" Black Treacle" is a song by the English indie rock band Arctic Monkeys, released as the fourth single from their fourth studio album Suck It and See and was released as a digital download and a 7" vinyl on 23 January 2012. The single was limited to only 1,500 copies.
The 7" vinyl features only one B-side titled "You and I" and is credited to Richard Hawley and The Death Ramps. The Death Ramps is a pseudonym previously adopted by the band when they released "The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala" single and a limited edition vinyl with "Teddy Picker" B-sides "Nettles" and "The Death Ramps" back in 2007.
A promo video was made for "You and I" which consists of footage while recording the song at the studio and of the band riding motorbikes on the peaks outside Sheffield near Dore.
Writing
The song was one of the last written during the
London sessions, before recording took place.
About the lyrics Alex Turner told
NME: "I watched a couple of westerns when we were doing this, like
Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid, which gets a reference in there. I also just wanted to put 'belly-button
Body piercing' in a tune, I thought that would be good. I'd kind of wanted to do it for a couple of weeks and then managed to fit it in there. Why? I'd not thought about them for a while and they came on my radar somehow. And then I thought about this thing of them and the stars being juxtaposed."
Music video
The music video for "Black Treacle" was released on
YouTube on 5 January 2012. It was filmed in
Sheffield and
Los Angeles, and directed by Focus Creeps. Is part of a trilogy inspired by a story told on a documentary on the life of musician
Lemmy.
It serves as a sequel to "Suck It and See" and stars drummer Matt Helders as the biker, now an escaped convict, looking to reunite and marry his fiancée (Breana McDow). While in prison the biker collaborates with the police and wears a wire. After escaping he recovers a knife he had hidden in the desert, and uses it to steal clothes and a car from a bystander. He picks up a prostitute and gets fellow biker (frontman Alex Turner) to drive them around. The next day they return to the desert where his fiancée, wearing a wedding dress, is waiting for him.
On the video, Focus Creeps said: "The ‘Black Treacle’ video is a compilation of the darker outtakes of ‘Suck It & See’. In the desert, the bright rays of the sun cast a long dark shadow. It's a prequel where laws get broke, and a sequel where hearts get broke. On the one hand, the song kind of says, no matter how low things go, you can always dream, and on the other hand it's a video that kind of shows - kids, don't try this at home."
Track listing
Personnel
- Arctic Monkeys
-
Alex Turner – lead vocals, lead and rhythm guitar, backing vocals
-
Jamie Cook – lead and rhythm guitar
-
Nick O'Malley – bass guitar, backing vocals
-
Matt Helders – drums, backing vocals
- Additional personnel
Charts
Certifications
