Welcome to "Behind the Lyrics" with Elise Chandler. Each week, I find a song that I feel is understated both musically and lyrically, and I analyze it through several critical lenses.
If you have not heard the song "Bills" by LunchMoney Lewis, be prepared to have a good time. To me, it is one of the most relatable adult songs to come out in a long time. What is something that all adults dread -- bills!
In this song, the lyrics are not necessarily masterfully written, but the presentation of the material is the winning moment here. A soulful song with a jammin' piano and a happy sounding little trumpeter offset the depressing lyrics. Is our narrator depressed about his bills? Yes! Let's look at some examples:
1. "All these bills pile up my desk
They looking like a mountain"
2. "And my girl just don't know how
Said she gonna leave me if I don't home with 50 thousand"
3. "Woke up and I bumped my head Stumped my toe on the edge of the bed Opened the fridge and the food all gone"
In the first example, he is drowning by the massive loads of paperwork and bills, but he uses a simile to artfully craft us an appropriate exaggerated image of just how bad it is to him. Clever.
In the second example, his partner is considering leaving him because the kids are hungry, and she wants $50,000 to go shopping for herself the rest of the song alludes.
In the third example, it is a great example of how using a slippery slope can add humor to almost any dire situation. He is progressively having a worse morning from the moment he wakes up. Who hasn't had this happen to them? But he can't even escape the trouble of the bills for long without the empty fridge reminding him of his responsibilities.
To add to the humor and thought that went into this song, throughout the video, LunchMoney Lewis takes on the personas of both someone who is wealthy and someone who is working class, so we can hear this song no matter our background and hopefully relate. No matter how much money you have -- you still have bills to join together and hate!
The wordplay is also not lost here.
"And my shoes, my shoes
I said my shoes! Ain't got no soul"
Get it? Shoes...no soul? Haha.
Getting more serious again - I chose to highlight this because I think it is the true message behind this song. Without soul, without passion, our lives can become dull, routine, and frankly stressful. However, LunchMoney Lewis reminds us in this humorous, goofy song, that even the worst situations can be an inspiration to have a laugh and do better. It all depends on the mindset. We are never alone with our problems. Someone else in the world is stressing over something similar. We should take comfort in that and look for the humor in the situation. Until next time.