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The Milkman's Horse

Band songlist

Info

The Milkman's Horse is the title of a Libertines track, released on their third album in September 2015. Carl Barat first revealed the track name an interview with Zane Lowe; when he told the presenter that The Libertines were working on new music, including tracks "Belly of the Beast" and "The Milkman's Horse". A later NME interview confirms that writing and singing duties were "split 50/50" between Doherty and Barat.

The song was first heard by fans when a demo was posted on 4th February 2015 on Peter's YouTube account with the description:

"this is just guitar and Shane the engineer at Karma on drums.

I played it to Carlos - 'quality control in a bandana and belt that doubles up as a knuckle duster' - that he might consider it of sufficient overall merit to make play-offs in the competitive 'the Libertines album sudden death shortlisty'

" the chorus has to go" says he
"what?" says I "the chorus has to go?"
"the chorus has to go.. no two ways about it me old mate. So say your goodbyes and lets see what I can come up with.." [clears throat]

and so the so and so came up with another 'less supremes' but equally supreme refrain. And the story continues..."


Since this demo, the song now has a completely new chorus written by Carl to replace the original that Pete half-inched from The Supremes' 'Where Did Our Love Go' and The Four Tops' 'I Can't Help Myself'. "Songs like 'The Milkman's Horse' I thought were finished," says Pete. "Then I'd give them to Carl and the pressure was on him to make them better. He really had to go all guns blazing, because there's no point changing something unless you're improving it. He really did us proud. He gave it a whopping great chorus, better than the Supremes rip-off it had before."

First NME review of the song:
"Probably the track that best sums up the 2015 incarnation of The Libertines. Slower-paced than their earlier material and built around a lilting melody that’s faintly reminiscent of ‘Creep’ by Radiohead, it’s got the best chorus on the record by a country mile and a feel that’s similar to the Manics and Suede in the late '90s. By that, I mean it’s probably the most ‘comfortable’ the Libs have ever sounded. Lyrically, it's wrapped up in despair though - there’s a great line from Pete about “battles fought at sea”, and how “it must be lonely being you being me”. He seemingly wrote the bones of the song a few months ago, as the video demo from his YouTube account below shows – although the chorus, which back then was too close to The Supremes’ ‘Where Did Our Love Go?’ for Carl to handle (“So the so and so came up with another 'less Supremes' but equally supreme refrain,” as Pete writes in the YouTube info box) takes it somewhere else entirely on the record. An anthem and a high-point of the album
”.

Appearing on

Live at O2 Academy Glasgow (1) The LibertinesAlbum2016-02-19
Anthems for Doomed Youth (Bonus Demo Track) The LibertinesAlbum2015-09-11
Anthems for Doomed Youth The LibertinesAlbum2015-09-11

Concerts

Festival SOS 4.8 The LibertinesMurcia2016-05-07
AB brussels 2016 The LibertinesAncienne Belgique, Brussels2016-05-03
Live @ Olympia The LibertinesMusic Hall, Paris2016-03-09

Lyrics

They just don't make that kind of license anymore
That way of life anymore
That type of world anymore
What you done
Get out of my dreams you scum
They weren't meant for anyone
They weren't meant for anyone but me
In my cinematic mind
I see battles fought at sea
I awake in dawn's empire
It must be lonely being you being me
What you done
Get out of my dreams you scum
They weren't meant for anyone but me
What you done
I just get so over-run
Impossible dreams they come for me
For me
It's for the worlds they never see
This beatific revelry
By windswept kisses heavens rave
Lovers rise and fall and fall and rise again
What you done
Get out of my dreams you scum
They weren't meant for anyone but me
What you done
I just get so over-run
These unthoughtful dreams they come for me
What you done
Get out of my dreams you scum
They weren't meant for anyone but me
But me

Extrainfo

NameThe Milkman's Horse
BandPeter Doherty
CreditsCarl Barat
Peter Doherty


Marked as favorite by
AlbionGirl, alittledeath, anarchy, bluetuesday, Clemens, Fireman, flyingobjun, spyhal, Werneck