Teddy Picker

Album: Favorite Worst Nightmare (2007)
Charted: 20
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Songfacts®:

  • The lyrics appear to be a dig at celebrity culture but in an interview on the XFM London radio station, front man Alex Turner explained that the song wasn't just about celebrities. Instead, he said it was about several people the band had met and their weird ideas.
  • The phrase "teddy picker" refers to an arcade game where a toy crane is maneuvered by a joystick to pick out a prize such as a teddy bear.
  • One of the Arctic Monkeys' favorite topics appears to be the English band Duran Duran. This song contains the lyric alluding to a line in the chorus of "Save A Prayer": "I don't want your prayer, save it for the morning after." In addition, "I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor" includes the lyric "Your name isn't Rio, but I don't care for sand," referring to a line in "Rio." In this interview with XFM, Alex Turner said that he actually had little knowledge of Duran Duran music apart from a concert DVD he'd seen and the references must have come from his subconscious.

Comments: 4

  • Karl from Ingatestone, United KingdomI know the Arctic Monkeys parody the 1980s band Duran Duran in this song. this is the 23rd Arctic Monkeys song i know.
    i have their 1st album, but not their 2nd one, it's a bit shabby-sounding
  • Kelly from Burbank, CaThe best version of this song is in their video, a quasi-live-ish version. I'd love to learn this riff on guitar...but the lyrics are so hard to pronounce! Glad I came here, good to know what a "teddy picker" is, haha. More weird English terminology, like "mardy bum" and "shummat".
  • Kelly from Burbank, CaThe best version of this song is in their video, a quasi-live-ish version. I'd love to learn this riff on guitar...but the lyrics are so hard to pronounce! Glad I came here, good to know what a "teddy picker" is, haha. More weird English terminology, like "mardy bum" and "shummat".
  • Marina from Winnipeg, Canadathe drum intro is genius. love the song.
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