Lyrical Analysis: What Am I Looking For?

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In my theory class, we focused on the meaning of narrative pronouns. Narrative pronouns influence how a story is told. For instance, the impact of the sentence “I went to the hospital” is different than “You went to the hospital.”

Narrative pronouns have connections to intended intimacy in a song. In order from least to greatest intimacy, narrative pronouns are as follows:

• Third Person: “She, he, they, [name]”

  • E.g. “And she’s buying the stairway to heaven” (“Stairway to Heaven” by Led Zeppelin)

• Second Person Covert: “You” but you cannot tell who “you” is referring to in relation to the speaker

  • E.g. “You can’t always get what you want / But if you try sometimes you’ll find / You get what you need” (“You Can’t Always Get What You Want” by the Rolling Stones)

• First Person: “I”

  • E.g. “I’m a creep, I’m a weirdo / What the hell am I doing here / I don’t belong here” (“Creep” by Radiohead)

• Second Person Direct: “You” but you can tell who “you” is.

  • I.e. “You” is the speaker’s friend, or lover and this is expressed through the lyrics.

  • E.g. “I love everybody because I love you” (“Strawberry Blonde” by Mitski)

It is the most typical for songs to increase in levels of intimacy as you progress through the song. What I will be highlighting on this blog are songs that do not follow this traditional progression. That is not all I will be doing with the lyric analysis, though. I will also try to explain why the lyricist may have wanted to break expectations with their lyrics.