
But I'm happy to be your Mr. That'll Do For Tonight
I'll never let you out of my sight
So put your
Arms around me
Your dinner lady arms, put your
Arms around me
Your dinner lady arms
I couldn't figure out where your figure had gone
I thought that I could live without you honey
I was so wrong, put your
Arms around me
Your dinner lady arms
Huh!
I may be light years past on my sell-by date
But there's life in the old dog yet honey
It's not too late, put your
Arms around me
Your dinner lady arms
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