Some people say that the lyrics aren’t an important part of a song because people don’t remember them. I would argue that song lyrics are a very important part of anti-folk music. Folk music is the music of the people. It is indigenous to certain people at a certain time, which means that it is music that comments on politics, social norms and emotions, they are often a reflection of contemporary issues and frequently reference popular culture. Another aspect of the style is the storytelling fable like approach; lyrics regularly form a linear narrative. Because of the importance placed on the songs content and the issues and ‘story’ the music is really there to guide the lyrics and is usually simple. People might not remember folk lyrics word for word (though they often do) but they always remember the message and that is the goal of the songwriter.
Because of the references to world events, politics and pop culture these songs provide a contemporary social commentary that acts as a vehicle to capture contemporary culture. The songs document dominant attitudes, values and beliefs, preserving them for the future so that whenever they are played people can appreciate the time where they were written either through their own experiences of the issues reflected or through places, popular activities and well known brand names.
Anti-folk is a very localised genre and also a relatively unknown genre. It is a very diverse genre but there are distinct similarities in theses and method. The classification for anti-folk is quite vague but it seems to be musicians who are rebelling against mainstream techniques of music construction and telling stories that are meaningful in their lives. The international anti-folk scenes are quite local intimate neo-tribes and as a result other artists who might fit into the group don’t align themselves with the groups. The anti-folk scene in Australia is based in Melbourne but it is even smaller than those in Brighton or New York. Nevertheless I think Australia has some genuine anti-folk artists: people like Clare Bowditch and Josh Pyke, their music styles fit the definition of anti-folk but the nature of the Australian music industry means that they are could be considered mainstream because of the size of their fan base and following. I think the financial support and production quality also has something to do with this.
Examples of some LYRICS:
Zac Lister Band – Launceston Tasmania
Lets kill all of the fish in the sea
I’m gonna poison your family
If you have asthma, you better beware
Of the shit I’m pumping into the air
I hope you like the taste of my nuclear waste
Think you’ve got it bad, oh just you wait
I’m gonna chop it all down
And poison what’s left
You don’t know what’s good for you
But I know best
Protest all you like cause all it will proves that your all misinformed
I’ll offer you jobs but out-source overseas
Cause I don’t care about your family
I’m all for primary industry
Cause value adding is just not for me
I’m gonna salt the earth so that nothing will grow
But if it does you know we’ll plant them in rows
Then I’ll chop it all down
And poison what’s left
You don’t know what’s good for you
But I know best
Protest all you like cause all it will proveIs that your all misinformed
Don’t you know, that we know we’re not misinformed
Yes I know, yes I know we’re not misinformed
After we’ve killed all the fish in the sea
After I’ve poisoned your family
And all those with asthma are good as dead
Cause I’m holding my gun to your head
But what did you know I planted in rows
Then I chopped it all down
And poisoned what’s left
Because I know what’s good for you
I know what’s best
Protest all they like
And all it did prove is that I’m misinformed
Josh Pyke – Middle of the Hill
When I was a kid I grew up in a house on a hill
Not the top, not the bottom, but the middle
And I still remember where I cracked my head In the vacant lot,
there's a row of tiny houses there now
And we used to light fires in the gutters
And I could cool my head on the concrete steps
But the girl down the street hit my sister on the head
With a stick and we hid behind my father
As he knocked on the parents' door
To tell the them what she did
But the parents were drunk so they really didn't give a shit
And the girl down the street said my dog couldn't bark
'Cause a man with an axe cut its voicebox out
But my older sister told me that it prob'ly wasn't true
And I believe what she said 'cause she took me by the hand
One time when a coupla men drove down the hill in a white van
Said there was a phone box filled with money 'round the corner
And I woulda gone along but she took me by the hand
To the house in the middle of the hill In the middle of the hill,
in the middle of the hill
And my mother knew the words to a lot of different songs
And we'd always sing the harmonies, when we'd sing along
She had cold, cold hands when the fever hit
And then the noises that the trains made sounded like people in my head
And the stories that the ceiling told
Through the pictures and the grains in the pine-wood boards
And let me stay outside 'til the sky went red
And I could cool my head on the concrete steps
And you could never really see the top from the bottom
But I don't pay enough attention to the good things when
I got 'em And you could never really see the top from the bottom
I don't pay enough attention to the good things when I got 'em (x 5)
Clare Bowditch And The Feeding Set - Divorcee by 23 Lyrics
Well it seems you've got a baby girl to a man
who will not love you well
and you're walking down Brunswick street
and you're buying the baby's tears with treats.
You look perfect, you look fine
and you hold it together most of the time
but when the baby's crying
and you know, he's lying...
He was the best looking boy you'd known
so you married him and made him home.
Dropped out of university
all because he said "Well Honey, you're pretty."
Yes, you are pretty but you are not fine
'cause you've forgotten you're partly Divine
and if you don't start crying,
you may never shine.
Step on out of line,
Outside the square
I dare you
To just not give a damn.
'Cause people won't understand?
Don't let them scare you.
You play boy games and he plays girl games
and every Saturday, you swap over again,
and you wonder why he "Just don't hear!".
Are you saying it loud, are you making it clear
or are you hiding away,
behind all those perfect things that you say?
You know that you don't wanna be,
You don't wanna be,
You don't wanna be,
You don't wanna be no divorcee by 23.
Well is that your best reason to stay?
You're worried about what your brothers' friends'
mothers' might one day say?
Step on out of line,
Outside the square
I dare you
To just not give a damn.
'Cause people won't understand?
Don't let them scare you.
You really should step on out of line,
Outside the square
I dare you
To go confront your man
Help him understand these subtleties about you.
You don't wanna be,
You don't wanna be,
You don't wanna be,
You don't wanna be no divorcee by 23.
Well is that your best reason to stay?
Think about what your baby girl might one day say.
Because of the references to world events, politics and pop culture these songs provide a contemporary social commentary that acts as a vehicle to capture contemporary culture. The songs document dominant attitudes, values and beliefs, preserving them for the future so that whenever they are played people can appreciate the time where they were written either through their own experiences of the issues reflected or through places, popular activities and well known brand names.
Anti-folk is a very localised genre and also a relatively unknown genre. It is a very diverse genre but there are distinct similarities in theses and method. The classification for anti-folk is quite vague but it seems to be musicians who are rebelling against mainstream techniques of music construction and telling stories that are meaningful in their lives. The international anti-folk scenes are quite local intimate neo-tribes and as a result other artists who might fit into the group don’t align themselves with the groups. The anti-folk scene in Australia is based in Melbourne but it is even smaller than those in Brighton or New York. Nevertheless I think Australia has some genuine anti-folk artists: people like Clare Bowditch and Josh Pyke, their music styles fit the definition of anti-folk but the nature of the Australian music industry means that they are could be considered mainstream because of the size of their fan base and following. I think the financial support and production quality also has something to do with this.
Examples of some LYRICS:
Zac Lister Band – Launceston Tasmania
Lets kill all of the fish in the sea
I’m gonna poison your family
If you have asthma, you better beware
Of the shit I’m pumping into the air
I hope you like the taste of my nuclear waste
Think you’ve got it bad, oh just you wait
I’m gonna chop it all down
And poison what’s left
You don’t know what’s good for you
But I know best
Protest all you like cause all it will proves that your all misinformed
I’ll offer you jobs but out-source overseas
Cause I don’t care about your family
I’m all for primary industry
Cause value adding is just not for me
I’m gonna salt the earth so that nothing will grow
But if it does you know we’ll plant them in rows
Then I’ll chop it all down
And poison what’s left
You don’t know what’s good for you
But I know best
Protest all you like cause all it will proveIs that your all misinformed
Don’t you know, that we know we’re not misinformed
Yes I know, yes I know we’re not misinformed
After we’ve killed all the fish in the sea
After I’ve poisoned your family
And all those with asthma are good as dead
Cause I’m holding my gun to your head
But what did you know I planted in rows
Then I chopped it all down
And poisoned what’s left
Because I know what’s good for you
I know what’s best
Protest all they like
And all it did prove is that I’m misinformed
Josh Pyke – Middle of the Hill
When I was a kid I grew up in a house on a hill
Not the top, not the bottom, but the middle
And I still remember where I cracked my head In the vacant lot,
there's a row of tiny houses there now
And we used to light fires in the gutters
And I could cool my head on the concrete steps
But the girl down the street hit my sister on the head
With a stick and we hid behind my father
As he knocked on the parents' door
To tell the them what she did
But the parents were drunk so they really didn't give a shit
And the girl down the street said my dog couldn't bark
'Cause a man with an axe cut its voicebox out
But my older sister told me that it prob'ly wasn't true
And I believe what she said 'cause she took me by the hand
One time when a coupla men drove down the hill in a white van
Said there was a phone box filled with money 'round the corner
And I woulda gone along but she took me by the hand
To the house in the middle of the hill In the middle of the hill,
in the middle of the hill
And my mother knew the words to a lot of different songs
And we'd always sing the harmonies, when we'd sing along
She had cold, cold hands when the fever hit
And then the noises that the trains made sounded like people in my head
And the stories that the ceiling told
Through the pictures and the grains in the pine-wood boards
And let me stay outside 'til the sky went red
And I could cool my head on the concrete steps
And you could never really see the top from the bottom
But I don't pay enough attention to the good things when
I got 'em And you could never really see the top from the bottom
I don't pay enough attention to the good things when I got 'em (x 5)
Clare Bowditch And The Feeding Set - Divorcee by 23 Lyrics
Well it seems you've got a baby girl to a man
who will not love you well
and you're walking down Brunswick street
and you're buying the baby's tears with treats.
You look perfect, you look fine
and you hold it together most of the time
but when the baby's crying
and you know, he's lying...
He was the best looking boy you'd known
so you married him and made him home.
Dropped out of university
all because he said "Well Honey, you're pretty."
Yes, you are pretty but you are not fine
'cause you've forgotten you're partly Divine
and if you don't start crying,
you may never shine.
Step on out of line,
Outside the square
I dare you
To just not give a damn.
'Cause people won't understand?
Don't let them scare you.
You play boy games and he plays girl games
and every Saturday, you swap over again,
and you wonder why he "Just don't hear!".
Are you saying it loud, are you making it clear
or are you hiding away,
behind all those perfect things that you say?
You know that you don't wanna be,
You don't wanna be,
You don't wanna be,
You don't wanna be no divorcee by 23.
Well is that your best reason to stay?
You're worried about what your brothers' friends'
mothers' might one day say?
Step on out of line,
Outside the square
I dare you
To just not give a damn.
'Cause people won't understand?
Don't let them scare you.
You really should step on out of line,
Outside the square
I dare you
To go confront your man
Help him understand these subtleties about you.
You don't wanna be,
You don't wanna be,
You don't wanna be,
You don't wanna be no divorcee by 23.
Well is that your best reason to stay?
Think about what your baby girl might one day say.
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