2015: my year in lyrics

2015 has been a good year for lyricists: Kendrick Lamar and his masterpiece To Pimp a Butterfly, whose social and political significance has been endorsed as an anthem by the Black Lives Matter movement across the USA; Sufjan Steven's extremely intimate and heartfelt goodbye to his mother; Titus Andronicus' 29-track, obsessively detailed dissection of the bipolar disorder.
Impossible to top these three, but there's still a lot to talk about: Father John Misty on love, Sun Kil Moon on pretty much everything (no wonder the album's called Universal Themes), Viet Cong, Courtney Barnett and many more on predictably postmodern themes such as depression, nihilism and loss of meaning.
Here are just a few examples.


Wouldn't you know
We been hurt, been down before
Nigga, when our pride was low
Lookin' at the world like, "Where do we go?"
Nigga, and we hate po-po
Wanna kill us dead in the street fo sho
Nigga, I'm at the preacher's door
My knees gettin' weak, and my gun might blow
But we gon' be alright
Kendrick Lamar, Alright


I forgive you, mother, I can hear you
And I long to be near you
But every road leads to an end
Yes every road leads to an end
Your apparition passes through me in the willows
Five red hens – you’ll never see us again
You’ll never see us again
Sufjan Stevens, Death with Dignity

It was 1989 when I lost my mind

For the very first time I went down in the mine

Going down in the mine I didn't know what I'd find

But whatever I'd find, say that it was mine

And I brought a little bird, it was short lived

And I lost my mind when the little bird died

Because as I stopped to cry for the little bird's life

For the moment my mind was out of my sight

And I turned back around to a terrible surprise

I had lost my mind for the very first time

[...]

Since I was a child, they tried to let me slide

Then I lost it twice, they said it was a crime

And my hands were tied, I was read my rights

It was a real short list written in little, tiny type

And they built their perfect prison and locked me inside

I cried, "this is so wrong," they said "It's alright"

And then a plate full of pills, I swallowed them dry

I was displayed in a cage, they claimed, in the name of science

And they probed, prodded, realigned my spine

'Til they said I could walk in a straight enough line

And then they pushed me back out into the bright sunlight

I didn't know what it meant to be institutionalised

Yeah I begged for readmission, it was denied

Where do you reside when you've lost your mind?

Where you gonna hide when you lose your mind?
Titus Andronicus, I Lost My Mind (+@) 


I feel alright, I feel alright, I feel alright, I feel alright
I feel alright, I feel alright, I feel alright, I feel alright
Well, how's the family? How's the family? How's the family? How's the family?
How's your health been? How's your health been? How's your health been? How's your health been?
Fancy seeing you here, fancy seeing you here, fancy seeing you here, fancy seeing you here
Time and off again, time and off again, time and off again, time and off again
Beautiful weather today, beautiful weather today, beautiful weather today, beautiful weather today
How's the church? How's the job? How's the church? How's the job?
How's the family? How's the family? How's the family? How's the family?
Beautiful weather today, beautiful weather today, beautiful weather today, beautiful weather today
Fancy seeing you here, fancy seeing you here, fancy seeing you here, fancy seeing you here
Time and off again, time and off again, time and off again, time and off again
It's all that we have, it's all that we have
Just that and the big, beautiful blue sky
Ought, Beautiful Blue Sky 

There’s no connection left in your head

Another book of things to forget

An overwhelming sense of regret

Relay, reply, react, and reset

Relay, reply, react, and respond

The simple task of turning it on

Only receiving electrical shock

Not everything can stay interlocked

Maybe too late will be much too soon

It isn’t something that’s safe to assume

And anyone can disappear in a spark
Viet Cong, Silhouettes

My internal monologue is saturated analog
It's scratched and drifting, I've become attached to the idea
It's all a shifting dream, bittersweet philosophy
I've got no idea how I even got here
I'm resentful, I'm having an existential time crisis
Want bliss, daylight savings won't fix this mess
Under-worked and over-sexed, I must express my disinterest
The rats are back inside my head, what would Freud have said?
Courtney Barnett, Pedestrian at Best 

It took so long for me to see it

Hope’s a burden or it sets you free

Wandered through the void of you

Wandered through the void of me

I’ve grown afraid of everything that I love
Sleater-Kinney, No Cities to Love

It's a sad world we were raised in
You could hate it but what's the use?

Elvis Depressedly, Wastes of Time


I remember when I first heard Led Zeppelin's "Tea For One"
Laying by my bedroom window on Valium soaking up the warm afternoon sun rays
And in those minutes, hours, I was totally content
And I'll take that memory to my grave as one of my happiest moments
Sun Kil Moon, With a Sort of Grace I Walked to the Bathroom to Cry

One summer I fell in love
For the first time
It would change my whole life
I would learn to love someone
And not be alone

So slowly the love went away
And I was frozen
I didn't want to lose that love
I didn't want to leave behind
Part of myself

I was lonely
But I felt afraid of being loved
I thought I didn't need the pain
I thought that in my heart
I had to be on my own
Majical Cloudz, If You're Lonely


I haven’t hated all the same things
As somebody else
Since I remember
[...]
What are you doing with your whole life?
How about forever?
Father John Misty, Chateau Lobby #4 (in C for Two Virgins)

Where the hell have you been?
[...]
I want to sleep with you until winter comes
And then wait for springtime
And then wait for winter again and again
Any Other, Sonnet #4