Elliott Smith
A quiet, almost lullaby-like address to someone (or something) that promises comfort while actually describing a kind of…
addiction and dependency seduction and control erased identity
Harry Nilsson
A short set of declarative lines about escape and entrapment dissolves into a chant that repeats itself into…
entrapment disguised as freedom codependency compulsion and addiction
Sufjan Stevens
A quiet domestic love song that strips Christmas of all its commercial and social trappings and relocates the holiday's meaning…
intimacy vs. commercialism presence over spectacle domestic love as sanctuary
Bert Jansch
This is a traditional Appalachian song (with roots in older British/American folk balladry) about a woman driven out of a…
exile and social rejection itinerancy gendered outsider status
Otis Redding
A man who has moved across the country sits by the water in San Francisco, watching ships come and go, admitting he is doing…
idleness and drift migration and displacement loneliness