Batphone

Album: Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino (2018)
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Songfacts®:

  • The Tranquility Hotel Base and Casino album finds the Arctic Monkeys as the house band at a moon-based luxury resort. It seems the only way to maintain a genuine connection with someone at the titular lunar location is through hand held devices by means of a secure line.

    I've recognized the glow of your low beams numerous times
    I'll be by the Batphone if you need to get a hold


    A bat phone is a private telephone number that is handled at a higher priority than a public line. The name derives from Commissioner Gordon's secure line to Bruce Wayne's phone in the 1960s Batman TV show.
  • Turner makes reference during the song to what he believes is a fictional cosmetic.

    I launch my fragrance called Integrity
    I sell the fact that I can't be bought


    During an interview with Pitchfork, it was pointed out there actually is a fragrance called Integrity now. Turner responded:

    "Oh, s--t. I'm sure I checked when I wrote that, and it didn't exist yet. So I'm probably going to get in trouble then, huh? With something like that, I can't sit here and tell you I wanted to make some comment about integrity and my relationship to it, and then make a f---ing perfume out of it and write a smart-ass line like that. It's more like I see the shape of the letters of 'integrity' on the perfume bottle in my mind's eye - once you know what that font looks like, then it writes itself after that."
  • Arctic Monkeys performed the song live for the first time during their show at Zénith de Paris on May 29, 2018.

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