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.
Former Fan
The Auteurs Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Hanging out on you, it's like
Trying to stop a moving train
Or howling at the moon
Love sick, paranoid
I pin you to the floor
I used to think about it all the time
But not much any more
He'll be gone, new baby-boom
Lost it round on dead man's pass
Your writing's automatic
Your imagery's of us
Guiding light, hey cool
Beaucoup, I coudn't give a damn
They said, you looked like Jesus
And you believed us
But I'm a former fan
Was a former fan
Was a former fan
No one had a baby
Or died upon the dam
Was a former fan
Was a former fan
Was a former, was a former
Was a former fan
Somewhere there's an empty car
Deserted on a beach
They haven't found a body
I think it might be his
Guiding light, hey cool
Beaucoup, I coudn't give a damn
They said, you looked like Jesus
And you believed us
But I'm a former fan
Was a former fan
Was a former fan
Was a former fan
Oh, oh
The lyrics of "Former Fan" by The Auteurs express the feeling of disappointment and disillusionment towards a former idol or interest. The main character is in the rain, frustrated and helpless like trying to stop a moving train or howling at the moon. He used to spend a lot of time thinking about this person or thing but not anymore. It's revealed that the object of his former obsession had a new baby and lost something at Dead Man's Pass, a dangerous mountain road. The character is no longer paying attention to the person or the subject of their former interest, expressing "but I'm a former fan".
The second verse is loaded with intriguing images like an empty car abandoned on a beach and a missing person who might be dead who may have written automatic pieces that were meaningful to the character before but now the images of them seem empty. The repeated chorus emphasizes the fact that the character is no longer interested in whoever they used to be a fan of, though in some ways they still have a level of curiosity, perhaps from the remnants of their previous obsession.
Line by Line Meaning
Standing in the pissing rain
I am out in the cold rain, getting wet and uncomfortable
Hanging out on you, it's like
Trying to stop a moving train
Being around you is difficult and frustrating, like trying to stop something that's constantly moving
Or howling at the moon
Love sick, paranoid
My feelings for you are irrational and unrequited, like a wolf howling at the moon
I pin you to the floor
I used to think about it all the time
But not much any more
I used to be obsessed with you, but not anymore. I don't feel the same way I used to
He'll be gone, new baby-boom
Lost it round on dead man's pass
Your writing's automatic
Your imagery's of us
He'll be forgotten, like a new generation of babies. He lost control and died on the dangerous Dead Man's Pass. Your writing comes naturally and is often about us
Guiding light, hey cool
Beaucoup, I coudn't give a damn
They said, you looked like Jesus
And you believed us
But I'm a former fan
You were once my hero, but now I don't care at all. People said you looked like Jesus and you believed them, but I'm no longer a fan of yours
Was a former fan
Was a former fan
No one had a baby
Or died upon the dam
Was a former fan
Was a former fan
Was a former, was a former
Was a former fan
I was a fan of yours, but not anymore. No one had a baby or died near the dam. I used to be a fan, but not anymore
Somewhere there's an empty car
Deserted on a beach
They haven't found a body
I think it might be his
There's an abandoned car somewhere on the beach with no one inside it. They haven't found a body, but I think it might be his
Contributed by Violet P. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Mario Viveros
one of the best songs of auteurs