The second single from
“The Age of the Understatement”, “Standing Next To
Me”, gained its peak position on the UK Top 40 at
number 30. The video was shot and compiled by
director Richard Ayoade in London. The video is
rather simply put together; the first half consists
only of Turner and Kane singing at a microphone.
Turner plays a tambourine while Kane plays a guitar.
The camera is zoomed back and forth, showing the
name of the band on the floor and the rest of the
background and foreground in shadow as they sing.
The camera then pans to a group of girls dancing on
a striped, black and white floor, wearing pig tails
and striped dresses. Although each of the girls
looks relatively similar due to their blonde hair,
each of their leggings is a different color.
“Standing Next To Me” centers around two guys. One
of the guys (the one who is speaking) has a
girlfriend while the other one (the one who is being
spoken to) wants to steal her away from him. Two
years have gone by and the guy is still trying to
steal his girlfriend, but he has failed to get
anywhere with his attempts. The guy who is dating
the girl is not fooled, though. He knows that she
would never try to leave him for someone else. He
basically says that the guy that is in love with his
girlfriend is acting very childish and the guy’s
feelings are juvenile because he barely even knows
her. He says that he will someday look back on the
situation and realize how naïve he was actually
acting. The boyfriend says that it is unlikely that
his girlfriend will even remember who he is a few
years down the road. Only once he realizes that the
girl is unobtainable and therefore ends all of his
desires for her will he look at the situation with
an unbiased view and realize that he never had a
chance with her in the first place.
In the song, Turner and Kane continuously switch
singing duties, but they do so in such an elegant
way that it becomes difficult to decipher the exact
moments that they exchange roles. The background
noises are composed of multiple instruments,
providing an all-around darker atmosphere for the
song.
An acoustic version of
“Standing Next To Me” can be found on “My Mistakes
Were Made For You”. The acoustic version is very
well composed, unlike some acoustic songs created by
other bands. Other than it being played with an
acoustic guitar, the only differences between the
two songs is that the guitar can be heard with more
detail, and the tempo is slowed down a fraction of a
second in the acoustic version. The original version
of this song can also be found on the EP entitled
“Standing Next To Me”. The EP was released in June
of 2008, just 2 months after the release of The Last
Shadow Puppet’s debut album. The disc also includes
the never-before released songs “Hang the Cyst,”
“Gas Dance,” and “Sequels”.
