St. Jude is a brilliant album with lyrics that are full of wit and charm. We thought we’d take a look through and try and pick out the 10 best Courteeners lyrics from it. Even though it’s just one album, the job was surprisingly tough! We hope you enjoy this trip down memory lane to one of the best albums of the noughties.
10 Best Courteeners Lyrics from St. Jude
10. Not Nineteen Forever
She tried to peel me off the pavement
Tried to insinuate that sometimes I am in danger of going too far
What a song this is. Guaranteed to go off during their live shows, it’s long been a crowd favourite. The lyrics are great and all about being young and enjoying the lack of responsibility.
9. What Took You So Long?
Well next week, you’re trying again
To pull one of your city’s many frontmen
A story of a suspicious man and a woman who chases after the frontmen of local band. The song brilliantly takes shots at music snobs who are only interested in bands that no-one else has heard of.
8. Yesterday, Today & Probably Tomorrow
Because I think that we both know in twenty-eight and a half years’ time
That I won’t be yours and you probably won’t be mine
A stunningly beautiful song. I only wanted to pick one set of lyrics per song but I could have picked a few different lines from this one. It showcases Fray’s disdain for getting carried away with your emotions.
7. Fallowfield Hillbilly
When you walk past with your eyeliner on, one hand in glove
I’m gonna ask you, “Can you play the guitar, my boy?”
“Can you fuck”
Courteeners are brilliant at creating ‘crowd moments’ in respect of parts of their songs that we love singing along to. Shouting “can you fuck?” at the end of this song is up there with the best of them. It’s another song that takes aim at snobbery and pretension in a brilliant way.
6. How Come
You get admiration from all of the lads
The mothers take a shine to you, that’s not the case with the dads
They have to keep both eyes upon you just in case you make a move
But we know that you wouldn’t be so daft and that’s what makes you so smooth
I could have just written the complete lyrics to this song, it’s genius. It humorously details Fray’s awe at another man’s ability to always get the girl.
5. No You Didn’t, No You Don’t
There’ll always be people looking down their noses
I don’t care, coming up smelling of roses
Fray also knows how to write a lyric with swagger and arrogance. That’s what we get here with a song about people who presume to know things when in fact, they don’t have a clue.
4. Aftershow
And then you stand there with your old boyfriend
And message after message that you can send, send, send
You know I will definitely ignore them all
You’re having a shit night, well I’m having a ball
This lyric is in a similar vein to the previous one, not giving a fuck about what anyone else thinks. It’s a common theme with the best Courteeners lyrics.
3. Bide Your Time
I tried and I tried, I never applied
To any of the morals that I wish I had
Singing the chorus to this song at one of their gigs is very special. The song details the struggle we all have of sometimes wanting to be a better person than we actually are.
2. Cavorting
Cavorting and snorting
Your way through the band
Get your hand off me trouser leg
I’m turning up tonight but only to knock you down a peg
This is another song where you could pick out the whole song as lyrical brilliance. I’ve always loved these lines, mainly for the arrogance of turning up to knock them down a peg. Easily one of the best Courteeners lyrics.
1. Please Don’t
You spend eighty-five percent of your night
Trying to make me understand, why you were standing so close while you’re kissing him
Why you left that place holding his hand
Oh darling, can’t you see that it’s got fuck all to do with me?
Pity those who never listen to album tracks. This is a story of breakup and how you’ll pretend to stay friends. But it’s also details how his ex is trying to make him jealous when he simply doesn’t care anymore.