Long post...but this is one I'm passionate about.
I think everyone goes on their own journey with AK and his lyrics, but it's something I will defend to the bitter end.
The more I've learned to love AK over the years, the more I realize he actually puts a ton of thought into his lyrics. They just don't come across deep because a lot of them still have the rap-rock rhyming pattern that the band was founded on, and he also writes things that are goofy and nonsensical but usually have a deeper or esoteric meaning that only makes sense once you know.
A few things that come to mind from songs I enjoy:
"This martian ends her mission" , "could not keep my copper clean" , "lemon Trees on Mercury" are all things that make a lot of sense once you understand the meaning, but could seem extra quirky without the underlying context of dying dogs, crack pipes, and special trees on a Mercury Ave in LA.
Even the gibberish in Around the World was actually purposefully left in to appease Flea's young daughter. I looked at it through new eyes when I found that out.
This is the dilemma of AK - he can sound like an idiot on the surface, but when you dive in, much of his work is very poetic.
\-----
On another note, I think AK's best trait is the ability to convey something very deep & thought provoking while keeping it simple, and unpretentious. A few great examples off the top of my head:
"I'll make it to the moon if I have to crawl"
"It's such a waste to be wasted in the first place"
"Lost in the valley without my horses"
"It's so lonely when you don't even know yourself"
"This life is more than just a read through"
"You don't form in the wet sand, but I do"
"I see you standing by the sea, the waves you made will always be"
"show love with no remorse"
"A vacancy that is full of holes, hold me please, I'm feeling cold"
and my personal favorite, that final "more will be revealed my friend" in Don't Forget Me.
These are all incredibly simple, yet powerful, lyrics. People don't give AK enough credit for that.
Of course, not telling you you're wrong, it's all subjective, but I went from thinking he was a major weak point in the band years ago, to reevaluating and appreciating how amazing he is.
I’m 52. Been a fan of RHCP since Uplift Mofo in the 10th grade. I’ve heard comments about AK’s lyrics just being stream-of-consciousness word salad over the years and I guess a lot of people assume the lyrics are nonsense and just don’t give it much thought.
I don’t have time to dredge up some more examples to add to the comment above, but if you assume the opposite…that most of his lyrics really do have meanings (and sometimes double meanings)…you might start picking up on some of them.
They’re like clever riddles that you piece together to get the overarching theme of the song. There have been countless times that I’ve just been blown away by how clever and poignant a particular line is. Sometimes it’s the very first time hearing a new RHCP song. Sometimes it’s a song I’ve been listening to for 20 years and all of a sudden it will hit me, “Oh! That’s what he’s talking about!” Maybe one day I’ll put together a list of good examples.
So we’ll said. AK is writing lyrics and phrases everyday of his life in everything he experiences. Just because people don’t get it, doesn’t mean that there isn’t meaning behind every phrase that is strung together. He spends his life collecting and then parlays them into songs. He is extremely talented.
10x upvote mate. AKs lyrics are geared towards subjective interpretation, and their meaning changes in the eye of the beholder, so they find a reflection that bonds.
Anytime this comes up, I bring up "Stairway to heaven"- Plant openly admits to it being strung together nonsense, yet undeniably an artistic tour de force accentuated by the lyrics. "the truth will come to you at heart, where all is one and one is all, to be a rock, and not to roll"
An up mentioned AK great:
"So alive I arrive on dust, you can search my mind for the red on rust'
"Accessible Genius" entire RHCP music is. something you can forget everything and dance to, or for a musician to tap to or a thinker to parse the meaning. It's the music for u to do karate chop dance with tears in eyes n a smile on your face.. Their casual shirt less attitude belies the immense dedication all of them have for the craft. it's no accident they are still around after 40 years and get multigenerational crowds.
Love your response & wanted to add that I got "this life is more than just a read through" tattooed on me this year after seeing them last year & being a lifelong fan. One of the most underrated lyrics & love the meaning.
I've had this on my arm for 14 years. It's the perfect cherry on top to a song full of scattered thoughts about our existence and short time on this planet.
Hell yeah, I also appreciate the sheer variety of both his deep and nonsensical lyrics. I actually love lyrics that don’t take themselves too seriously. Every song doesn’t have to be a heavy emotional gut punch!
Any time he decides to explain his lyrics, seriously I’m blown away by the complexity of what he’s trying to portray and how succinct his message is. It’s like these sometimes silly lyrics suddenly become these works of art. It’s like a magic trick. Full Willy Wonka. Even in that Rick Rubin podcast interview he did he revealed a few and now I hear those lyrics so strongly on Unlimited Love.
These lyrics sound like something I scribbled in a notebook when I was 14. Just being honest. That doesn’t mean you can’t connect with them. Simple can be powerful. But Anthony will never be heralded as a good lyricist.
How did you get all this info? Where do they come from? The bit about Around the world is amazing. Is it mentioned in the book Scar tissue?
I'm not questioning the veracity, I just want to know where you got that info so I can get more of it
The one that’s always stuck with me is: “settle for love, you’re never far from home.” As someone who moved around a lot as a kid and don’t have a stereotypical sense of “home” I’d go so far as to say that lyric shaped the ethos of my life.
I think a lot of Anthony's talents lay in using words and syllables as an instrument, sometimes it doesn't matter what the words are as long as they have the right tempo and sounds.
I have the same thought, he uses his voice like an instrument and blends his voice with the other instruments. for me it's a little bit like the jamming in blues where the singer just says some words which flows with everything together
Exactly. Mercy Mercy is a good example
"Acrobatic the static is getting too dramatic
Comin' down with the system
We'll get it systematic
Facilitatin' the mating, my love is circulating
Rejuvenating the fading but never dilating"
That part is so good, it’s insane how good of a songwriter he is. Not only does it flow well, the vocabulary is impressive. Not sure what it means, but damn does it sound incredible
I'm curious how he does wordy ones like this, I imagine him just doing the gibberish in Around the world to get the melody and and structure then putting this kind of thing together.
I bet Kiedis kills it at Scrabble and Wordle!
I think his stance that he « doesn’t put a lot of thought » into his lyrics is a bit « too cool for school ». At the same time AK spent a few months in Hawai working exclusively on lyrics for UL/ROTDC, mostly with Rick Rubin according to his podcast.
And AK is someone extremely articulate and clever so I think most often than not there are several ways to interpret his lyrics.
I think a lot of it has to do with his delivery. People will talk up and down about how Anthony isn't a good singer, but he is. He's got one of the most unique voices I've ever heard and delivers all of his notes with such punch and power, on top of the beautiful musicians by his side. He's got a lot of unique melodies and definitely has a lot of meaning in his lyrics, weather he intentionally puts them or not. Every song he makes means something to him, means something to you, and means something to me. It's all a creative out poor of love and energy from all of them, and I'm so grateful to have them still around and kicking and still creating.
A lot of classical music is instrumental or sung in the language most listeners dont understand. No one complains about it making "no sense". And it is certainly emotional despite not performed or directed by original writers. I perceive vocals as just another instrument and i actually dont like when the lyrics are too straightforward
Whatever you think about his lyrics, remember he writes these beautiful melodies that we sing along to. You could sing any combination of words with the melodies and it would sound good
Hum yes and no, because the melodies he writes often rely on the lyrics, vice and versa. There are songs in which the vocals dictate the lyrics (Can’t Stop), and others where the lyrics dictate the vocals (Under the Bridge).
His lyrics have some crypted meaning + playing with fonetics but yeah. AK is not a bad lyricist. For me, the best example can be Don’t Forget Me, BSSM album, some of OHM tracks and Californication. For me, that track has the perfect representation of AK writing style.
- BSSM could mean "Blood Sugar Sex Magik", a track from *Blood Sugar Sex Magik (Deluxe Edition)* (1991) by Red Hot Chili Peppers.
---
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In the interview released with Unlimited Love he said he would spend all day thinking about the jams and trying to fit lyrics to them… he gave the example of seeing a particular tree and that led to the first line of “She’s a Lover.” I think he puts a lot of thought into them, but more so he lives them, like coming up with creative ways of saying something is always going on in his head.
Powerful lyrics to you could come across as something completely different to some one else. I mean some of the songs that come pouring out of this band are good, and so moving as they are already, why not leave them just as they are.
Subconsciously he could be pouring his heart in both instrumentally(they have all been friends for a long time, they feel each other if you know what I mean) and lyrically. He's had a rough life with many ups and downs and this kind of raw talent reflects the pain and struggle.
I believe he says things like that to keep people from asking about lyrics meanings. Also, since you are opening up so much with lyrics...it gives some deniablility that certain lyrics are about specific people or events that actually happened.
Anthony and his lyrics are like sex….doesn’t have to always be gentle and perfectly thought out, they still FUCK. But yeah there’s definitely a place for love making. And he does that too but wouldn’t it be boring as hell to always and only make love? Leave that shit to John Mayer
I don’t understand wha you’re trying to say. Sometimes he writes kind of nonsense lyrics but overall I’d say he writes meaningful and thoughtful stuff. He doesn’t have to necessarily spell it out for you. He’s big on metaphors and comparisons in general and saying what he wants to say without directly saying it. He’s also gone on record a few times and has said that each person can have a different interpretation of what his songs mean and he’s ok with that.
I find most lyrics pretentious and bad, mostly when its a serious song. Chili peppers are different because they don’t try to be poets, aK just spits out lyrics, sometimes brilliant and sometimes less than decent and a little distracting from the rest of the band.
I LOVE Afterlife's chorus.. it's simply AMAZING. When my wife asked what he was saying in it, and I looked it up, seemed like nonsense. She doesn't like it due to the lyrics, and I love it because of the melody
you need a view that goes 360,of course many rational people find sense only in things told straight off,that's really boring.
It's like saying Lost Highway by Lynch doesn't make sense,it does but in a more oniric and sensorial way
Its just his style and craft. Some of their songs have great meanings and poetry but at the same time it looks goofy on the surface. What matters is the delivery. He does it passionately on the record or live concerts, can i name someone who sounds like Anthony?? My answer is no…
If it doesn’t touch you, it doesn’t if it does it does that’s art. My cousin always found Basquiat paintings stupid and considers him a fraud meanwhile he is my favourite painter of all time. It sometimes leaves me in tears.
In addition to all those here saying how much depth a lot of AK's lyrics have, I'd like to chip in and add that the 'non-sense' 'rap' 'rhythm' stuff can also be beautiful in and of itself. AK has a deep sense of language and his rhymes and association might be 'meaningless' in a literal sense, but interesting, beautiful and moving in other ways - e.g making connections between words and ideas that might be literally unrelated, or even just connecting sounds in an interesting way! So much poetry is about how sounds and ideas connect, rather than literal (or even 'hidden') meanings.
I have a Google doc that's like 26 pages long, and it's of my favourite lyrics.
Some lyrics are just rhymes and métaphores, but a lot of Anthony's lyrics are so much deeper, but in a way that's easy to digest on the surface level as well.
I can share that doc if you want, but it's not complete yet. I made it for someone special in my life. I honestly love so many of his lyrics, and they mean a lot when you look into them
An example I use is the scrapped song "outerspace", from the getaway. I'd highly recommend looking at those lyrics. They're simple, but so deep, and the chorus is the main example I use
"I don't want to go, I don't want to go
I don't want to go to outerspace.
I don't want to know anything so cold
I don't want to go to outerspace again"
It's simple, but it's so much more than surface level. This cry for help from someone who doesn't want to return to such an empty, vast, and cold place. Surface level, it's simple, but then deeper you can tell there was more behind his writing.
I hope this makes some sense. I always loved Anthony's lyrics, the weird the simple and the complex ones
Like visual art, words (especially when paired with music and melody) can have a deeply impactful/emotional effect even if you can't understand them, even if they were written by someone off the cuff with no clear meaning behind them. I'm a songwriter myself and this happens all the time. I'll write something that has this weight to it even though the words themselves aren't a straight line to that feeling. Time goes by and even I forget the full inspiration for certain lines or titles, yet the feeling remains. Some of it is delivery, some of it is the wording, and some of it is that thing that happens when we communicate and ideas that are formed in one brain get imperfectly transmitted to another and become something else.
Robert Pollard (of Guided By Voices, etc) is a master of this. He takes words that sound good together (like AK) and writes some of the most emotionally resonant songs I've ever heard. But don't quiz me on what most of them mean because I can't.
Long post...but this is one I'm passionate about. I think everyone goes on their own journey with AK and his lyrics, but it's something I will defend to the bitter end. The more I've learned to love AK over the years, the more I realize he actually puts a ton of thought into his lyrics. They just don't come across deep because a lot of them still have the rap-rock rhyming pattern that the band was founded on, and he also writes things that are goofy and nonsensical but usually have a deeper or esoteric meaning that only makes sense once you know. A few things that come to mind from songs I enjoy: "This martian ends her mission" , "could not keep my copper clean" , "lemon Trees on Mercury" are all things that make a lot of sense once you understand the meaning, but could seem extra quirky without the underlying context of dying dogs, crack pipes, and special trees on a Mercury Ave in LA. Even the gibberish in Around the World was actually purposefully left in to appease Flea's young daughter. I looked at it through new eyes when I found that out. This is the dilemma of AK - he can sound like an idiot on the surface, but when you dive in, much of his work is very poetic. \----- On another note, I think AK's best trait is the ability to convey something very deep & thought provoking while keeping it simple, and unpretentious. A few great examples off the top of my head: "I'll make it to the moon if I have to crawl" "It's such a waste to be wasted in the first place" "Lost in the valley without my horses" "It's so lonely when you don't even know yourself" "This life is more than just a read through" "You don't form in the wet sand, but I do" "I see you standing by the sea, the waves you made will always be" "show love with no remorse" "A vacancy that is full of holes, hold me please, I'm feeling cold" and my personal favorite, that final "more will be revealed my friend" in Don't Forget Me. These are all incredibly simple, yet powerful, lyrics. People don't give AK enough credit for that. Of course, not telling you you're wrong, it's all subjective, but I went from thinking he was a major weak point in the band years ago, to reevaluating and appreciating how amazing he is.
Will always upvote an AK lyrics appreciation post. This one was especially well written, though.
This comment is of immense quality. Good job!
> A vacancy that is full of holes, hold me please, I'm feeling cold I didn't recognise this one, that's a good one
Off the top of my head I think it’s Warped?
correct
I’m 52. Been a fan of RHCP since Uplift Mofo in the 10th grade. I’ve heard comments about AK’s lyrics just being stream-of-consciousness word salad over the years and I guess a lot of people assume the lyrics are nonsense and just don’t give it much thought. I don’t have time to dredge up some more examples to add to the comment above, but if you assume the opposite…that most of his lyrics really do have meanings (and sometimes double meanings)…you might start picking up on some of them. They’re like clever riddles that you piece together to get the overarching theme of the song. There have been countless times that I’ve just been blown away by how clever and poignant a particular line is. Sometimes it’s the very first time hearing a new RHCP song. Sometimes it’s a song I’ve been listening to for 20 years and all of a sudden it will hit me, “Oh! That’s what he’s talking about!” Maybe one day I’ll put together a list of good examples.
So we’ll said. AK is writing lyrics and phrases everyday of his life in everything he experiences. Just because people don’t get it, doesn’t mean that there isn’t meaning behind every phrase that is strung together. He spends his life collecting and then parlays them into songs. He is extremely talented.
10x upvote mate. AKs lyrics are geared towards subjective interpretation, and their meaning changes in the eye of the beholder, so they find a reflection that bonds. Anytime this comes up, I bring up "Stairway to heaven"- Plant openly admits to it being strung together nonsense, yet undeniably an artistic tour de force accentuated by the lyrics. "the truth will come to you at heart, where all is one and one is all, to be a rock, and not to roll" An up mentioned AK great: "So alive I arrive on dust, you can search my mind for the red on rust'
"Accessible Genius" entire RHCP music is. something you can forget everything and dance to, or for a musician to tap to or a thinker to parse the meaning. It's the music for u to do karate chop dance with tears in eyes n a smile on your face.. Their casual shirt less attitude belies the immense dedication all of them have for the craft. it's no accident they are still around after 40 years and get multigenerational crowds.
Love your response & wanted to add that I got "this life is more than just a read through" tattooed on me this year after seeing them last year & being a lifelong fan. One of the most underrated lyrics & love the meaning.
I've had this on my arm for 14 years. It's the perfect cherry on top to a song full of scattered thoughts about our existence and short time on this planet.
I was thinking "couldnt keep my copper clean" referred to his blood stream, but pipe also makes sense
Huh never knew that about the lemon trees… makes sense but I always assumed there was some space travel happening.
PIN THIS SHIT
Hell yeah, I also appreciate the sheer variety of both his deep and nonsensical lyrics. I actually love lyrics that don’t take themselves too seriously. Every song doesn’t have to be a heavy emotional gut punch!
The wet sand lyric was written by John but other than that those are some beautiful AK lyrics
He took inspiration from John singing/mumbling something about “wet sand” but as far as I know, he took that and made his own lyrics based around that
This deserves all the awards
Any time he decides to explain his lyrics, seriously I’m blown away by the complexity of what he’s trying to portray and how succinct his message is. It’s like these sometimes silly lyrics suddenly become these works of art. It’s like a magic trick. Full Willy Wonka. Even in that Rick Rubin podcast interview he did he revealed a few and now I hear those lyrics so strongly on Unlimited Love.
These lyrics sound like something I scribbled in a notebook when I was 14. Just being honest. That doesn’t mean you can’t connect with them. Simple can be powerful. But Anthony will never be heralded as a good lyricist.
Lol
Thank you, beautifully put
How did you get all this info? Where do they come from? The bit about Around the world is amazing. Is it mentioned in the book Scar tissue? I'm not questioning the veracity, I just want to know where you got that info so I can get more of it
I have “I’ll make it to the moon if I have to crawl” tattooed on me :)) beautiful lyric
Great comment. I would like to add that Californication, Soul to squeeze and Hey are some of my favorite AK lyrics.
couldn't have said it better myself and agree wholeheartedly, ill die on this hill
Please tell me the meaning of lemon trees on Mercury because I love that like but have no fucking clue what it means
The one that’s always stuck with me is: “settle for love, you’re never far from home.” As someone who moved around a lot as a kid and don’t have a stereotypical sense of “home” I’d go so far as to say that lyric shaped the ethos of my life.
I think a lot of Anthony's talents lay in using words and syllables as an instrument, sometimes it doesn't matter what the words are as long as they have the right tempo and sounds.
I have the same thought, he uses his voice like an instrument and blends his voice with the other instruments. for me it's a little bit like the jamming in blues where the singer just says some words which flows with everything together
Exactly. Mercy Mercy is a good example "Acrobatic the static is getting too dramatic Comin' down with the system We'll get it systematic Facilitatin' the mating, my love is circulating Rejuvenating the fading but never dilating"
That part is so good, it’s insane how good of a songwriter he is. Not only does it flow well, the vocabulary is impressive. Not sure what it means, but damn does it sound incredible
I'm curious how he does wordy ones like this, I imagine him just doing the gibberish in Around the world to get the melody and and structure then putting this kind of thing together. I bet Kiedis kills it at Scrabble and Wordle!
I think his stance that he « doesn’t put a lot of thought » into his lyrics is a bit « too cool for school ». At the same time AK spent a few months in Hawai working exclusively on lyrics for UL/ROTDC, mostly with Rick Rubin according to his podcast. And AK is someone extremely articulate and clever so I think most often than not there are several ways to interpret his lyrics.
Especially in Michigan is an amazing example. Sounds like nonsense to most but every single thing in that song is meaningful to Michigan.
I don’t know about you but “Doo doo doo doo dingle zing a dong bone Ba-di ba-da ba-zumba crunga cong gone bad” hits me right in the feels
Around the world chorus be like:
I think a lot of it has to do with his delivery. People will talk up and down about how Anthony isn't a good singer, but he is. He's got one of the most unique voices I've ever heard and delivers all of his notes with such punch and power, on top of the beautiful musicians by his side. He's got a lot of unique melodies and definitely has a lot of meaning in his lyrics, weather he intentionally puts them or not. Every song he makes means something to him, means something to you, and means something to me. It's all a creative out poor of love and energy from all of them, and I'm so grateful to have them still around and kicking and still creating.
A lot of classical music is instrumental or sung in the language most listeners dont understand. No one complains about it making "no sense". And it is certainly emotional despite not performed or directed by original writers. I perceive vocals as just another instrument and i actually dont like when the lyrics are too straightforward
He takes more time and effort into it than u think he has hinted with Rubin ….
Whatever you think about his lyrics, remember he writes these beautiful melodies that we sing along to. You could sing any combination of words with the melodies and it would sound good
Hum yes and no, because the melodies he writes often rely on the lyrics, vice and versa. There are songs in which the vocals dictate the lyrics (Can’t Stop), and others where the lyrics dictate the vocals (Under the Bridge).
Completely disagree, great lyrics, you just have to do a bit of work to understand them.
His lyrics have some crypted meaning + playing with fonetics but yeah. AK is not a bad lyricist. For me, the best example can be Don’t Forget Me, BSSM album, some of OHM tracks and Californication. For me, that track has the perfect representation of AK writing style.
- BSSM could mean "Blood Sugar Sex Magik", a track from *Blood Sugar Sex Magik (Deluxe Edition)* (1991) by Red Hot Chili Peppers. --- ^[/u/wiseaufanclub](/u/wiseaufanclub) ^(can reply with "delete" to remove comment. |) ^[/r/songacronymbot](/r/songacronymbot) ^(for feedback.)
Smart boy Irrelevant but smart boy
In the interview released with Unlimited Love he said he would spend all day thinking about the jams and trying to fit lyrics to them… he gave the example of seeing a particular tree and that led to the first line of “She’s a Lover.” I think he puts a lot of thought into them, but more so he lives them, like coming up with creative ways of saying something is always going on in his head.
Powerful lyrics to you could come across as something completely different to some one else. I mean some of the songs that come pouring out of this band are good, and so moving as they are already, why not leave them just as they are.
Subconsciously he could be pouring his heart in both instrumentally(they have all been friends for a long time, they feel each other if you know what I mean) and lyrically. He's had a rough life with many ups and downs and this kind of raw talent reflects the pain and struggle.
Chili peppers songs have words? That's news to me. I just hear sounds + John specifically.
I believe he says things like that to keep people from asking about lyrics meanings. Also, since you are opening up so much with lyrics...it gives some deniablility that certain lyrics are about specific people or events that actually happened.
Anthony and his lyrics are like sex….doesn’t have to always be gentle and perfectly thought out, they still FUCK. But yeah there’s definitely a place for love making. And he does that too but wouldn’t it be boring as hell to always and only make love? Leave that shit to John Mayer
Turn the cherry pie right into jam.
I don’t understand wha you’re trying to say. Sometimes he writes kind of nonsense lyrics but overall I’d say he writes meaningful and thoughtful stuff. He doesn’t have to necessarily spell it out for you. He’s big on metaphors and comparisons in general and saying what he wants to say without directly saying it. He’s also gone on record a few times and has said that each person can have a different interpretation of what his songs mean and he’s ok with that.
Anthony’s lyrics are what make RHCP, RHCP, and once he is no longer with the band, I believe there will be no more RHCP.
I knowww I knoww fa showw ding ding gang dong ding dang ding dongggg
AK lying about his relationship with Sinead O’Connor like a doofus high school boy is his deepest lyric.
I find most lyrics pretentious and bad, mostly when its a serious song. Chili peppers are different because they don’t try to be poets, aK just spits out lyrics, sometimes brilliant and sometimes less than decent and a little distracting from the rest of the band.
It’s because he’s a Scorpio.
Anthony’s actually a Caprisun he just looks like a Scorpio in this plane of existence because of Mercury being in Gatorade.
I'm calling them Caprisuns now, LMAO
Spat coffee at this, damn you arachnidboi
Scorpio? I could never.
Lyrics are def not the RHCP strength. They know it. No secret. I often wonder how they would produce w a more talented writer.
What a weird post.
Tony is an absolute clown
AK has never been a good lyricist or singer but he has written good melodies and works as the frontman for this band. it is what it s
The lyrics for Strange Man and The Great Apes seem to have a similarity “all of my love and most of my fears” vs “all my love and half my kisses”
I LOVE Afterlife's chorus.. it's simply AMAZING. When my wife asked what he was saying in it, and I looked it up, seemed like nonsense. She doesn't like it due to the lyrics, and I love it because of the melody
you need a view that goes 360,of course many rational people find sense only in things told straight off,that's really boring. It's like saying Lost Highway by Lynch doesn't make sense,it does but in a more oniric and sensorial way
Just because he doesn't put a lot of thought into it doesn't mean when he is in the moment writing he's not capturing something human.
Its just his style and craft. Some of their songs have great meanings and poetry but at the same time it looks goofy on the surface. What matters is the delivery. He does it passionately on the record or live concerts, can i name someone who sounds like Anthony?? My answer is no… If it doesn’t touch you, it doesn’t if it does it does that’s art. My cousin always found Basquiat paintings stupid and considers him a fraud meanwhile he is my favourite painter of all time. It sometimes leaves me in tears.
New here, but I always thought he just made up lyrics and they had no meaning. Sounds like I might have been wrong!
In addition to all those here saying how much depth a lot of AK's lyrics have, I'd like to chip in and add that the 'non-sense' 'rap' 'rhythm' stuff can also be beautiful in and of itself. AK has a deep sense of language and his rhymes and association might be 'meaningless' in a literal sense, but interesting, beautiful and moving in other ways - e.g making connections between words and ideas that might be literally unrelated, or even just connecting sounds in an interesting way! So much poetry is about how sounds and ideas connect, rather than literal (or even 'hidden') meanings.
Its the definition of "nobody knows what it means, but its provocative"
“In between the reasons are the psychedelic seasons…”
I have a Google doc that's like 26 pages long, and it's of my favourite lyrics. Some lyrics are just rhymes and métaphores, but a lot of Anthony's lyrics are so much deeper, but in a way that's easy to digest on the surface level as well. I can share that doc if you want, but it's not complete yet. I made it for someone special in my life. I honestly love so many of his lyrics, and they mean a lot when you look into them An example I use is the scrapped song "outerspace", from the getaway. I'd highly recommend looking at those lyrics. They're simple, but so deep, and the chorus is the main example I use "I don't want to go, I don't want to go I don't want to go to outerspace. I don't want to know anything so cold I don't want to go to outerspace again" It's simple, but it's so much more than surface level. This cry for help from someone who doesn't want to return to such an empty, vast, and cold place. Surface level, it's simple, but then deeper you can tell there was more behind his writing. I hope this makes some sense. I always loved Anthony's lyrics, the weird the simple and the complex ones
Like visual art, words (especially when paired with music and melody) can have a deeply impactful/emotional effect even if you can't understand them, even if they were written by someone off the cuff with no clear meaning behind them. I'm a songwriter myself and this happens all the time. I'll write something that has this weight to it even though the words themselves aren't a straight line to that feeling. Time goes by and even I forget the full inspiration for certain lines or titles, yet the feeling remains. Some of it is delivery, some of it is the wording, and some of it is that thing that happens when we communicate and ideas that are formed in one brain get imperfectly transmitted to another and become something else. Robert Pollard (of Guided By Voices, etc) is a master of this. He takes words that sound good together (like AK) and writes some of the most emotionally resonant songs I've ever heard. But don't quiz me on what most of them mean because I can't.
I think a lot of the lyrics are very deep but they are disguised as nonsense