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wouldwillwood · 1 year

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WHITE NOISE

One of the few songs you can listen to in Will Wood's 2022 "In Case I Make It Album" is White Noise. I've never really understood this before because it all seemed so confusing to me the first time I listened to it, but I've recently re-listened to it a few weeks back and I really wanted to write some sort of paragraph and analysis of the song from my perspective, considering there wasn't much annotations on the Genius Lyrics website. So I'm taking that chance to do a take on this entire song for the (possibly?) first time.

I'd like to put a trigger warning for suicidal thoughts, as the song contains messages and metaphors that I perceive may suggest suicide.

Everything that I say here is merely how I understand the song and how I view the meaning of the metaphors used in this song.

1. The Symbolism of White Noise

The white noise that is mentioned throughout the entire song is suicidal thoughts or the voices in your head that are disturbingly intrusive. When you hear white noise or static on the TV, it gets really annoying and irritating the more you listen to it. In my perspective, it's the exact same thing with suicidal and intrusive thoughts.

2. The Lyrics

The lyrics have so many metaphors and words that have could give out the message of suicidal thoughts or the feeling of depression (or any similar position of vulnerability, in that matter.)

All the lyrics in my understanding

✧ ˚ 　· 　★　 . *ੈ✩ ‧ ₊ ˚ ✧ ˚ 　· 　　 . ⋆ ★

They paint the walls with colors that You’re not meant to notice Beiges and browns, off-whites and grayscales Fluorescent lights to shine on The eggshell ground This is the introduction of the song, I feel like this part gives us a little vision of the setting or surrounding he's in. Imagine an empty white room. I think this could resemble someone's mindscape, or could specifically be Will Wood's mindscape. I think the "empty room" isn't exactly "empty." Because there are things you notice in it like the different shades of white (reference to the 3rd line of this verse.) It's sort of like our brain. When you're "thinking about nothing" there's also everything. It's like a void with everything and nothing at the same time. Which is very confusing, but it's the best I can explain. Another easier version of my explanation about this verse is basically just finding the little things in space of emptiness. Distracting yourself with things in the space you're in. Trying to find meaning in it.

They fill the halls with tunes you can't get into your head 4/4 and Dorian, wrote 'em for ignoring 'em Yeah, it sorta sounds like a retro top-40 but wrong You're not meant to sing along. It's not that kind of song, it's white noise. I find this part of the song still a bit confusing to me. But I think I have a good take on this. 4/4 is a common time signature in music, you kind of hear it on a lot of songs. Dorian or "Dorian mode" is a type of melodic behaviour that consists a lot of minor notes in it's structure. And because of the minor notes and keys in the Doric mode, it makes music sound melancholy or dramatic. Some synonyms for melancholy are related to sadness, depression, sorrow, etc. I think when the song says "wrote them for ignoring 'em" I like to think it means that the music they wrote could be thoughts they made up, but ignore them for some reason. The part that says "It kind of sounds like a retro top-40 but wrong, you're not meant to sing along. It's not that kind of song, it's white noise." can be connected to my last lyric analysis. The song mentioned in this verse can probably symbolize very strong and suicidal thoughts, but you're not meant to listen to them. Because they're simply just noise.

And it’s personality’s a lack of identity It makes no statement, but does so quite loudly I think this might be my absolutely worst lyric take yet, but sometimes I find that there are some people who think about depressive thoughts, and start to distance themselves or become quiet. I think this line could be an example of when people do that thing.

It’s an "aesthetic" I mean "an anesthetic" And it’s an experience for your seventh sense, yes This is one of my favorite lyrics next to the "does it cure cancer" one. This may come off as weird but I find a lot of beauty in vulnerability, not in a sense where I would make depression aesthetic. But it's just something that really opens up a lot of perspective and vision about these type of topics. An anesthetic is used to numb or take away your senses from your body, but since I know this song is full of metaphors, we can take this in a non literal sense, and say that a certain subject of this verse numbs your senses. I don't believe in a seventh sense, however it is said that a seventh sense could be some sort of connection to your mental space or something similar to that. I think with these bits of information, I'd like to think that this verse could say that there's some sort of appealing feature about the numbness of your senses. Not being able to feel something is just somehow relaxing and pleasing, it's a confusing feeling to explain, but the most I can say is that sometimes everything feels better if there was nothing at all.

Does it cure cancer? (Yes, it cures cancer!) Wow! It begs the question, just to tell you the answer This part of the song can be interpreted in multiple different ways but there's this one thought me and a friend shared about this line. I think the interaction between Will Wood and the "people" in this very specific part of the song can symbolize a person and the voices in their head. My take on this part of the verse is that this could be the said person either trying to entertain themselves or trying to twist their thoughts (possibly with facts versus reality.) It's an interesting lyric, and hard to understand but that's what I like about it. This lyric kind of seems like lying to yourself. There is obviously no cure to cancer, so the voices are lying to you. Let's say you were depressed and you keep asking yourself if you're okay. There are situations where the mind wants to deny that fact and it goes "Yes, you're okay." Another reason why I think this lyric is about a person and the voices in their head is because of how the last line was structured. "It" begs you the question and tells you the answer. "It" can be referring to both the person and the voices in their brain, or just the person as a whole. You ask yourself a question, and you're the only one who can answer it.

Well, if you walk the walk, can you talk more? (Shh! Quiet.) I think my interpretation of this lyric is the person thinking to themselves if they should commit (suicide) so their thoughts could stop and finally silence and not disturb them anymore.

You fill your head with thoughts you find you can't even feel Try to make room in your skull but it's full of them All of the things that you think and think about thinking I know it's hard, but they’re not who you are They're white noise The final part of the song. I think the first line could mean numbness and emptiness of the suicidal thoughts the person is having. The second and third line following, telling that there's too much of these suicidal thoughts to think about to the point it's the only thing that fills their head. But the last 2 lyrics trying to reassure the person that they're just intrusive and unnecessary thoughts (white noise).

#will wood #will wood and the tapeworms #music analysis #alternative rock #indie

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wouldwillwood · 1 year

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The Main Character

One of my favorite songs in the "In case I make it" album other than Against the Kitchen Floor is The Main Character. It talks about a song of narcissism. But this has a deeper and different message to me. The song talks about a person who's the "main character" and the things they do / or have gone through, insisting that people should like them because they went through all that, making them think they're "the main character".

In my understanding of the song, the main character's sort of feeding themselves delusions to make them seem as if they're different from everyone else. There are some lyrics in the song that could make my statement or perspective of the song seem a bit interesting and I would like to share them with you! :D

"So God forbid I'm seen just as an average human being." Which I think is already a self explanatory part in the "narcissism" theme. Trying to convince themselves that they're different from other people.

"Villains are everywhere, that's how you know that I'm a hero!" Which I personally see as a very interesting lyric. Because, if villains were everywhere, what makes the main character any different? They're EVERYWHERE.

"So now I'm holding myself hostage, Stockholm lust just looks like justice" "So now I'm holding myself hostage" could mean the main character encasing himself in this world of delusion where he's happier in. Stockholm or Stockholm Syndrome is a disorder wherein a hostage develops trust and affection for their kidnapper or abuser. Stockholm lust is just the same thing, however lust is a stronger word than affection and trust. When the main character says he's holding himself hostage, he also means he's kidnapper. It means he's self absorbed with himself, as he keeps himself in this world of delusion he's in. Because that's where he's the main character.

I think these lyrics seem the most interesting for the narcissism part of the song, but I'd also like to talk about other lyrics I find interesting that are somewhat outside of the main character's narcissistic theme!!!

"¹ Oh like Alice fell to Wonderland, ² come Astroturf my Overton." For the first section of the line "Oh like Alice fell to Wonderland," I like to think this is a way of the main character saying something like "falling down the rabbit hole to ____". In the "Genius" Lyric Site, a user annotated this lyric saying this was a metaphorical way of people indulging into social media for the first time. However, I like to think a little differently. I like to think that the first part of this lyric is the main character falling into some sort of delusion as I've mentioned earlier in the introduction. For the second part of the lyric, "come Astroturf my Overton" I might need to break this down. Astroturfing is a deceptive tactic of simulating grassroots. If you take the needed word, it means falsifying, fabricating, basically, fake or faking. Overton (or the Overton Window) is the range of ideas the general public is willing to consider or accept. Now if we can think a bit this abit more deeply, "come Astroturf my Overton" can be meaning to falsify things that the general public sees. Which can also be a good reference to an earlier lyric like...

"Control the narrative reliably, baby, it's all about me, and I wrote the book about throwing the book at those who don't do it by it" And in reference to our last lyric, which I've interpret as something sort of similar to "propaganda". Since my last take on the Astroturf and Overton lyric was about deceiving the public, I like to think of that line a reference to this one. When the main character says they want to control the narrative, I think it's another way of saying, "I want to control everything, I will deceive and lie to the public and ____" or whatever their main goal is. (Which could be most likely convincing the public that the main character's... well, the main character.) When the lyrics say, "And I wrote the book about throwing the book at those who don't do it by it" kind of feels like just hating people or holding a grudge towards people who don't go along with the delusional flow of the "main character"

I think that's all I have to say currently about the song The Main Character. It's a very interesting song and I highly recommend it for people who are getting into Will Wood (cause it's one of the same songs that also got me into Will Wood LMAOO).

The "In case I make it" album is such a work of art, it's not really like Will Wood's past music but I find it an inspiring album cause we get to see the artist himself in this album if that makes sense.

#will wood #will wood and the tapeworms #music analysis #music

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wouldwillwood · 1 year

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Understanding Thermodynamic Lawyer (as a dumb person)

So recently my science professor started a lecture on Thermodynamics and Entropy and my Will Wood obsessed dumbass attempted to actually listen (for the first time in forever) because I wanted to understand it so I may or may not have my own personal understanding with Thermodynamic Lawyer.

(I think it holds a really meaningful message in the song so hear me out)

Thermodynamics is a study of heat and a work system's relationship with each other and the chemical reactions that come along with it (if I'm not mistaken). And with this description I can relate it to the song which is about relationships (toxic ones, at that) For this post I just want to break down a specific part of the song "So all that I see absolute entropy As the chemical bonds fall apart Well, it seems she broke me But I swear she could not break my heart"

I'll be breaking this down by the first two lines (cause they're the most important ones in my opinion)

1. "So all that I see absolute entropy"

Entropy is known for being a disorder of a system. Other adjectives I could use to describe entropy is chaos, uncertainty, randomness, and obviously, disorder. Will seeing "absolute entropy" with these descriptive words can mean he sees chaos or disorder in this relationship.

2. "As the chemical bonds fall apart"

I have stated in this blog earlier at the introduction that Thermodynamics works with energy, work system, and their relationship. The thing about the relationship between work and energy is that they work with chemical bonds.

Energy is released when chemical bonds are formed because atoms become more stable. However, this song is about a toxic relationship. When chemical bonds fall apart, that means the atoms will separate from each other (and it's gonna start making its own species of energy or something but blah blah blah but that is not the point.) The chemical bond can be a alternative way to say "their relationship." And when they fall apart, they both drift away from each other or start to break up or something between those lines. Something about distance maybe.

"So all that I see absolute entropy As the chemical bonds fall apart Well, it seems she broke me But I swear she could not break my heart"

I guess using thermodynamics as a complicated and poetic way of saying "I'm uncertain and unsure about this relationship. I see so much chaos between us." leading them to separate and break each other off. The last two lines are a bit more obvious lines to referring the abuse and Will (probably) still enduring everything even after whatever his partner has done to him.

#will wood #will wood and the tapeworms #music analysis

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