The themes of "The View from the Afternoon" are based around observations of behaviour on an excursion into local nightlife. The song opens with the lines "Anticipation has a habit to set you up/For disappointment in evening entertainment but". Vocalist Alex Turner comments on the expectation that an evening that will be enjoyable will likely lead to disappointment; the line could also serve a comment on the massive hype surrounding the album in the UK press before release and several critics and fans have suggested this was intentional by Turner. The song describes various scenes; a group of meretricious females who have rented a limousine for a fancy dress party; a gambler who has won and then lost the jackpot on a fruit machine; and "two-for-one" drinks promotions. The chorus describes a drunk club-goer sending romantic text messages ("verse and chapter sat in her inbox") on a Nokia mobile phone which is only interpreted by the receiver as evidence he has drunk a lot; Turner noting "you can pour your heart out but her reasoning will block all what you send her after nine o'clock". The lyrics, along with many on Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, criticise the culture of the nightlife described in the song, in a sarcastic and deriding tone.