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About

Genius Annotation

“Black Treacle” is an intentionally vague song that hints at a story about a man in love with a drug addict. It is one of the more inscrutable songs on Suck It And See; Turner compared it to “Crying Lightning” from Humbug.

Q&A

Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning

What did Arctic Monkeys say about "Black Treacle"?
Genius Answer

Turner confirmed that the lyrics were left intentionally vague so that the listener wasn’t entirely sure what was going on.

Something I’ve discovered as I’ve gone on is that it’s cool to let the words sometimes take more of a back seat… I always think of some Bowie tunes that do that… like that tune “Lady Grinning Soul” it’s sort of describing this woman, obviously, but you don’t know where you are with it."

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