Matt Daniels' Lyrical Analysis of Hip Hop

Daniels' Chart

Now this is cool: Matt Daniels, a "a designer, coder, and data scientist living in New York City," has used his crafty data analytics skills to compare the lyric-writing habits of eighty-five hip hop artists. Specifically, he looked at the frequency of unique words among the lyrics. Aesop Rock takes the crown, far exceeding many other lyrical geniuses, like MF DOOM, Mos Def, and members of Wu-Tang Clan and De La Soul.

Paradise De-Fragmented: An Interview with Christina Willatt of Wormwood

by Andrew Doty

Wormwood is a dream-inducing IDM duo from London, Ontario. They released their debut album in 2013 before signing with Austin-based label punctum records in preparation for their upcoming Microdot EP. Vocalist Christina Willatt and I swapped a few emails to talk about her lyric-writing process and Wormwood's compositional approach.

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Andrew Doty: How did Wormwood form? How did you meet Andrew [Wenaus]?

Christina Willatt: Andrew and I met in high school and started experimenting with home recording, electronics, and songwriting. None of these experiments were intended for public release, but over time, as these experiments started to sound good, we decided to release Sunfloating, an album of material we had worked on from 2009–2013 (though "Utopia" was 2007). Originally, we wanted to combine our love of instrumental electronic music and musique concrète textures with poetry/lyrics. We were and are always fascinated with the idea of playing with song form. Typically, we approach each song in its own terms, so some may have a freer or through-composed nature ("Sunfloating"), while others resemble more conventional pop song forms ("Jawbone"). Most of the poems are written before we start working on the music. Then I sculpt them to fit our formal plans and the feel of a song as it begins to take shape. I tend to write a lot of poetry in fragments and short forms, so often one song will be an amalgam of pre-existing texts. "Leaves Like Lemons," for example, was made from two poems. The longer makes up the verses, while the shorter is the chorus. In "Jawbone," the text is comprised of fragments from three poems, combined with a list of words, all of which relate to the word "carry;" this process was inspired by British writer Jeff Noon's Metamorphiction (a writing technique that remixes text). Usually I am trying to create a unified whole out of fragments.

"Know Your Onion!" by The Shins

by Emalie Whan

Americans coined the term “know your onions” in Harper’s Bazaar in 1922. To put it simply, it means you know your shit. The Shins’ 2001 single "Know Your Onion!" is an interesting tale of a person peeling their layers away and coming to a conclusion about theirself.

This song is an ode to everyone who’s not quite sure where they are and where they want to be. I’m not going to sit here and analyze every word in this song, but I want to focus on one part I love:

The trick is just making yourself
But when they’re parking their cars on your chest
You’ve still got a view of the summer sky
To make it hurt twice when your restless body
Caves to its whims
And suddenly struggles to take flight

Even though this is my favorite verse in this song, I get such a feeling of anxiety and sadness whenever I hear it. That feeling where your heart jumps into your throat and you realize that you’re alone in this world and you need to depend on yourself before others.

Mercer’s imagery of the weight we put on ourselves is so subtle yet means everything. Who hasn’t had a moment like this in their life? I know I struggle with it every day. It seems that we get kicked when we’re already down, but that’s when you have to cave in and pick yourself back up.

I can go on forever about the lyrics of this song and on this album, as well as (gulp!) feelings; instead I’ll leave you with the official video for "Know Your Onion!" and this link to SongMeanings for a great explanation of the lyrics.

In the official video, Mercer is playing God (er—a higher being) in these scenarios and helping the humans (dregs) get through the stressful parts of their day. Watching Mercer dispatch a Dog (aka The Voice of God) to help the humans out in their everyday struggles and helping them succeed is pretty hilarious! As we know, God (er—a higher being) would be too great to meet in the flesh, and we would explode, so he hires a cute dog. Amazing!

Open Call for Submissions & Contributors

Lyricism is now looking for submissions and contributors for reviews, reports, interviews, critiques, news, or any other content related to lyrics. For more information on what we will accept, see our About page.

Snake Ranching and Boxing Clever: Interview with Jim Harper

by Andrew Doty

Jim Harper is the father of Boxing Clever Records, a recent addition to the St. Louis ad agency Boxing Clever. We sat down with a bottle of bourbon to talk about his experiences in music and what led him to the crazy idea of starting up a record label.

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Andrew Doty: A couple of weeks ago, we talked about some of the bands you were in. You started playing in stuff in high school?

Jim Harper: Actually, early college.

AD: You didn't start playing until college?

JH: I've played drums since I was five; I started in big band and swing. And then, I don't want to say I got bored with it, but just like anybody else, I started doing other stuff, and going to school, and whatever. And early college, it was kind of one of those things where it's like, "Don't you have drums or something?" "I don't know, I think?" But I didn't, so a friend of mine gave me his, and of course, I never gave them back. I was at that age where when someone lends you something, you never give it back. And so I had a pair of real thin ultra-tiger-stripe drums. The same kit Bobby Brady got in the Brady Bunch from his dad, or whatever. Started playing with that. Yeah. It's terrible.

AD: What kind of music was that first band?

Interview with Jason Holler of Kentucky Knife Fight

by Andrew Doty

St. Louisans have a number of hometown bands to be proud of. Kentucky Knife Fight has been at the forefront of the local scene for a number of years, but that hasn't kept them from several national tours and opening slots for Reverend Horton Heat, Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit, and Pokey LaFarge, among others. The band just finished an intense tour fresh off the heels of losing their beloved van to theft and destruction, but singer Jason Holler says that despite that worrisome start, it "can only be described as our best tour yet. No questions. It was amazing. I'm still slightly in shock. " Lyricism editor Andrew Doty talked with Holler recently about lyrics, music, poetry, and voice.

Kentucky Knife Fight, photo credit Chris Bay

Andrew: I'd like to start discussing your lyrics way back at the beginning of Kentucky Knife Fight, while you were beginning to cull a loyal following in Edwardsville, IL. If I remember correctly, you were a student at SIUE then taking writing classes when you penned "Got My Heaven," one of KKF's first encore-ready crowd-pleasers. Who influenced you lyrically then, and what sorts of writing have you found new admiration for over the years as you've honed your own penmanship?

"Snow Brigade" by Mew

I first poured out my heart in this post about Mew at Star Maker Machine. It is copied verbatim here, but you should head over there anyway to have a look around, because it looks very nice, and they've really done a great job with the place.

Mew singer Jonas Bjerre. Photo Credit Bill Ebbesen 

"Snow Brigade" fan music video.

This song is always the first that comes to mind when I think of snow songs. I have to admit, that's not very often, nor had I ever even considered the existence of a genre such as "winter pop" until I scoured the internet comments and forums for discussion of this song.

The ever-enlightened, scholarly groupmind of SongMeanings repeatedly amuses a connection to cocaine, but I can't find anything in the lyrics that clearly prompts such an interpretation on a basic level. With hints of depression, failed communications, a frustrating relationship, and the importance of the season's change, this song is an unreceived broadcast to a partner with Seasonal Affective Disorder.

Mew's homeland of Denmark has a relatively cool climate with heavy, wet winters, during which the daylight time dwindles to just about seven hours—not nearly long enough to even get to enjoy a single, cold moment of sunshine for those of us running on U.S. cubicle work hours. Seasonal Affective Disorder can carry a person's mood quickly into a new personality, a slow shift that grinds the gears of a relationship's communications.

"In winter you're an affliction," the singer of this song tells their partner. There's an argument brewing. Jealous accusations of new interests and demands for evidence. "Enable [me] to bring out the something you want to know beneath the snow," the singer tells the accuser. "Bring out the someone you want to see for jealousy."

Things end on a sour note. The singer's "arms retreat," as the option of immediate reconciliation fades, and the only option is to try again on another day: "I'll find you somewhere / show you how much I care / know that there is no / escape from my snow brigade."

This was the first Mew song I ever heard, and it turned me instantly into a fan. Although the album I've most fallen in love with (2009's No More Stories Are Told Today I'm Sorry They Washed Away No More Stories The World Is Grey I'm Tired Let's Wash Away) sounds very little like other entries to their catalogue—including this song—both styles fit with their own moods, allowing me to enjoy Mew on even more occasions.

Singer Jonas Bjerre's voice carries the same shrill, tenuous beauty of a tightly-tuned violin string, simultaneously raising the listener's hackles and petting them on the head. This is undoubtedly the first thing that catches the newcomer's ears, but underlying musical experimentations that combine, at times, elements of progressive metal, ambient, noise, and indie pop should not go unappreciated.

Capable of producing albums of catchy singles, like 2003's Frengers, Mew also demonstrates clear understanding of the capability of the album itself as a limit, as No More Stories... and their 2005 album And the Glass Handed Kites both construct single-song façades through the use of song transitions and titular divisions.

Taking theme to the screen as well, Mew enlisted the aid of director Martin de Thurah to deliver a trio of music videos for singles on their release of No More Stories...: "Introducing Palace Players," "Repeaterbeater," and "Beach."

Don't forget to check out more song features at Star Maker Machine.

Big Plans for 2014

Good news, everyone! Lyricism is going to see lots of new content in 2014, including some site redesign (courtesy of the whiz kids at Boxing Clever and Boxing Clever Records), monthly interviews, and more lyrics than you can shake a stick at.

Featuring loads of new contributors, we'll keep things interesting with content from every genre we can fit in and as much media as our technological prowess can muster.

Plenty in progress at this moment, but for now, we hope we can sate you with a few minutes of amusingly misheard lyrics from 2013.

New Post Up on Star Maker Machine

Today's post is essentially just a redirect to a post I just put on on Star Maker Machine about Peter Bjorn & John's "It Beats Me Every Time" from their 2004 album Falling Out. CHECK IT OUT.

"Only Hell Knows" by Vader

From their 2011 album Welcome to the Morbid Reich, Polish death metal bands lends us their sly commentary on religious aptitude for war, killing, and torture:

          Why a need to crush, to grind or disembowel
          Why a need to rape, to crucify
          Why a need to raise, to fly, dictate and rule
          Why a need to fall
          Only hell knows*

Sounds like Vader is calling some Christians hypocrites: "Killing in the name of a god is hellish."Not exactly unique for a death metal outfit, but at least they're backed up by some solid research. But is it more metal than that cheerful old hymn from the Christian canon There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood?

graph from The Religious Dimensions of the Torture Debate, an analysis by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, a project of the Pew Research Center

* (lyrics courtesy of DarkLyrics.com)

Trevor Strnad Synopsizes New Album Lyrics

Give a glance to this Decibel post, in which Trevor Strnad spends a paragraph describing his lyrics behind each track to the new The Black Dahlia Murder abum Everblack. Nothing better than some lyrical analysis straight from the horse's mouth.

Je Ne Sais Quoi

Yesterday, Barrie England shared with us a brief post reciting some lyrics to a French song — the ironically peppy "How do you kill your wife's lover," performed by Jacques Brel — and graced us with some translations. So many thanks, Mr. England! Translations are an important part of sharing ideas; I can never know how much is being said and analyzed around the world if I can't understand it.

Here's a link to England's article, and here's the video of the song:

Head over to England's blog, Caxton, and say thanks for the translation!

props: Kyle Ellison on Aesop Rock

Here is a link to Kyle Ellison's review of Aesop Rock's latest piece of perfection, Skelethon (the full album can be listened to right here on YouTube). Ellison demonstrates a mastery in lyrical dissection and analysis, digesting Bavitz's dense essays of song (the full lyrics, printed in the album insert, occupy pages and pages of tiny font, single space text) and presenting the reader with an easy-to-understand guide of some of the major points made on the album like a Sparknotes entry. For some of Bravitz's explanations of his own songs, check out this playlist of brief interview clips.

As always, check out The Quietus for plenty of other great news and reviews about the music community.

"Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Your Grievience" by Daniel Johnston

Ephesians 4:26-27, "Be angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil."

Focusing on the imperatives delivered by the author of Ephesians (not necessarily Paul), Daniel Johnston explicates a few choice passages to explain his own interpretation of the book’s instructions. “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Your Grievances”, (not to be confused with the more succinctly titled “Grievances”, in which Johnston lists grievances against an ex-romance) focuses on several Biblical lines, notably Ephesians 4:19 (“Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness,” compared to “Respect love of the heart over lust of the flesh”) , 4:24 (“And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness,” compared to “Do yourself a favor: become your own savior”), and 4:26 (cited in the epigraph, compared to a really obvious line).

What drew my attention to this song was the fact that Johnston sings “grievience” instead of “grievances,” as the title would have the listener anticipating (grievience is not yet a word recognized by any dictionary, although an internet search reveals it to be rarely used synonymously with grievance). In fact, the cover version by Clem Snide that appears on The Late Great Daniel Johnston: Discovered Covered represents a reincarnation of this bearing the modified title “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Your Grievience”.

Johnston’s message falls in line with a popular maxim for couples that may have initially developed from the Ephesians passage itself: don’t go to bed angry. (Whether you believe this to be good advice or not, it is a sentiment that has been supported very recently by sleep studies.) His belief in Christianity appears to be unwavering, but these lyrics are much more than a banner wave for dogma; they are simply a plea for people to get along with each other.

The messages presented by these lyrics vary. A rejection of carnal exploration in lieu of emotional love certainly has only tangential relations to the practices of dismissing one’s anger and expressing forgiveness. This loose connection supports the biblical basis for the lyrics: Johnston is much more likely to have written this song strictly out of inspiration from reading the passages in Ephesians than by constructing the theme himself and finding biblical references to incorporate.

It’s when Johnston moves into lines like “And yet if you find yourself in the dark, and you’re left holding the bag” and “Sometimes you might want to give up, but keep that chin up” that the listener encounters Johnston’s unadulterated message of hope. “ ‘Cause you’re gonna find” is the vague, unexplained conclusion that drives his optimism. Find what? He’s not telling, and it may be because he doesn’t know any more than you do, and that is exciting to him.

“Start each day with a clean slate,” he implores. “You’ll feel better if you can shake off all that hate.” Biblical influence aside, Johnston’s train of thought is clear: no one knows what tomorrow may bring. If today was rough, tomorrow could be better, but your attitude can make all the difference. Don’t go into a new day carrying the anger of what affected you yesterday; drop it, “and when you wake up in the morning, you’ll have a brand new feeling and you’ll find yourself healing.”


Don't let the sun go down on your grievances
Respect love of the heart over lust of the flesh
Do yourself a favor: become your own savior

And don't let the sun go down on your grievances

And when you wake up in the morning
You'll have a brand new feeling
And you'll find yourself healing

So don't let the sun go down on your grievances

And yet if you find yourself in the dark
And you're left holding the bag
Then take care of it right away

And don't let the sun go down on your grievances again

Sometimes you might want to give up
But keep that chin up
Cause you're gonna find
You're gonna find

Sometimes you might be alone
But don't feel lonely
'Cause you're gonna find
You're gonna find

So don't let the sun go down on your grievances
Start each day with a clean slate
You'll feel better if you can shake off all that hate
And don't forget to forgive and forget

And don't let the sun go down on your grievances
Don't let the sun go down on your grievances

Everybody!
Respect love of the heart over lust of the flesh
Sing it!
Do yourself a favor: become your own savior

And don't let the sun go down on your grievances

"Up Against the Wall" by Peter Bjorn and John

Original booklet lyrics reprinted below.

The narrative in these lyrics begins very much in the middle of the action (or -- perhaps more fittingly -- inaction). Whatever relationship these two lovers have had, it is ending, and the narrator is only mildly interested. There’s a certain tone of helplessness about the narrator and an air of apathy, while his lover sits on the opposite side of that scale. The relationship has barely been an investment to the narrator, but he didn’t anticipate it ending. When she surprises him at home and brings the breakup confrontation right to him, he is forced into a realization (your slap was like a wake-up call) that a relationship requires dedication that he isn't ready to commit.

One of the more captivating attributes of this song is the way it uses instrumental sounds and space to emphasize the narrative of this song. The sounds begin with a peaceful, droning synthesizer leading into a lackadaisical, plunky harmonization between guitar and bass.

As the narrator begins his address, the sounds drop out to emphasize a minimal drum tap behind a simple bass strum. The lyrics illustrate the narrator's unavoidable tone of apathy as he shrugs "I guess I should have caught your call," matching the musical depression of melody.

When the second verse begins to highlight the confrontational conversation, the guitar provides a supporting flitter of clear, jangling notes.

Third verse: chaos. A distorted minor chord reverberates on the guitar in a sudden, jolting discord as a patter of electronic snares and cymbals emulates the splashes and crash of a glass shattering on an apartment floor, emphasizing the lover's slap. And the wobbly guitar is here to stay, as the voice of the cold hands and trembling bones.

This is where the lyrics end, but we're only three minutes and sixteen seconds into a song that stretches just over seven minutes. In other words, this story isn't over yet.

How do the remaining four minutes inform us of the rest of the narrative? As the third verse fades out, the instruments continue to be as frantic as they were when they accompanied the lyrics, and the layers of riffs build into a vocalist's distant howl of "ooooooo." Could this be the shocked sound of realization? The emotional epiphany during which one surges with regret? A childlike wail of self-discomfort? Or perhaps simply a profound sigh of defeat?

The lyrics appear to be similar in style to a post-breakup letter of apology, wherein the author is unable to focus on his addressee, and instead pleas his own violation: "You don't know how it feels, / you got me up against the wall." This narrator doesn't know how he should feel. Before this confrontation, he had felt a complete absence of emotion about this relationship: it existed, and therefore he was satisfied with it. But this argument shakes him like he's snapping out of tunnel-vision as he's blowing through a stop sign ("bones are trembling, hands are cold"). He's so surprised that he can't process all these new factors to consider, and he retreats ("Maybe we could make this work, / but I just had to leave before it's getting worse.")

The final round of lyrics moves promptly into the aftermath: the relationship has collapsed, and our narrator reflects with an untimely development of emotional attachment (and, now, severance). "The bruises on the face don't bother [him] at all," but the intangible damage is painful. As if in shock, his bones are still trembling, and his hands are still cold. His sorrowful conclusion is this: it would have been better to drag the argument out than to abandon it ("it's almost that I wish you had me up against the wall"). As they say, hindsight is 20/20, and this narrator laments not paying enough attention to the situation he had been in.

But, as it goes with post-relationship depression, the time will drone by and reflection will draw out the saddest thoughts and a typhoon of what-ifs, like the climax of sounds in the second, instrumental half of the song, before the painful memories drop out of frame: first the guitar, then the drum machine, then the synth.

I guess I should have caught your call,

but I just had to waste the phone, forget it all.

Bones are trembling, hands are cold,

you don't know how it feels,

you got me up against the wall.

Maybe we could make this work,

but I just had to leave before it's getting worse.

I don't know what you came here for,

it's almost that I wish we hadn't met at all.

Your slap was like a wake-up call,

the bruises on my face don't bother me at all.

Bones are trembling, hands are cold,

it's almost that I wish you had me

up against the wall.

"I Want to Be Well" by Sufjan Stevens

Since the lyrics to this song are not included in the album liner, I will be relying on transcriptions provided by songmeanings and sing365.com. The lyrics provided on these two webpages differ slightly, but I have adjusted the lyrics provided above to represent what I believe to be the most correct interpretation.

The theme for much of this album is derived from Stevens' perception of Royal Robertson's artwork. Lyrically, it would not be much of a stretch to assume that Stevens' theme extended to include a interpretation of Robertson, as that would strike a vein closer to what has propelled the lyrics of works like Come On! Feel The Illinoise!, his most widely recognized album. The bandcamp description of the album, however, tells us that the album has a "preoccupation with Sufjan himself. The album relinquishes the songwriter’s former story-telling techniques for more primal proclamations..." and that "Sufjan has stripped away the fabric of narrative artifice for a more primitive approach." We should assume, then, from an analytical standpoint, that the lyrics here focus on Stevens, even if they are tinged with influence from the works or life of Royal Robertson.

Before the lyrics begin, the title has already indicated an issue: the narrator is unwell. What, then, is the affliction? As with most Stevens lyrics, religion casts a shadow in the song, and, as indicated by the bandcamp description, the album focuses thematically on conflict. Perhaps, the conflict most accurately in focus here is Stevens' oft-admitted differentiation between spirituality and religion. A motif throughout his music, it comes to a head when Stevens declares, "I'm not fucking around."

Religion is often a topic of address in interviews with Stevens, and these lyrics serve as a rebuttal calling into question the importance of knowing or declaring one's religion in light of spirituality. He takes issue not only with those who would deride him for believing in an ideology so often at odds with science (highlighted with the ultimatum "pill or demon"), but also with fundamental Christians who would condemn him for his liberal interpretation of Christian doctrine.

"I don’t think the principles have changed....but I think the fundamentals, it’s really just about love," Stevens says in a 2010 interview with Jeremy Allen, published on The Quietus. But that doesn't mean that love is always easy ("And I forgive you even / As you choke me that way ", especially when your beliefs are attacked by two contesting parties who both view you as lukewarm ("They surround me, all sides"). Perhaps years of interviewers and fans being focused on Stevens' religious beliefs has worn him down, and he wants everyone to know he's "not fucking around" anymore. In the Quietus interview, after being asked about tolerance of other religions, Stevens asserts, "All I can account for is myself and my own belief and that’s a pretty tall order just to take account of myself. I can’t make any claims about other religions."

So what does all this mean for that crucial, first verse? Why does this song begin in media res, and seemingly so near a conclusion with that ominous opening? The verse is designed to bring to mind the irrelevance of accurate perception in regards to continuing existence. If you are isolated in a room where a bed rises, can you expect someone to believe this thing that you cannot show them? Does it matter if the bed rises if you are sleeping on it? or will you just continue sleeping? Does it matter if the people you are observing are photographs or real? Aren't the people in photographs real? If so, aren't real people photograph-ic? Does it matter if the story someone tells you actually happened or if it's all an exaggeration? If you weren't there, how is it provable? All of this points to a New Historical view of existence, specifically one in which existence should be treasured regardless of what conceptual schemas people place around it, because different perceptions will always form a parallax, regardless of the object's actual position. This is part of Stevens' plea to humanity: we cannot all agree, so let's not stress ourselves out about it. "I'll find sleep, I'll find peace / or in death you'll sleep with me." However existence ends is irrelevant, so let's focus on living happily now. The song is a declaration of resolve: I don't want to be upset, "I want to be well."

To think that I would die this time
Isolated in the room where the bed rises
Photographic ordinary people are everywhere
Extraordinary histories, ordinary histories, ordinary histories

I'll find sleep, I'll find peace
Or in death you'll sleep with me

To figure that it was my fault
Or so I've come to realize life is not about
Love with someone (ordinary people are everywhere)
Extraordinary people are, ordinary people are, ordinary people are

Everywhere you look, everywhere you turn
Illness is watching, waiting its turn

Did I go at it wrong?
Did I go intentionally to destroy me?
I'm suffering in noise I'm suffering in (touching ordinary body)
The burning from within the burning from with (ordinary hysteria)
I could not be at rest, I could not be at peace (extraordinary hysteria)

So do yourself a good, or do yourself a death from ordinary causes
Or do yourself a favor, or do yourself a death from ordinary causes

Illness likes to prey upon the lonely, prey upon the lonely
When it bites, oh, I would rather be dead, I would rather be fine

I want to be well, I want to be well
I want to be well, I want to be well

And I forgive you even
As you choke me that way
With the pill or demon
And the shrouded shalom
Under conversation
In tremendous weight of
A crowd of ages outside
Dressed for murder

I'm not fucking around
I'm not, I'm not, I'm not fucking around

And shall I kiss you even as you take me that way?
With the pill or demon as my body changes
Apparitions gone awry
They surround me, all sides
But from within I see it, unholy changes

I'm not fucking around
I'm not, I'm not, I'm not fucking around

Microsoft Songsmith

I refuse to allow this, my first post, to be saturated with seriousocity. I dislike stuffy addresses of introduction, and will allow this blog to unfold itself naturally without being forced too much as it develops. Therefore, let us please tune in our first analysis of lyrical content to the matter an aging Microsoft commercial uberjingle.

This video advertises a magnificently exaggerated piece of music production software titled Microsoft Songsmith, and it contains some real lyrical gems. Please consider the following exemplary:

Well I used to struggle in the dark

but now no more

with glow in the dark towels

the towels light the way

If lyrical analysis is a hunger, and lyrics are food, then this song is completely Bertie Botts.