Gopher Guts Lyrics
This song really gets to me. I'm not sure why but it really resonates. I believe this is Aes' attempt at repentance.
He messed up somewhere: "it's me I accidentally sawed a woman in half." and the whole 3rd verse
Now he realized he can't be the same, so he is maybe figuratively passing the mic to someone else: snakes, frogs, crabs
Oh the imagery, the incredible alliteration, the dynamic rhyme schemes, the experience of the words themselves as they slap against your ears. This is why this song is such an amazing piece of poetry, without even beginning to decode what it all means. Once you do start to interpret it evolves into the devastating yet redeeming experience of the essence of a human soul; painful to listen to the way it's painful to stare at a sunrise.
Oh the imagery, the incredible alliteration, the dynamic rhyme schemes, the experience of the words themselves as they slap against your ears. This is why this song is such an amazing piece of poetry, without even beginning to decode what it all means. Once you do start to interpret it evolves into the devastating yet redeeming experience of the essence of a human soul; painful to listen to the way it's painful to stare at a sunrise.
And I really like the idea that he is "passing the mic" but I think there is something disappointing and cyclical about it....
And I really like the idea that he is "passing the mic" but I think there is something disappointing and cyclical about it. "Then I let 'em go.... oh."
The title is basically a reference to him getting personal... a gopher (underground type) spilling its guts.
The whole song is pretty much about about how he lost a lot of friends (in the wake of an amicable marooning) by failing as a person("nevermind the misanthrope vying for affection", whole 3rd verse). I don't think it's just repentance though... there's a touch of accusation to his tone, like how nobody is ever 100% wrong or right.
As far as the hooks, they seem like a comment on someone who pays lip service to a friend ("you are x, you are y, you are z") while offering them no real support whatsoever ("then I let 'em go") and being surprised when they crash and burn alone ("oh") .
I just don't know whether he's saying he's guilty of that, or whether the snakes/frogs/crabs represent him... F-in resonates either way; people can get pretty detached from the people closest to them.
lojohn, your right
To me, this song seems largely about types of lies our parents tell us and we tell ourselves, whether out of love, longing for affection, or whatever. The three refrains are fairly similar in context so I'll just go over the final one:
I pulled three ghost crabs out of rock and sand Where the low tide showcased a promised land I told them, "You will grow to be something dynamic and impressive; You are patient, you are gallant, you are festive" Then I let them go Oh
Many of us, including myself, when growing up would have praise heaped upon us by our parents. We were told we are so creative, so intelligent, that we can do anything we want. But aside from this praise to boost our ego, were given little real guidance on how to actually do something with our supposed creativity or intelligence. The baby crabs, frogs, and snakes, are us as children, being told by those much more powerful than us how we have an incredibly bright future ahead of us, but after telling us these lies, we are released back into the wild to fend for ourselves. Telling a child, "you will grow to be something dynamic and impressive; you are patient, you are gallant, you are festive" no more bestows these qualities on them than saying it to a ghost crab. The parent feels they are offering guidance, but really just offer delusion in order to satisfy their own personal ego.
In the first verse he speaks about how family has these supposed deep bonds, but really we often cannot relate to each other and do not understand each other’s worlds. He calls his mother over the phone and is expressing personal problems he has, but she is just going through the motions of saying that she loves him (which she very well may) without actually listening to him and acknowledging his problems.
In the third verse he reflects on the person he has become, perhaps in part due to the lies he grew up believing. His relationships fail because he too is unable to listen. He stubbornly resists change although he resents how he has lived his path:
I have been accustomed to a stubborn disposition That admits it wished its history disassembled
And he wishes to be an advocate for ideals that he himself fails to uphold:
I have been a hypocrite in sermonizing tolerance While skimming for a ministry to pretzel
Oh, and Rap Genius has a line by line breakdown of the lyrics, and a much better formatted version of the lyrics (not sure if I can link to other sites in comments but you can do a search if interested).