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.

Chinese Bakery
The Auteurs Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

She's going downtown, but she comes from uptown
Where the brokers and the dealers - socialise
She's going downtown
Cos she's a poet
And the Chinese bakery's open all night

Toulouse Lautrec called up today
Said it's all Rock n' Roll anyway

Excuse me while I'm tearing off your head
Epiphany just went to ground
The three wise men just can't be found
The underground just shook it's weary head

She said she's gonna show me around
The Chinese bakery that's open
Twenty hours

She's going downtown...

Got a roller coaster in my head
You press the button - I'll eject
Your present is just somebodys past
Don't blink, pinch me twice
Just seen Bob Dylan on a motorbike
I don't think this relationship will last

She said she's gonna show me around
The Chinese bakery that's open
Twenty hours

She's going downtown...
And the Chinese bakery's open all night

Overall Meaning

The Auteurs' song Chinese Bakery is a darkly humorous and ironic take on the shallowness of contemporary culture. The opening lines describe a woman who comes from a wealthy, privileged background but chooses to spend her time in the grittier, more bohemian part of town. She claims to be a poet, and the only reason she gives for going downtown is that the Chinese bakery is open all night. The bakery, on the surface, seems like a random detail, but it is significant as a symbol of the exotic and the otherness that she is attracted to.

The next verse introduces a series of surreal and absurd images that suggest a sense of dislocation and confusion. Toulouse Lautrec, the famous French painter, calls up and dismisses Rock n' Roll as a meaningless enterprise. The singer then imagines himself tearing off someone's head and experiences an epiphany that eludes him. The three wise men are missing, and the underground scene is stagnant and unimpressed. These characters and events are all connected thematically by a sense of disillusionment and dissatisfaction with the world around them.

The final verse brings the focus back to the woman and her promise to show the singer around the Chinese bakery. The singer's mental state is similarly unstable, as he experiences a rollercoaster of emotions and thoughts. He suggests that their relationship is unlikely to last, and the song ends with the repeated refrain of the Chinese bakery being open all night. Through its use of absurd imagery and ironic commentary, Chinese Bakery satirizes the shallow materialism and cultural emptiness of contemporary society.

Line by Line Meaning

She's going downtown, but she comes from uptown
Though she's from an affluent area called 'uptown', she's headed to a less fancy place referred to as 'downtown'

Where the brokers and the dealers - socialise
The upscale uptown area is known for the rich businessmen and dealers who frequently socialize there

She's going downtown Cos she's a poet And the Chinese bakery's open all night
The reason for her heading downtown is that she's a poet and wants to visit the Chinese bakery, which happens to be open all night

Toulouse Lautrec called up today Said it's all Rock n' Roll anyway Excuse me while I'm tearing off your head
A reference to a conversation with Toulouse Lautrec where he said everything was just rock and roll; a statement followed by an outburst that's only meant to express rebelliousness

Epiphany just went to ground The three wise men just can't be found The underground just shook it's weary head
A metaphorical description of how it seems that people in greater intellect, symbolized by 'Epiphany' and 'the three wise men', seem to be on the decline while the underground culture, which is getting worn out, watches on

She said she's gonna show me around The Chinese bakery that's open Twenty hours
The woman has promised to take the singer to the Chinese bakery and show him around where it's open for twenty hours

Got a roller coaster in my head You press the button - I'll eject Your present is just somebodys past
The singer feels like he has a roller coaster of emotions in his head, indicating his mental agitations. The phrase that follows probably alludes to a love interest offering him gifts that remind him of someone else's past

Don't blink, pinch me twice Just seen Bob Dylan on a motorbike I don't think this relationship will last
The singer is experiencing an improbable hallucination - seeing Bob Dylan on a motorbike - that makes him even more desperate to end the relationship he's in

She said she's gonna show me around The Chinese bakery that's open Twenty hours
The woman has promised again to show the singer the Chinese bakery which, once more, is open for twenty hours

She's going downtown... And the Chinese bakery's open all night
The woman is still en route to the lower-class area, downtown, where she can find the Chinese bakery that's open the entire night

Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: LUKE MICHAEL HAINES

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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