Can’t Stand Me Now was written by Doherty and Barat on a songwriting retreat to Paris to try to reclaim their splintered partnership, as Peter explained, “Biggles has asked me to go away to Paris, just the two of us. We’re going tomorrow. Do some writing.” Thornton and Sargent detailed the session when they wrote, “In the Hotel France Albion in Montmartre they completed two new songs: “Can’t Stand Me Now” and “The Saga.” As Alex Hannaford (writes in his book) Peter Doherty: Last of the Rock Romantics, “The band had been playing ‘Can’t Stand Me Now’—the Pete penned paean to his and Carl’s soured relationship. And that night on stage at Brixton, whether it was due to love lost between them, paranoia from drug use or simply tiredness, Pete took offence at how emphatic Carl had been while singing the words to the song. “It had taken six, seven years for him to say it, to say the truth,” Pete afterwards told the Guardian. “He sang it to me and I thought, you’re right. We’ve used each other, got here, but underneath it all, you’re not my mate. So I kicked his amp over, smashed up his guitar and cut myself up.” To counter Carl’s rendition, Peter recorded a brilliant acoustic version with one of the most infamous lines cleverly added…"I’ve read every review/they all prefer you.” When Carl was asked about the meaning behind the song he was famously quoted (as saying), “‘Can’t Stand Me Now’ was the most self-explanatory song in pop.” Libertines’ bassist John Hassall told Q Magazine in 2008, “The song that stands out is Can’t Stand Me Now. Maybe the only thing Pete and Carl could honestly sing about was the situation, what they felt about each other. Almost a sort of therapy in itself.