So What Lyric Breakdown

I’ve been told there is a bit of a gap between what I was thinking about when writing ‘So What’ and how it comes across. The first time my parents listened to it they thought it was about a bad relationship and breakup. My dad had a look of concern and confusion on his face because as far as he knew I hadn’t been dating anyone for a long time – which was very much the case. That is a fair assessment when I read the lyrics as a bystander.

I was a bit poetic with some of the verses, which hid the true origins. Take into account the fact that this was written in early spring/late winter of 2020. Then think about how confusing and contradictory the media and governing bodies were being. At the time of writing I was beyond fed up with trying to suss out what was truth and fiction between the different sources of information. I wonder if this thought process paints a slightly different picture of the lyrics?

LYRICAL BREAKDOWN

Your diction is nothing but contradiction

Your words are sand slipping through my hands

The first line of this song is where it all started. I was thinking about the contradicting claims of news sources and voila! A play on words – diction being how one speaks and contradiction being opposition to a statement previously stated. Your diction is nothing but contradiction. The imagery of sand through hands was made as a means of showing how I wasn’t comprehending what was what. The sand is meant to represent words and sentences where as the hands are my own. I lacked the ability to hold onto the meaning.

the world is thinking that you’re oh so smooth

but you’re hiding the truth behind a glassy stare

This line shows my thoughts related to blind trust to a single source of information. It frustrates me to no end how someone can push a narrative that may not be entirely factual while knowing exactly what they are doing.

Who do you think you’re fooling

eyes on the prize but your periphery’s blind

who is believing your story

your twisted perspective is so unrefined

Continuing from the previous verse, this one notes how not everyone is falling for a pushed narrative. The line ‘eyes on the prize but your periphery’s blind’ notes how those spreading and coming up with a single narrative are laser focused on their goal, promoting listeners to be solely focused on that goal, but not looking at the whole picture.

that’s the way of our world each move is calculated

if you want to rule you’ll go along with it

that’s what they said

‘That’s the way of our world’ is a line of acceptance. It is noting that this is just how life is and there is nothing that can be done about it. It is a pessimistic world view; one I’ve found myself falling into time and time again. It shows how those who are in power, or want to be in power, follow that thought process – they just go along with it – in order to achieve their goals.

so what

we’re not your puppets

we’re not marionettes on a string

so what

you’re not the pied piper

you can’t make the children sing

The chorus is a break away from this concerning viewpoint. It is a cry for rebellion against mass manipulation of the population. So what. Who cares. You may be ruling the crowd mindset now, but there is always an end. Someone always appears that can’t be manipulated from the future generations.

when the blocks tumble down you’ll wonder what you did

play jenga with life and you will regret it

but that’s not what they said

The verse following the first chorus is the destruction of the current status quo. It is a note that careful planning and manipulation can crash and burn with that one rebellious aspect.

Now that I think about it, the inspiration for ‘So What’ is kind of punk-ish -- even if the actual music does not follow that genre. What do you think? Does my breakdown of what I was thinking about match what you first heard when listening?