The Auteurs was a British alternative rock band of the 1990s.

Unfair… Read Full Bio ↴The Auteurs was a British alternative rock band of the 1990s.

Unfairly dismissed as the egotrip of acclaimed songwriter Luke Haines, The Auteurs were one of the unsung bands of the mid-nineties Britpop movement. Releasing their first record, New Wave, in 1993, the Auteurs were compared to Suede, and the resurgent glam-rock movement, and began to amass a reasonable cult following. 1994's second album, and commercial highlight, Now I'm A Cowboy, saw the band embracing at times a more contemporary sound, notably on the single Lenny Valentino, which probably remains Haines' best-known song. Now I'm A Cowboy was marked out by sprawling guitar lines as much as by Haines' inimitable lyrics, a kind of visceral social commentary. While touring this album in 1995, Haines jumped off a fifteen-foot wall, breaking both ankles, resulting in his being in a wheelchair for the rest of that year, recording the starker, angrier third album After Murder Park, most notable for the ballad-like lead single Unsolved Child Murder, released for Christmas at Haines own bidding. Following this, Haines took time out to work on other projects such as Black Box Recorder and Baader Meinhof, reforming the Auteurs in 1999 for the release of the mostly overlooked final album, How I Learned To Love The Bootboys.

While Haines remains widely respected for his lyrical eloquence and eye for the minutae of life, his eccentric, confrontational personality, and habit of styling himself as a louche ne'er-do-well, perhaps impeded the formation of a more affectionate bond with his fans. The Auteurs, similarly, tended to be respected rather more than they were loved.

A New Life A New Family
The Auteurs Lyrics

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A new life, a new family for me
Wait on Billy's return
A new life, a new family for me
I know somebody's gonna get burned

Airfare, it was in the fall, in the war
Question Billy for hours
Barmen I've never seen

Exhume the place, debase the scene
Sent to kill John Faraday

A new life, a new family for me
Wait on Billy's return
A new life, a new family for me
Somebody's gonna get burned

Airfare, it was in the war, in the dark
Question Billy for hours
Firemen I've never seen
Debase the place, exhume the scene

Sent to kill John Faraday
Sent to kill John Faraday

Overall Meaning

The Auteurs' song "A New Life A New Family" tells a haunting story of a protagonist who is seeking a fresh start - a new life and a new family. The first verse sets the tone of uncertainty and tension, as the singer waits for Billy's return, knowing that someone is going to get hurt. The second verse, however, reveals a series of cryptic events, such as airfare in the war, questioning Billy for hours, and firemen who have never been seen before. These events suggest that the singer may be involved in something dangerous and possibly illegal, as they have been sent to kill a man named John Faraday.

The song's lyrics are ambiguous and shroud the story's details in mystery. It is unclear who Billy is, what his role in the story is, and why the singer has been sent to kill John Faraday. However, the song's narrator seems to be haunted by the violence and uncertainty that surrounds them. The repetition of the lines "A new life, a new family for me... somebody's gonna get burned" centralizes this tension, revealing the singer's desire to start anew while acknowledging the dangers that come with it.

A New Life A New FamilyThe Auteurs Lyrics

A New Life A New Family
The Auteurs Lyrics