Even though it is often recognized as one the most
popular songs off of The Last Shadow Puppet’s debut
album, “My Mistakes Were Made For You” peaked on the
UK Singles Chart at only number 81 in 2008.
It was rumored that Turner and Kane received
inspiration for the song “My Mistakes Were Made For
You” from “The Old Man’s Back Again”, a song that
can be found on Scott Walker’s album “Scott 4”.
Scott Walker wrote his song in 1969 about his
disgust of Joseph Stalin’s repressive control.
This song written by The Last Shadow Puppets can be
interpreted as referring to a girl, but it could
also be interpreted as referring to a subject much
bigger than that. The speaker is perhaps instead
referring to destiny or the choices that he has made
within his life. If the song is looked at with the
latter interpretation in mind, Turner and Kane may
be trying to communicate something along these
lines:
Even from the beginning of the song, the speaker
says that everything turns out to happen for a
specific reason – even the worst mistakes that you
may make in life happen for some sort of reason.
During the worst sections of his life, destiny takes
over and he begins to realize exactly why the things
that have occurred happened the way they did. And
when things are going well he understands that there
is absolutely no assurance that things will remain
as good as they are in that current moment. He says
that everyone goes through the exact same
experiences at some point or another in their lives.
But when they do end up going down that path we run
away as fast as we can, unwilling to help them in
the least. He goes on to say that we cannot choose
for anything we do to go our way because our destiny
has been established from the very beginning. We
will never be able to escape the choices that we
have made, and there is therefore no way to get
around them. We will eventually have to accept
everything for what it is and find a way to deal
with it.
This song is one of the softer and slower-paced
songs on The Last Shadow Puppets’ album. Subtle
sounds of an orchestra can be heard during each
verse. The strings progress with a slightly
increased sense of urgency as the song nears to an
end.
The music video for the song opens with Alex Turner
and his real life girlfriend Alexa Chung passed out
inside a car that has crashed. Turner is seen
walking down a street at night and passes Kane who
is propped against another car playing guitar.
Turner and Kane then come to a small, lighted gazebo
where they can both been seen playing guitar for a
fraction of the song. The video ends with Alexa
Chung walking down the same street where Turner
passed Kane, with her back to the camera. In 2009,
“My Mistakes Were Made For You” won an award for
best video at the New Musical Express Awards Show.
In October of 2008,
The Last Shadow Puppets released a US-only EP
containing 8 songs. Like their other releases, this
disc, too, was released on Domino Records. The EP
includes an original version of “My Mistakes Were
Made for You”, along with an acoustic version of the
same song. The EP also contains acoustic versions of
“The Age of the Understatement,” “Standing Next To
Me,” and “The Meeting Place.”
