Tame Impala: Lyrics & Meaning
Intro
Tame Impala is a household name these days. But for those who don’t know, this music project from Perth is a one-man-band. Writing, recording, performing, and producing all of the music is none other than Kevin Parker.
So where does his inspiration come from?
I’ve delved into the lyrics — a Kevin Parker introspection of sorts — to paint a picture that will provide a fresh understanding of his music. What’s more, Parker’s writing ability is kind of undiscovered. In his own words, a lack of courage has hampered a desire to do spoken word. And, particularly in earlier albums, we hear deliberately vague and hazy lyrics obscured behind instrumentation…
Tame Impala EP, 2008 — The Debut
Understandably, Parker’s first release marks a departure from isolation. He created the Tame Impala EP in a cramped house share; a modest state of affairs that is reflected in 41 Mosquitoes Flying In Formation: “Broken drums, thriving dreams/Not much else between these walls”. The self-confessed loner wants to break out—in Half Full Glass of Wine: “Now my only company’s a half-full glass of wine”.
In Desire Be Desire Go: “I’ll get out, won’t have to check my watch/I don’t have the verve to/Belong to this dead side”. Frustration. Remorse? Parker, although brooding, persuades himself that he is the master of his destiny.
In Slide Through My Fingers we hear cause for his concern: “I’ve let too much of it slide through my fingers/Fear that has fouled all the love I could bring her”. He isn’t happy to let life pass him by, anymore.
Another departure, from what he knows—something that Parker is evidently more comfortable with—is psychedelia, which the Tame Impala EP has in abundance.
Sundown Syndrome, 2009 — The Stopgap
Continuing with psychedelia, Sundown Syndrome exerts a little more assurance. Title track Sundown Syndrome is broody but revealing: “You will never know how hard I try/To keep from waning while waiting at the start (x5)”. By repeating these lyrics, is Parker using a metaphor for experiencing thought loops on psychedelics?
In Remember Me we hear bravado: “I’m the one who had your baby’s eyes/Remember me?” Although these lyrics weren’t written by Parker, he did decide to sing them. (Credit goes to Alexis James Blackmore, Marlena Shaw, Richard Lee Evans, and Robert Eugene Miller.)
Innerspeaker, 2010 — Solicitude
This fully-fledged album, which should be listened to as a whole to get lost in its heady expanse, reveals Parker’s insecurities behind a beatific buzz of psychedelic rock. The effects of fame are fuelling contemplation…
In Alter Ego, he soliloquises a need to care for himself: “Get them to love you/While they may, depending on your words and wealth/The only one who’s really judging you is yourself/Nobody else”.
In certain respects, solitude has left Parker unprepared. In Expectation: “Every now and then/It feels like/In all of the universe/There is nobody for me”. But a clear underpinning of melancholy takes aim at any potential for worry.
In It Is Not Meant to Be: “She doesn’t like the life that I lead […]/I must seem more like a friend in need […]/I’m happy just to watch her move”. Parker copes with insecurity the only way he knows how: by retreating within himself and watching from afar.
Psychedelia is again key. Lucidity and The Bold Arrow of Time are odes to the mind on drugs: “Silver tongue hill, where you talk up what I’d play down”, “Overhead ether flow moment, colours run/Time’s so/Slow”.
Lonerism, 2012 — Acceptance
Aptly titled Lonerism is Parker being comfortable with himself, and ever more explicitly we hear of his psyche. In Endors Toi: “Real-world, surreal life […]/Real life was such a grind”. In Apocalypse Dreams: “Oh, it feels so real in my sleep”. And in Mind Mischief: “(I was just so sure of everything)/(That’s what you get for dreaming aloud)”.
The charm of Lonerism is that it continues with the broody lyrics of old but now these words are atop a leaner, more propulsive sound. As well as improved skill, Parker accepting himself may be down to an exploration of persona. In Keep On Lying: “Should my cover ever blow/Would you ever let it go?/There is something you should know/But hell if I’d ever let it show”. He goes on to say: “I guess I’ll go and tell you/Just as soon as I get to the end of this song/To the end of this song (x4)/You won’t be alone/Take all you can/Please understand/That it never really was love”.
Music is his escape from reality. But this is a paradox as music alone can’t define him…
To submit to nothing, whether to a man or a love or an idea, and to have the aloof independence of not believing in the truth or even (if it existed) in the usefulness of knowing it — this seems to me the right attitude for the intellectual inner life of those who can’t live without thinking. To belong is synonymous with banality. Creeds, ideals, a woman, a profession — all are prisons and shackles.
Fernando Pessoa, The Book of Disquiet
In Music To Walk Home By, Parker’s favourite song on the album: “I just don’t know how to feel right/A beautiful girl is wasting my life/I’m playing a part as somebody else/Trying so hard to be myself […]/But you don’t know the truth/I’m in love with you/You just don’t believe/Anything I do”. Now we hear his love for another; though only a morsel it paves the way for a new beginning.
Currents, 2015 — Rebirth
Admiringly Parker addresses heartbreak and rebirth on the alternative, psych-disco (with pop impulses) Currents. His lyrics are much more conscious; he’s aware of the truth. This is Parker at the height of his powers.
In Yes I’m Changing: “I saw it different, I must admit/I caught a glimpse, I’m going after it […]/And I can’t always hide away/Curse indulgence and despise the fame […]/Arise and walk on through (Time Rolls on)/The world beyond that door/Is calling out for you”. Currents is definitely an epiphany.
Literally, the song Nangs means inhaling nitrous oxide gas for its dissociative effects. Its only lyrics “But is there something more than that?” epitomises a change of attitude.
In Past Life: “The sounds and smells I made myself forget/A cheap solution to block out regret/But it was real/It just feels like a past life”. And in New Person, Same Old Mistakes: “Feel like a brand new person/So how will I know that it’s right?”
Parker seems to know where he’s headed, and certainty breeds confidence. In Disciples: “And I can tell by your face/No one’s ever been rude to you”. In ’Cause I’m a Man: “‘Cause I’m a man, woman/I’ll never be as strong as you/I’m a human, human/A greater force I answer to”.
All these revelations seemingly stem from his own heartbreak. In Love/Paranoia: “Are you sure/It was nothing?/’Cause it made me feel like dying”. And in Reality In Motion: “It made my heart run in circles and overdrive/And I was closer than ever to feeling alive”.
The Slow Rush, 2020 — Maturity
The Slow Rush is a big transition, taking influence from soul, early prog, acid house, and R&B. This five-year hiatus meant lots of collaboration, notably with ZHU, Mark Ronson, and Travis Scott. And in 2019 Parker got married.
It should come as no surprise then that this is a mature and developed pop album, with the well-documented theme being time.
Parker starts with One More Year: “I never wanted any other way to spend our lives/I know we promised we’d be doing this until we die/And now I fear we might […]/But it’s okay/I think there’s a way”. He is anxious yet confident for the future, easing agony with a compromise: “(One more year)/Of living like I’m only living for me”.
We hear nostalgia and his obsession with the past. In It Might Be Time: “You may as well embrace it […]/You ain’t as fun as you used to be/You won’t recover/You ain’t as cool as you used to be”.
Breathe Deeper is about living in the moment: “(And she said)/Now you’re having fun/So do this and get through this/And come find me when you’re done/So we can be as one”. In Instant Destiny: “I’m about to do something crazy/No point in waiting/No bridge today is too far […]/It’s so right (I’m about to–)/It’s so clear now”.
Heard the adage that with age comes wisdom? Well, Parker shares profound findings in Tomorrow’s Dust: “There’s no use pining for love when you’re on your own”. And in Lost In Yesterday: “If it calls you/Embrace it/If it haunts you/Face it”.
The finest example of Parker’s maturity, however, is the cathartic homage to his father in Posthumous Forgiveness: “And you could store an ocean in the holes/In any of the explanations that you gave/And while you still had time, you had a chance/But you decided to take all your sorries to the grave/Did you think I’d never know?/Never wise-up as I grow?/Did you hope I’d never doubt?/Never one day work it out?” (Parker’s parents divorced when he was four. They got back together but it fell apart again. In 2009 his father died.) In spite of unresolved issues, Posthumous Forgiveness is a Parker who’s willing and able to deal with his deepest, darkest emotions head-on. The results are beautiful. “Wanna tell you about the time/I was in Abbey Road/Or the time that I had/Mick Jagger on the phone/I thought of you when he spoke”.
Conclusion
Due to solitude, fear, and a lack of confidence, Parker hid his lyrics under instrumentation in early releases and scratched at the surface of the personal. Sporadic, snippet-like lyrics were indistinct, giving only a snapshot into the bigger picture. This obfuscation makes sense when combined with a lucid, psychedelic sound, but now Parker has evolved and his music fits within the mainstream…
His words have ascended from the background to the forefront — whether the limelight helped or forced this is incidental—what is clear is that Parker’s lyrics are now open: dreamt lyrics of old have been realised. So where next? Spoken word?
