Tell Tale Signs

Album: Tape Deck Heart (2013)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This is one of several songs on Tape Deck Heart inspired by the heartache Frank Turner felt after coming out of a long-term relationship. The singer actually names the woman who ripped his heart out ("goddamit, Amy") before he describes teenage self-harm with a razor. Turner told NME the track borrows a "stark, harrowing emptiness" from early Neil Young and Ryan Adams records. "It's very, very raw," he added.
  • Turner told The Guardian regarding his teenage self-harming: "Like a lot of people, I feel slightly embarrassed by it - because it's such a concession of weakness. I don't have an enormously high opinion of myself. It's a constant battle not to get too lost in self-criticism, self-loathing."
  • Producer Rich Costey (Foo Fighters, Muse) pushed Turner hard and on this song, making him do 42 vocal takes. "He was telling me to sing it directly to the person I was singing about," Turner told Kerrang! "He kept telling me to 'see the ghost.' I wanted to stab him. But he was right. You can get a performance that's correct, but what you really want is one that's correct and which has soul."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Subversive Songs Used To Sell

Subversive Songs Used To SellSong Writing

Songs about drugs, revolution and greed that have been used in commercials for sneakers, jeans, fast food, cruises and cars.

Rock Revenge Songs

Rock Revenge SongsMusic Quiz

John Lennon, Paul Simon and Lynyrd Skynyrd are some of the artists who have written revenge songs. Do you know who they wrote them about?

90s Metal

90s MetalFact or Fiction

Test your metal - Priest, Maiden, and Beavis and Butt-head show up in this one.

Into The Great Wide Open: Made-up Musicians

Into The Great Wide Open: Made-up MusiciansSong Writing

Eddie (played by Johnny Depp in the video) found fame fleeting, but Chuck Berry's made-up musician fared better.

Janis Ian

Janis IanSongwriter Interviews

One of the first successful female singer-songwriters, Janis had her first hit in 1967 at age 15.

Female Singers Of The 90s

Female Singers Of The 90sMusic Quiz

The ladies who ruled the '90s in this quiz.