As daylight savings time ends and our clocks fall back, there is a shift in not only time, but also in the emotion of this month’s playlist.
12 Feet Deep – The Front Bottoms
“As long as you’re here, I will live like this”: a lyric that shows the pure desperation of doing anything to just be in someone’s life. “12 Feet Deep” is about the difficulties of navigating a relationship as singer Brian Sella makes the transition from high school to college. The lyric “I get left out of every plan they make, that is what I have to do to be the only kid from high school who is still in love with you,” further displays the act of putting up with anything just to be with someone.
Lover, You Should’ve Come Over – Jeff Buckley
“Lover, You Should’ve Come Over” is the yearning song this season. Lyrics like “broken down and hungry for your love, with no way to feed it,” and “so, I’ll wait for you, and I’ll burn,” show Buckley’s despair as he longs for his lover. As the song continues, the lyrics transition from craving someone to regretting what he did or didn’t do: “She’s a tear that hangs inside my soul forever, but maybe I’m too young to keep good love from going wrong.” The lyrics “my kingdom for a kiss upon her shoulder,” “all my riches for her smiles,” and “all my blood for the sweetness of her laughter,” show a theme of bargaining anything and everything for one person, similar to “12 Feet Deep.”
Originally written when Bridgers was only sixteen, “Waiting Room” utilizes descriptive metaphors to represent her aching need to be with this person: “if you were a waiting room, I would never see a doctor, I would sit there with my first aid kit and bleed.” Lyrics like “I wanna be the power ballad that lifts you up and holds you down, I wanna be the broken love song that feeds your misery,” show that feeling of wanting to be with someone, but knowing it’s not the best thing for either person. This theme is further shown in the ending of the song where she repeats “know it’s for the better” nearly 40 times as the backing instrumental builds up to represent the overwhelming feeling of sadness that comes with this situation. While this song is devastating, it’s a good reminder that many things that happen in life end up being “for the better.”
Working for the Knife – Mitski
There are many interpretations of what the knife in “Working for the Knife” could symbolize; the most common idea is that the knife represents the externally oppressive capitalist industry that is the music scene, but some also see it as the internally oppressive force of mental illness. The main lyric “working for the knife” transitions to “living for the knife” and eventually “dying for the knife” to show the inevitable end that comes with any oppressive force, especially within creative careers. She starts off just living her day to day life, doing what she loves, until it becomes something necessary to make a living. Mitski’s portrayal of burnout as an artist is paired with a synth background, something that is different from her typical music. This adds an additional layer to the meaning of the song as she is straying away from what people expect from her; “Laurel Hell,” the album “Working for the Knife” is featured on, was overall unliked by many long term fans because of this, even furthering the message of the song.
“Footnote” is yet another song that describes the feeling of giving your all to someone just to be with them. The main lyric “every line I would write for you, but a footnote will do,” shows the bargaining that comes along with wanting someone or something that isn’t working out. Gray would continue to put his all into the person, metaphorically and literally; metaphorically, he would write everything for this person, showing that he would give his everything to them, but literally, he wrote an entire album about them. He describes the feeling of prioritizing someone over all others while not receiving the same effort in the lyric “we’re perfect together, but I’ll never be the one.” He also discusses the heartbreak of unrequited love, an overarching theme on his aforementioned album “Superache”: “I say ‘if I waited, would that maybe help?’ You told me that patience won’t change how you felt for me.” All of these despairing lyrics are paired with acoustic guitar, perfectly linking together the music itself with the lyrics.
For the full November playlist, click here.
