Eminem — song analysis — mockingbird, when i’m gone, love the way you lie.
Artist: Eminem — Marshall Mathers
Lyric Transcripts:
1) Mockingbird (2004)
2) When I’m Gone (2005)
3) Love the Way You Lie (2010)
An overview of the focus of the assignment. Introduce the songs you chose and the themes behind them.
The purpose of this presentation is to unpack the powerful language of music, examining how it connects to an audience through a myriad of literary techniques. An analysis of the songs Mockingbird, When I’m Gone, and love The Way You Lie, will illustrate how the artist’s ideas, values, attitudes, and beliefs are depicted through literary techniques like rhyme, metaphor, personification, repetition, and alliteration to name a few.
Biography
Marshall Bruce Mathers III, professionally known as Eminem, is an American rapper and song writer who is considered to be one of the most controversial song writers of the twenty first century. Eminem had a turbulent childhood marked by poverty, drugs and abusive relationships. By the age of fourteen, he was rapping in clubs and at age fifteen he left school to focus on his music career. Despite his limited schooling, Eminem reflected on his life experiences to pen lyrics that connected to audiences worldwide. He built momentum as a solo artist amongst the underground hip hop circles, however it wasn’t until 1997 that he was recognised at the Los Angeles Freestyle Rap Olympics by head of Aftermath Entertainment, Dr Dre.
The three songs that will be analysed are reflective of Eminem’s troubled psyche, illustrating his arguably misogynistic attitude and turbulent family relationships. They are founded in his failed and abusive marriage with Kim Scott and relationships with his daughter’s Hailie and Alaina.
Mockingbird (2004)
Mockingbird appears on Eminem’s 2004 album Encore; it is said to be one of the least lyrically aggressive songs in his portfolio. The song is dedicated to Eminem’s daughter’s Hailie and Alaina. The lyrics explain what Eminem believes to be the dynamics of an adult relationship breakdown and offers an explanation of how he has attempted to be a good father. Through this song, Eminem evokes emotion in the listener with his use of tone, using a number of metaphors and then cementing the meaning with his use of repetition.
The tone used in the song Mockingbird sets the scene, leading the listener to experience an almost melancholy vibe. The opening sentence of “I know some things may not make sense to you right now” is offered in a monotone, soft, low and depressive voice. This is followed by a more directly stated line to Hallie, suggesting that the song is to his daughter. The tone throughout the song is interesting, for each positive behaviour, or excuse offered for his behaviour, his use of paralinguistics raises in tone at the end of the sentence. This is evident in sentences like “I sat up the whole night crying” when explaining why he couldn’t buy Christmas presents. The song’s chorus is sang in a soothing higher tone, offering the words “everything is going to be alright”, which leads the listener to feel empathetic and connect to the ideology of wanting to be okay.
In the last two verses Eminem sings “daddy’s gonna buy you a mockingbird”, which is an allusion derived form a book written by Harper Lee ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’. He refers to the allusion of a mockingbird to illustrate an innocent victim, which Eminem uses to symbolise Hailie and Alaina.
Eminem uses the popular nursing rhyme “hush little baby”, this use of hypoliths connects the listener to a tune from childhood, which draws on their empathetic emotion and also connects to the audience’s childhood experiences. Eminem uses this repetitive line to express that he would do anything for Hailie and Alaina, leading the audience to connect him to be a good, kind man.
Eminem also uses many metaphors throughout the song. One example is in the first verse when he says “straighten up little soldier”, meaning be strong and push your emotions to the side. He is making reference to his relationship with his wife being like a war and his daughter’s being soldiers and telling them to be strong.
This song is genius, drawing on subliminal messages to women and men who have experienced domestic violence. Eminem’s persuasive language through the use of apologetic tone, figurative language, repetition and hypoliths is possibly unintentional and founded in his own environmental exposure to abuse towards women. Anyone listening to these lyrics that has experienced domestic violence and had exposure to the reassuring and manipulative words of a male perpetrator would be drawn to the emotive tone. They would also connect to this music as they would feel a sense of safety and security in his use of hypoliths that connect to childhood safety and possibly oversee his misogynistic, behaviour excusing words.
When I’m gone (2005)
Thematically, Eminem’s “when I’m gone” has the same fundamental principles as “Mockingbird”, meaning that it is also based around his turbulent relationship with his family. The lyrics appear to be grounded in Eminem’s guilt of not being an adequate father and spending time with his daughter.
The mood for this song is genuine and apologetic. Eminem portrays his relationship with his daughters as one where he must constantly give her the false impression, he won’t choose fame over her. In the chorus of ‘When I’m Gone’ it is written from the influence that Eminem is fictionally addressing his daughter form the afterlife, which is believed to be the actual thesis of the song. This message is interpreted that his love for his daughter is undying, and he is telling her that he may not always physically be with her, but she will always be in his thoughts.
Eminem used the metaphor “when they know they’re your heart and you know you are their armour” to express his love for his daughter. He uses a hyperbole “have you ever loved someone so much you’d give an arm for” to demonstrate how much Eminem would sacrifice for his daughter. Interestingly, Eminem shifts between his alter ego, ‘slim shady’, which is a character that he assumes to illustrate the evil side of himself. This form of symbolism is interesting and used by Eminem to almost excuse his poor behaviours. Another way that Eminem excuses his behaviour is by using personification, he does this in the line “these walls must be talkin” to illustrate that he has a guilty conscience and is not proud of his behaviour.
Overall, Eminem uses strong lyrical techniques to portray his distorted message of love for his daughter. The admitting and apologetic mood allows listeners to deeply connect to the meaning, with figurative language techniques of metaphors, symbolism, and personification making the song very relatable.
Love the way you lie (2010)
‘Love the way you lie’, recorded with Rhianna in 2010 is sung with the idea behind it of an abusive relationship involving a lot of fighting, but both people are willing to go back because it is a toxic co-dependent relationship.
The tone of the song is brutally honest. The song carries the same themes of love, although it isn’t necessarily a romantic relationship. The song is emotional, but also aggressive, as it describes the dangerous cycle of being trapped within an abusive love, hate relationship. Irony is used in the line “I like the way it hurts” to show the forgivingness that comes with love and giving the idea that the abuse has become normal.
Personification can be seen in the line “it’s the rage that took over, it controls you both” this emphasises the abusive relationship and shows that they both are controlled by anger for one another, making an unhealthy relationship.
Hyperbole is used in the line “you ever love someone so much you can barely breath” to show he loves someone but when he is with them, he can’t breathe, giving a negative connection to the line. As if to say he is suffocating when he is around them. Eminem uses the metaphor “high off love, drunk from her rage” to say he becomes addicted to her love making him obsessive and abusive. This is one of many metaphors that use subliminal messaging to blame the victim. “Love the way you lie” presents a clear and moving message. The use of irony, hypoliths, personification, and metaphors adds depth and meaning to the song. Again, there is an attraction for domestic violence victims to be drawn to this and relate to the theme of apology and victim blaming.
Conclusion
All three songs are founded on the same theme of abusive and destructive relationships, which are a reflection of Eminem’s life. I find it alarming that these songs appear to promote the normalisation of domestic violence, with clever use of the literary techniques that draw on the emotion of the audience. These lyrics are embedding the messages that are evident in violent relationships, Eminem uses many forms of persuasive language through his use of metaphors, empathetic and apologetic tone, theme of trying to be a good dad and husband, symbolism, hypoliths and repetition. It would be interesting to do further research into the audiences that are attracted to Eminem’s songs to determine if the cohort are largely made up of those who have experienced domestic violence in some way.
