LYRIC BREAKDOWN: Laplace's Angel (Patreon)

Hey there folks, here's another one of my lyric breakdowns; this time for the third track off my latest record "The Normal Album," a song called "Laplace's Angle (Hurt People? Hurt People!)"

Like some of my other tunes, the key to the song is sort of in the title. "Laplace's Angle" invokes the concept of "Laplace's Daemon," which was a thought experiment by 18th century French philosopher Pierre-Simon Laplace. The experiment comes in the form of a question: if there were some entity (in pop culture referred to as a "demon") that could know with absolute certainty the exact position of every particle in existence, would it be capable of knowing all of history and all of the future?

Laplace's "Angel" would be a reinterpretation of this being. A demon is considered an evil and punishing force, whereas an angel is a benevolent representative of heaven. Laplace's Angel would be an entity with the aforementioned demon's power that brings blessings. One that sees the inevitability of everything and loves and forgives it for whatever it is.

"Hurt People? Hurt People!" is a play off the popular platitude "hurt people hurt people." The original parenthetical in the title was "Hurt People Hurt People. Hurt People? Hurt People!" which was done so I could include the platitude and then provide the play on it, but I shortened it for brevity's sake. (Yes, despite how it may seem I do on occasion value brevity haha) The phrase "Hurt People? Hurt People!" is a question followed by its answer, with it being open to interpretation whether the phrases refer to causing people harm or people who have been harmed.

With this in mind, let's dive into the song. The notes under the lyrics in italic are not one-to-one translations necessarily, but my own intentions or feelings toward the words. I don't always remember everything I meant when I write lyrics, but these notes are sort of just my best attempts to communicate the intended meaning or vibe of the words in plain English. I may need to use further metaphor or simile to explain in these notes though. Some of my explanations may still be a bit abstract or symbolic - sometimes because there are layers, other times because I'm trying to cram a lot of meaning into a lyric.

It's also worth mentioning that the meaning of any given song does not stop at the lyrics or title; the sounds chosen to accompany it and the melodic and harmonic choices will always provide context that communicate the feeling in a way that cannot be really done with words alone.

Have you ever died in a nightmare? Woke up surprised you hadn't earned your fate?

I'm sort of asking the listener to join in here. By starting off by asking you a question, I'm introducing the idea that this is as much a song about them as it is about me. My first question is basically "have you ever found yourself imagining yourself to deserve some grave end, but realized to your surprise that it hadn't come, or perhaps couldn't? And that the entire situation was unreal to begin with?

Have you ever felt like Atlas, threw your back out on the axis, and collapsed and threw the planet away?

In Greek mythology, Atlas was a titan who fought against the younger Olympian gods in the War of Titans to decide which group would hold dominion over the universe. When the Titans, or older generation of gods, lost this war, Atlas was condemned to spend eternity holding the world on his shoulders. Sort of asking you that in your state of condemnation (or simply in your life, either way) by cultural authority, have you ever failed to uphold your responsibility to the world? Have you ever felt injured by your attempts to carry the weight of the world to the point where you gave up and allowed yourself to hurt others?

Everyone's just blood in an ice tray; a vampire picking flowers out in the sun.

I'm introducing the concept of universality here in these more abstract lyrics. I invoke blood in an ice tray to refer to the fluid essence of your life brought still and fit into little boxes. Perhaps by the coldness of your surroundings. Everyone lives that life. We also live the lives of vampires, who subsist on others' blood (as the aforementioned symbol) attempting to find beauty in a world that is sure to destroy us. We could use a cold, refreshing drink of that blood to stay cool in this heat while we do.

Run your diagnostic tests, it's posited nobody dies agnostic, but we still dial 9-1-1.

Our beliefs about the world, regardless of how we come to them, are created in desperation and knowledge of our vulnerability. When it comes down to it, regardless of what we think we know, we will all give up our ideas when our nature tells us we need to. No matter how perfect heaven sounds to you, you'll still call an ambulance when you're dying.

CHORUS: Now we're singing "ooh, could you take a look at me? Am I bad? Am I bad? Am I bad, Am I really that bad? Ooh, whatever you think of me; if you were in my shoes, you'd walk the same damn miles I do."

This is pretty straightforward, this line. I'm saying "considering all of this, can you really judge me all that harshly?" I then invoke the old wisdom of "before you judge a man, walk a mile in his shoes," to tell the listener that were he in my situation, he would do the same thing. This is the introduction of the determinism that will continue to color the song in accordance with the title.

It's the norm for animals, it's the norm for chemicals, it's the norm for particles, eye for eye for tooth. (I for I)

I begin my comparison between humans and animals, then break us down to our ultimate and least civilized and human components. All the way down to our particles, cruelty is simply part of our nature: we destroy and are destroyed.

We're only tuning to the tone of the bell curve now. Ask not for whom it tolls.

We, as people, are only ever adjusted or adjusting to the demands of the "bell curve," or the standards of normality. We're just staying in tune with the norms of our culture, nothing more. Then referring to the bell curve as though it were a literal bell, I bring up the quote from author John Donne. "No man is an island, entire of itself. Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee."

To get to the core of this, one may also want to look into some interpretations of this quote. In my mind, the quote is a declaration of the oneness of mankind, that "the bell" tolling (announcing death) is tolling for you even if its for someone else. We're all one thing.

The lyric ultimately comes down to "all we're doing is trying to be normal, but we are all the one either way, whether we like it or not our nature is shared" but in a context intended to invoke a sense of dread and darkness.

But with my head up in the clouds I can see so much ground, and from up here you look like ants in a row.

Although one might argue that my loftier thoughts might be unworthy of respect, or not concerned enough with immediate reality (one may say I have my head in the clouds) but I argue they are from an elevated perspective. That yes my mind may be too far away, but from this perspective I have an expanded point of view. From up here, I can see how small we all are, and I can see how we are all identical little automatons serving our programmed purposes in the name of an enormous collective that no individual can truly know the nature of.

It doesn't take a killer to murder, it only takes a reason to kill.

Even murderers are just people, and the only difference between you and them is they had a reason to do something you have no reason to do.

We've all got evidence of innocence, it's "everything's coincidence," the difference twixt fate and free will is whether you're singing... (chorus)

All things are as they are by chance, by inevitability. It's all coincidence, all circumstance. The only difference between us doing what we have no choice but to do and choosing to do something is whether or not we're willing to sing the chorus - whether or not we're willing to defend it or claim it as our actions.

I believe that while when you walk into an ice cream shop you can pick its flavor, you can't pick which flavor you prefer. You can't pick which flavors they have. You can't decide any circumstances surrounding your decision, and that is the nature of choice and will. There is no such thing as free will outside of how we as human being interpret the course of events. This "ice cream shop" example includes the whole of human action, all the way up to murder, despite what popular thought and conventionality morality would find itself comfortable considering. This truth is the argument being made by Laplace's Angel, offering its forgiveness and blessings to those of us who have inevitably been lead to sin.

(CHORUS)

So if you wash your hands of where you've been until you flood the second floor, neatly fold your skeletons but still can't shut the closet door: the only ones in need of love are those who don't receive enough, so evil ones should get a little more.

This goes back to the title and to the "arguments" made through the song. I put arguments in quotes because I don't want anybody to confuse my songs with essays - as current trends in pop media criticism seem to lead people to attempting to analyze any and all artistic work as though it were a piece of academia and/or a political piece. While I do have a point with this song, I am not trying to prove it nor am I trying to convince anyone. It's just what I think and feel, brought out in music that I hope will help inspire others to consider the perspective on an emotional level, or to connect to those who may benefit from the ideas on a deeper level.

Essentially, this is the most blunt lyric. It says that we all love those who we think have earned it, and don't consider the potential value of loving those based on who needs it. It is those of us who we don't think deserve love who lack it, and its my belief that it is a lack of love that drives people toward behaving in ways that cause people to continue to deny that love.

(CHORUS)

You can break an angel's fall and ignore the devil's call; still forsaken shoulders fall silent now.

You can do what you think is right, but ultimately the devil and angel are not going to appear on your shoulders to guide you. There is no force to guide you, no inherent morality or order from the heavens as to how to be a good person. Those shoulders will not judge you, nor will they save you.

It's no more than cultural. You and me inseparable. It's a small world after all.

Our moral systems are nothing more than cultural constructs. You, the proclaimed good person, and I, the condemned, are still the same thing in our nature. I invoke the saccharine Disney tune "it's a small world after all," a song written to celebrate the oneness of mankind.

Man no more than animal's made of moral chemicals. Any form mechanical. Thank you, God.

We don't expect animals to behave with morals, because we know that morality is not an inherent quality of existence. Human beings are not somehow made of something other than animals, are not somehow inherently tied to a moral system. We, like animals, and like any other form in the cosmos, are mechanical.

From the hordes of cannibals, to psych wards of hospitals; it's a small hell after all.

Human beings come in all types. From brutality accepted by cultures, to deviations rejected by them, from freaks and monsters to the sick and insane. We are all the same. I invoke "it's a small world after all" again, only this time referring to it as hell. It's a hell we all share, that we're all in together, and we're not different at all.

(ALTERED CHORUS LYRICS)

If the shoe fits, would you walk that mile? You could put it on the other foot, it's the same size.

I combine two shoe-based idioms. The "walk a mile in one's shoes" quote and the phrase "if the shoe were on the other foot," which I think go together nicely. You can put yourself in my shoes, and the shoe could be on the other foot, we are the same.

If you were in my shoes, you'd see I wear the same size as you.

If the shoe fits, wear it.

END.

There we go, your "Laplace's Angel" lyric breakdown. Thanks for reading, scumbags.