Another Kind of Currency: Is Visiting the Past Worth the Hassle?

Jonathan Skufca

Courtesy of Giant Freakin Robot.

Welcome back! It‰’s the spring semester, students are back at college and I‰’m mourning the loss of my free time, but now it’s time for you to sit back, relax, and enjoy the return of Another Kind of Currency. 

The song that will be gracing this week‰’s column is English musician Frank Turner‰’s “Time Machine.‰” A bonus track from Turner‰’s 2013 album, Tape Deck Heart, “Time Machine‰” is a perfect example of what I‰’ve seen described as “campfire punk.‰” It’s a mixture of folk, rock and punk that isn‰’t quite folk-punk but something all its own that you just need to hear to understand: 

The song begins with Turner using the first two verses to spin a tale of building a time machine to revisit the cool events of the past, complete with his own wordplay and film references: 

I‰’mma gonna build myself a time machine
On particle physics and the power of steam
It runs on diesel oil and Donnie Darko daydreams
Packed a pair of socks and a hunting rifle
Change of underwear and some snacks to trifle
Scared of going back you know how I’m forgetful

Packed up, sat in my DeLorean
Like some kind of amateur historian
I’ll visit the Renaissance and the Romans, the Victorians
Drinking in Deadwood in the 1880s
Rock and roll and drive-thrus in the 1950s
Trying not to change things so the plot lines don’t get shifty

But between the verses, Turner seems to hint that a simple trip to the past is not quite what he truly wants out of this machine: 

To go back and to see
The way things really used to be;
Not the way we remember them at all

This does not necessarily seem in tune with the nostalgic trip into history Turner seemed to be mentioning in the verses. Turner then continues to drop increasingly less subtle hints about his true motives as the song rockets into the bridge and Frank belts at the top of his range: 

‰Cause all you can recall, can turn out to be false
And what if everything were to change completely
If you just saw a replay of the crucial scenes
From the passenger window of a time machine

This is especially interesting if you notice that this is the first time Tuner directly mentions someone else. Who is this “you‰” he is addressing? Why do they need to be taken back along with Turner to see what “they” recall as false? Is it  a general “you,” as in the entire population listening to Turner? Or is it a specific individual? These questions are answered in the next verse, when Turner finally reveals his true reason for building this machine: 

In truth, the real reason I built this here machine
Was just to travel back a couple of years
To when we first met before the fights and tears
To a time when you and I first got together
Simple days and simple words like “forever‰”
Dripped off our tongues, Come on! You must remember!

He wants to revisit the time when he and his lover were together. When they were in love. When they promised to be together forever. Turner just wants to return to what was presumably the best time of his life and he wants to take his ex back with him. There is just one issue brought up in the final verse. His ex presumably wants nothing to do with him anymore. They seem to have forgotten the good times and in the final verse, Turner seems to be incredibly exasperated and tries his damnedest to get his lover to reminisce with him: 

Let‰’s go back and let‰’s see
The way things really used to be
Before life quietly dismembers
All the best things about
You and I before the doubt
Drowned out all the mirth and mercy
Come on, baby, please you must remember!
Please Remember!!

An interesting music theory note: Turner uses rhythmic augmentation in this last verse (at least to a certain extent) and the verse before the bridge to draw out the anticipation for the release that occurs at the bridge and the ending here, almost as if he is mentally preparing himself to blow his “Time Machine‰” cover for wanting to get back with his ex, if only to reminisce about the past. 

The listener almost wants to feel bad for Turner; he seems quite anguished (and singing with the range he uses in this song isn‰’t the most comfortable), but we have no idea why their relationship ended. Whose fault was the breakup? Turner seems to be placing the blame on his ex, but we truly cannot make a judgment call until we hear a response. But personally, until his ex releases a comparably clever and well-written song detailing their side, I‰’m with Turner on this one.

Courtesy of Some Will Never Know.