"The Dark of the Matinée" (known as "Matinée" on single versions) is a song by Scottish

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

band

Franz Ferdinand Archduke Franz Ferdinand Carl Ludwig Joseph Maria of Austria, (18 December 1863 – 28 June 1914) was the heir presumptive to the throne of Austria-Hungary. His assassination in Sarajevo was the most immediate cause of World War I. F ...

. It was released as the third single from their eponymous debut studio album on 19 April 2004. The song reached number eight on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. In Australia, the song was ranked number 50 on Triple J's Hottest 100 of 2004.

Background

The song is about walking home from

Bearsden Academy Bearsden Academy is a non-denominational, state school, state secondary school in Bearsden, East Dunbartonshire, Scotland. History Bearsden Cross site (1911–1958) In 1911, the school was situated on the corner of A808 road (Great Britain), R ...

fantasising about a better life in the future, telling

Terry Wogan Sir Michael Terence Wogan (; 3 August 1938 – 31 January 2016) was an Irish radio and television broadcaster who worked for the BBC in the UK for most of his career. Between 1993 and his semi-retirement in December 2009, his BBC Radio 2 weekd ...

about it on UK national television, then being shaken from the fantasy as its own ridiculousness shatters its very existence. The chorus and title were inspired by bassist Bob Hardy remarking that the dark of a matinée performance was a utopian environment to play in.

Music video

The video features the band dressed as schoolboys, dancing in an automatic, almost possessed, fashion and miming along to the main vocal track. It was inspired by

Dennis Potter Dennis Christopher George Potter (17 May 1935 – 7 June 1994) was an English television dramatist, screenwriter and journalist. He is best known for his BBC television serials '' Pennies from Heaven'' (1978), ''The Singing Detective'' (198 ...

's television play ''

Blue Remembered Hills "Blue Remembered Hills" is the 14th episode of ninth season of the British BBC anthology TV series '' Play for Today''. The episode was a television play that was originally broadcast on 30 January 1979. "Blue Remembered Hills" was written by De ...

'' (1979), which features adults playing children, and the

lip-sync Lip sync or lip synch (pronounced , the same as the word ''sink'', short for lip synchronization) is a technical term for matching a speaking or singing person's lip movements with sung or spoken vocals. Audio for lip syncing is generated thr ...

device Potter used in his 'serials with songs' '' Pennies from Heaven'' (1978) and ''

The Singing Detective ''The Singing Detective'' is a BBC television serial drama, written by Dennis Potter, starring Michael Gambon and directed by Jon Amiel. Its six episodes are "Skin", "Heat", "Lovely Days", "Clues", "Pitter Patter" and "Who Done It". The ser ...

'' (1986). Another part of the video sees the band dressed in white clothing and standing in front of a large photograph of

(who is namechecked in the song). The finale of the video also takes several visual cues from the "Dry Bones" sequence in ''Singing Detective''. Kapranos wanted to shoot the video in the corridors of

and approached the school who, while initially receptive, ultimately rejected the idea, as the idea of schoolboys in their early 30s was too reminiscent of the recent scandal involving Brian MacKinnon.

Track listings

All lead vocals are performed by

Alex Kapranos Alexander Paul Kapranos Huntley (born 20 March 1972) is a Scottish musician, singer, songwriter, record producer and author. He is best known as the lead singer and guitarist of Scottish rock band Franz Ferdinand. He has also been a part of the ...

. UK CD single # "Matinée" # "Better in Hoboken" # "Forty Feet" UK 7-inch single :A. "Matinée" :B. "

Michael Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian an ...

" (live at

KCRW KCRW (89.9 MHz FM) is a National Public Radio member station broadcasting from the campus of Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California, where the station is licensed. KCRW airs original news and music programming in addition to programm ...

) UK 12-inch single :A1. "Matinée" :B1. "Better in Hoboken" :B2. "Forty Feet" UK DVD single # "Matinée" (video) # "Matinée" (live at KCRW) # Wallpaper # Photo gallery with "Cheating on You" live from The Chateau) European CD single # "Matinée" # "Better in Hoboken"

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dark Of The Matinee, The 2004 singles 2004 songs Domino Recording Company singles Franz Ferdinand (band) songs Music videos directed by Chris Hopewell Songs written by Alex Kapranos Songs written by Bob Hardy (bassist) Songs written by Nick McCarthy UK Independent Singles Chart number-one singles