Paris

## *I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it* chronology

**"Paris"** is the fifteenth track on The 1975's second studio album, *I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it*.

## Background

If Matty has a subject he’s best at writing about, it’s the fucked up individuals he meets and observes. "Paris" is a masterclass in that. Its main focus is a coked up girl he meets at a party, who "had to leave cos she couldn’t hack it/Not enough noise and too much racket". Later, there’s the implication that she’s moaning about missing a party because “her friend kept cutting her wrists”, and being materialistic ("She pointed at the bag of her dreams in a well posh magazine").

He’s also, as evidenced earlier on the album, great at writing about his own issues, and this song is no different. There’s the romantic infidelities ("I’ve got two left feet and I’m starting to cheat on my girlfriend again"), and his well-publicised addictions ("As the crowd cheered for an overdose", "I said ‘I’m done babe, I’m out of the scene’/But I was picking up on Bethnal Green/She said I’d been romanticising heroin"). The lyrics are sad enough as it is, but combined with the glittering, melancholy mesh that the remaining Adam, George and bassist MacDonald build beneath, it’s utterly depressing.

The band released an acoustic version of this song on 6th December, 2018.

## Lyrics

She said 'hello', she was letting me know

We share friends in Soho

She's a pain in the nose

I'm a pain in women's clothes

"And you're a walking overdose in a greatcoat"

And so she wrote a plan for it on the back of a fag packet

She had to leave because she couldn't hack it

Not enough noise and too much racket

"I think I've spent all my money and your friends, oh"

Oh, how I'd love to go to Paris again

Oh, how I'd love to go to Paris again

Mr. Serotonin Man, lend me a gram

You call yourself a friend?

I got two left feet and I'm starting to cheat

On my girlfriend again

I caught her picking her nose

As the crowd cheered for an overdose

And I don't suppose you know where this train goes

There was a party that she had to miss

Because her friend kept cutting her wrists

Hyperpoliticized sexual trysts

"Oh, I think my boyfriend's a nihilist"

I said, "Hey kids, we're all just the same

What a shame"

And oh, how I'd love to go to Paris again

And how I'd love to go to Paris again

"Oh, stop being an arsehole and counting my eye rolls"

"They're like piss holes in the snow" - uh oh

Keeping a tab on my health

Man you're putting me up on a shelf

"Well I'll believe you're clean

But only by seeing your face for myself"

And then she pointed at the bag of her dreams

In a well posh magazine

I said "I'm done, babe. I'm out of the scene"

But I was picking up on Bethnal Green

She said I've been romanticizing heroin

And oh, how I'd love to go to Paris, to Paris again

And how I'd love to go to Paris again

And how I'd love to go to Paris again

And how I'd love to go to Paris again

## Personnel

* **Backing Vocals:** George Daniel
* **Vocals:** Matthew Healy
* **Bass:** Ross MacDonald
* **Drums:** George Daniel
* **Guitar:** Adam Hann
* **Released by:** Interscope Records, Dirty Hit
* **Composed:** George Daniel, Matthew Healy, Ross MacDonald, and Adam Hann

## References

1. ↑ https://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/track-by-track-the-1975s-i-like-it-when-you-sleep-for-you-are-so-beautiful-yet-so-unaware-of-it-11266