How To Analyze And Interpret Music

The song “Painting” by hip-hop group Atmosphere is not about painting. It is a three-minute narrative about a man trying to numb his feelings with alcohol.

This song speaks to the last three years of my life. It cannot help but hit a personal note with its listeners. The feelings are universal; we all want to run away from something in life. What the musicians do so fluidly is elaborate on the age-old theme of numbing the pain so as to destroy it. We try our best not to confront the skeletons in the closet and consequently the closet fills up faster. Suffer the shame until it stuffs the drain.

One of the more unsettling tracks off Atmosphere’s 2008 album When Life Gives You Lemons, “Painting” serves as a counterpoint to the oftentimes-feigned optimism of mainstream music. The vocalist of the hip-hop group, Sean Daley, wanted to tell a story from the third-person perspective about a person who struggles with repressed feelings.

The song succeeds on many levels. Sonically, it sounds awesome. A wavering organ backs up an electronic drum tap and a strummed ukulele. The raspy vocals seem to wear the harmony like a warm jacket. Everything is in sync and sounds professionally done. Lyrically, the story is clear and the underlying themes took me more than one listen to understand fully. Every salient line tells a story in itself. Take tomorrow but he doesn’t know how though.

Using extended quotes in an essay is risky business –it can be distracting-- but having the visual aid helps.

• ain’t no color paint gonna cover the stains
• the pictures on the wall will all remain
• and even though he’s home now sound and safe
• surrounded by the faces that he places faith
• the images visit from the past he witnessed
• can’t stay away from the memory
• sticks with each detail embedded in stone
• like he chisels those convictions into his bones
• the progress stops and pauses
• spits and sputters like the basement faucet
• and it’s obvious he’s lost in his regrets
• you can smell it on his breath

The man is unhappy but there’s more to the story. Here is a character study of someone who feels lost in society. He cannot be productive in the world with the issues he harbors so he goes home to feel more comfortable. He spends time at home thinking the pain will go away. But it is at home that he is really alone. There’s a thick line between solitude and loneliness. Afraid to talk to anyone about it, the man is tortured by his exile. The regrets come back in waves. Each shameful memory from his past comes to him over and again. Every day should bring a fresh start but the weight of yesterday is heavy. He’s relying on an escape for now and expecting a solution to fall into his hands.

• ain’t no color paint gonna cover the stains
• but now the alcohol is gonna mother the pain
• tuck it away no complaints just layin’
• on his back on his backyard under the rain
• take tomorrow but doesn’t know how though
• for every swallow there’s another to follow
• he weaves his way throughout the story
• lookin’ for a new missin’ piece or a door key
• spirits used to be for celebration
• but now they just take him away
• from the hell that’s waitin’
• re-up until its three sheets up
• and pick a place for the skeletons
• to meet up

Everything he’s tried to paint over isn’t working so alcohol takes over. The escape mechanism becomes yet another setback. Herein lies the real issue: the subject becomes so consumed by the depression that he can no longer see beyond it. The booze kills the problem and the solution. No complaints . If he complained he’d be saying there’s a problem. Isn’t admitting to it the first step in recovery?

The common expression “three sheets to the wind” is used to describe someone who is intoxicated. The protagonist drinks (re-up ) until he is so inebriated (three sheets up ) that he puts the feelings away (a place for the skeletons to meet up ).

• ain’t no color paint gonna cover the stains

• but if the oxygen escapes
• it’ll smother the flames
• no introduction doesn’t speak his own name
• gonna beat them demons at their own game
• the sunset rides to the end slow
• same song echoin’ outside of the window
• you can’t grow if the skin don’t fit you
• sometimes you gotta get low
• just to get through
• no inspiration left to do your best
• when nobody hates you more
• than your reflection
• suffer the shame until it stuffs the drain
• he’s got two hands and a bucket of paint

The man thinks that as long as he is alive he will be suffering, so he’s waiting to die. This is real. I’ve had friends who abused drugs and alcohol for similar reasons. Alcohol, the social lubricant that can amp up good times, can also lead to bad decisions and vapid lifestyles if used to excess.

On one hand music should be entertaining. It should take us away from our problems, not to the center of them. I hear it. But sometimes the escape is not an escape at all. The contrived nature of most mainstream music could be leading us farther away from ourselves, making us less able or willing to deal with our emotions. “Painting” is not entertainment in the typical sense but it gives insight into the lengths we go to forget about things. There is personal meaning tucked into the lyrics. I think the best music is that which sounds great and provides a message. We need art that imitates life, not the other way around. I’m not saying that we should do like the guy in this song, but that we can learn from it. There are universal truths at play in this music and other unsettling media. With the right perspective we can learn a little about ourselves while enjoying it.