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10 A.M. Automatic
The Black Keys Lyrics


Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴  Line by Line Meaning ↴

What about the night
Makes you change
From sweet to deranged?
What about my voice
Tells you who
Who's been wrong to you?

You've got pain
Like an addict
I'm leaving you
You got pain

Like an addict
Ten am automatic

I see darkness
Cover us
And your car
Kicks up dust
What about my ways
Makes you doubt
All these words from my mouth?

Overall Meaning

The Black Keys's "10 A.M. Automatic" is a song that explores the destructive cycle of a toxic relationship. The opening lyrics ask the question of what it is about the night that brings a change in the person - from being sweet to being deranged. The singer then asks what about his voice gives away the wrongs he has committed, indicating that his partner has gone through some kind of trauma in the past.


The chorus repeats the words "You've got pains like an addict," suggesting that the partner is struggling with some kind of addiction or mental anguish. The singer then decides to leave, realizing that he cannot continue to be a part of a relationship that is causing so much pain. The bridge of the song talks about how the darkness seems to have taken over, and the car driving away leaves a trail of dust. The singer questions what it is about his ways that make their partner doubt everything he says.


Overall, "10 A.M. Automatic" is a haunting song that delves deep into the complexities of a deteriorating relationship. The pain and struggle of addiction and trauma are explored with sensitivity and honesty.


Line by Line Meaning

What about the night makes you change
What happens during the night that alters your behavior?


From sweet to deranged
You go from being kind to behaving erratically.


What about my voice tells you
What is it in my tone that signals to you?


Who's been wrong to you
Who do you think has hurt you in some manner?


You've got pains
You experience intense suffering.


Like an addict
Similar to someone who is dependent on a substance.


I'm leaving you
I am abandoning you.


You've got pains
You are in considerable agony.


Like an addict
Almost as if you are addicted to something.


10 a.m. automatic
You experience bouts of pain that occur regularly at 10am, as if they are automatic.


I see darkness cover us
I notice that we are enveloped by darkness.


And your car kicks up dust
As you drive, your vehicle stirs up clouds of dirt.


What about my ways makes you doubt
What is it in my actions that causes you to question me?


All these words from my mouth
Every statement I make.




Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: DANIEL AUERBACH, PATRICK CARNEY

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
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Comments from YouTube:

@timothyjerham9886

The guitar near the end, blows me away everytime. Just superb. 🎸

@MrPondsford

Words canot describe how much I love this video

@garybradshaw2623

Music that makes you move weather you like it or not. Pure rocknroll

@AueltheWiseSojourner

I taped this on VHS one night watching Punk O Rama TV on KDOC late one Saturday A.M. long ago in a life far, far away. Little did I know then, that it would turn into a decades-long love affair with Dirty Blues! If this doesn't make your feet stir, and your ass shake, you must be dead.

@davengarcia222

The way this man plays is effortless 👏

@bobbenson6825

The opening where for some reason he's reading part of the Passover Seder Haggadah cracked me up. Very surreal.

@aspengarrido2785

How does this not have more views?

@pacandpal3

because other people would rather post the same songs and get recognition for it then allowing the actual artists that created the music to .

@SummersPep

Rubber Factory is there best album of theirs to me, all of the albums really show where the guys were at in life... like choosing Robert Pete Williams/Capt.Beefheart's "Grown So Ugly" to cover and then this song. Hope this makes sense. I couldn't love this band anymore.

@brandonleroux6059

I agree. Also like Rubber Factory. Their music feels natural...like it was meant to be the way it came out.

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