which_chick | (no subject)

Today we're going to look at Eminem lyrics. His stuff is surprisingly catchy and he's got a fair amount of lyrical talent. Granted, some of the appeal is delivery -- Eminem delivers full value for the complete range of pissed-off. Angry white boy, indeed. However, the lyrics also hold up surprisingly well to being looked at without music. That's what I'm doing today.

The lyrics I'll be looking at are from The Real Slim Shady, which is probably not my most favorite Eminem tune but it's in the running. Besides, you've probably heard the song. If not, there's always WinMX.

One of the interesting things about Eminem is that his songs frequently have more than one voice even if he's the only guy doing vocal work on the song. Eminem does voices very well -- he's a hell of a mimic and has a flair for convincing delivery. The Real Slim Shady opens with a voice that sounds like a non-pro PA system announcer, the sort of person you might have heard in your own highschool over the PA system.

May I have your attention please?
May I have your attention please?
Will the real slim shady please stand up?
I repeat, will the real slim shady please stand up?
We’re gonna have a problem here. << this line is sort of under his breath, said really fast, like we aren't supposed to hear it.

The next stanza is delivered in Eminem's narrative voice, and the neat thing here is that the vowel sounds tie the lyrics together. He just does this so damn well. It's really nice to listen to. The primary repeated vowel sound thingie in the first stanza is or as in (before, floor, door, and so forth). That's pretty obvious. However, note also that (worse) and (first) hit back on (burst). This reference is easier to hear than to read because there's a fair amount of leeway in pronunciation, and Eminem uses that to his advantage whenever possible. Two layers of vowel-blend riffs would be nice enough, but wait, there's more. Look at the er-sound in (throwin' her, over, furniture, and return). Now look at (ya'll, jaws, and all) in the first two lines.

Y’all act like you never seen a white person before
Jaws all on the floor like pam, like tommy just burst in the door
And started whoopin her ass worse than before
They first were divorced, throwin her over furniture (ahh!)
It’s the return of the...

Here there is an interruption, where Eminem leaves his narrative voice. It sounds like the announcer person again, or maybe some soccer mom.

ah, wait, no way, you’re kidding,
He didn’t just say what I think he did, did he?
And dr. dre said

Read that aloud. It's worth your time. Not that you need me to tell you, but the primary thing you're hearing is the -id sound. There's a really nice bit of rhythm on "think he did, did he", too. That's fine work. There's a secondary layer of vowel goodness in the long A sound from (wait, way, say, and Dre)... Slicker than shit through a goose, that is. Nice. We go back to narrative voice after that.

... nothing you idiots!
Dr. dre’s dead, he’s locked in my basement! (ha-ha!)
Feminist women love eminem

Here, (idiots) picks up on the -id sound from that last batch and (Dre) and (basement) go back to the long A sound. The next line is just a delightful thing for the short vowel sounds in it. Lovely, lovely. See, there's em-i-ni (from feminist) and then im-in (from women) and then em-in-em from, y'know, Eminem. Delightful, so that the thing sounds em-i-ni-im-in-em-in-em. What's not to like here?

The next bit is in soccer-mom voice again, and the chigga-chigga-chigga thing is voice turntable, not an actual person saying it.

Chigga chigga chigga* slim shady, I’m sick of him
Look at him, walkin around grabbin his you-know-what
Flippin the you-know-who, yeah, but he’s so cute though!

You've got the short i-sound, in (slim, sick, him, grabbin, his, and flippin). It's also in the voice turntable bit, in case you're blind and didn't see that without being told. But also (there's almost always a but-also in the guy's lyrics, and frequently two or three) we have consonant alliteration in this one with the s's in the first line. Also pay attention to the oo-sound in (you, who, and cute) and the complimentary o-sound in (know, so, and though). Probably those two (the oo and o sounds) should count for synergistic points because oo and o are close enough to benefit from the other's presence. That's the last of the soccer mom. We're back to the narrative of the angry white boy for the next stanza or verse or whatever the hell it is.

Yeah, I probably got a couple of screws up in my head loose
But no worse than what’s goin on in your parents’ bedrooms
Sometimes, I wanna get on tv and just let loose, but can’t
But it’s cool for tom green to hump a dead moose

In this chunk of the song (really technical English-major words, here I know. It's been more than ten years since I used the degree, so parts are a little rusty. Just deal.) we have the oo sound in (screws, loose, bedrooms, cool, and moose). Some of these are stronger because they're -oose words and rhyme and stuff. The -oose stuff also benefits from the other s-sounds scattered around in there. I think the phrasing here is also on to something, but I can't seem to pin it down. Ah, well. And who the fuck is Tom Green?

My bum is on your lips, my bum is on your lips
And if I’m lucky, you might just give it a little kiss
And that’s the message that we deliver to little kids
And expect them not to know what a woman’s clitoris is

This is solid work. You've got your short-i sound (is, lips, if, give, it, little, kiss, deliver, kids, clitoris) rolling through the damn thing and he hits it hard in the delivery because the rhythm in this section is very, very solid and the sing-song nature of it works to emphasize the i-sounds. That's pretty much all I got in this one, except that the phrasing is solid, each line splits pretty neatly in half.

Of course they gonna know what intercourse is
By the time they hit fourth grade
They got the discovery channel don’t they?
We ain’t nothing but mammals.. well, some of us cannibals
Who cut other people open like cantaloupes {*slurp*}
But if we can hump dead animals and antelopes
Then there’s no reason that a man and another man can’t elope
{*ewww!*} but if you feel like I feel, I got the antidote

This is a transitional chunk of lyric before we get to the chorus, which is a thing of beauty on its own. Again with the vowel repetition, which I am quite fond of and which he does well. Here we've got the -or sound as in (course, intercourse, fourth) and a broad a sound (mammals, cannibals, cantalopes, animals, antelopes, man, antidote) and the -ope sound (open, cantalopes, antelopes, elope, antidote).

Women wave your pantyhose, sing the chorus and it goes

One line. It introduces the scene change, tells us we're having a chorus, here. It's a fucking couplet. You do see that, right?

Chorus (repeated 2x)

I’m slim shady, yes I’m the real shady
All you other slim shadys are just imitating
So won’t the real slim shady please stand up,
Please stand up, please stand up?

Okay. This is the chorus, which every person on the planet (except me) got sick of hearing when this song was big. But it's interesting. Yes, really.

First off, there's a huge number of sibilants there. Lots of 'em. Sixteen words are sibilant, out of thirty-one. That's slightly more than half, there. It's syncopated, like the word shady, particularly heavily in the second line. Vowels that pop up are the long A sound in (shady, imitating) because they are hit hard on the syncopating thingie.

Will smith don’t gotta cuss in his raps to sell records;
Well I do, so fuck him and fuck you too!
You think I give a damn about a grammy?
Half of you critics can’t even stomach me, let alone stand me

Look at the s-sounds in the first line, note that they refer back to the sibilance of the chorus. We're back to lots of fun with vowel sounds. Here we've got oo, as in (do, you, too) and -am as in (damn, grammy, stand). You are also welcome to argue that "grammy" and "stand me" don't rhyme, but I suggest you listen to the song before you go that route. They may not rhyme for you or me, but they do for Eminem.

But slim, what if you win, wouldn’t it be weird?
Why? so you guys could just lie to get me here?
So you can, sit me here next to britney spears?

This is so nice. SO nice. First line, look at all those w's. Note that "you" has sort of a "w" feel for it at the end. So nice. The second line starts with a w and hops directly into stuff that I can quote Alexander Pope on, so you know I'm gonna be diggin' it. The second and third lines of the above chunk are literary technique right out of Essay on Criticism: Though oft the ear the open vowels tire. That, right there. Lookit it. The second line has long i-sounds in (why, guys, lie) and segues into long-e sounds (here, here, spears) for the third line.

Shit, christina aguilera better switch me chairs
So I can sit next to carson daly and fred durst
And hear ’em argue over who she gave head to first

You wouldn't think that this would work. I mean, hell, Aguilera isn't exactly a word that flows trippingly off the tongue. But it does work, and the vowel sound comes back in chairs. The next two lines rhyme and there's a hell of a delivery on "who she gave head to first".

You little bitch, put me on blast on mtv
Yeah, he’s cute, but I think he’s married to kim, hee-hee!
I should download her audio on mp3
And show the whole world how you gave eminem vd {*ahhh!*}

This segment is mostly ee sounds (me, mtv, he, mp3, vd).

I’m sick of you little girl and boy groups, all you do is annoy me
So I have been sent here to destroy you {*bzzzt*}

Oy!

And there’s a million of us just like me
Who cuss like me; who just don’t give a fuck like me
Who dress like me; walk, talk and act like me
And just might be the next best thing but not quite me!

I hear the tintinnabulation that so musically wells
From the bells, bells, bells, bells.

Chorus

I’m like a head trip to listen to, cause I’m only givin you
Things you joke about with your friends inside your living room
The only difference is I got the balls to say it
In front of y’all and I don’t gotta be false or sugarcoat it at all

Two pieces, short-i (trip, listen, givin inside) and aw (balls, y'all, false, all).

I just get on the mic and spit it
And whether you like to admit it {*err*} I just shit it
Better than ninety percent of you rappers out there

Short I (spit it, admit it, shit it) -- how can you not at least admire the damn technique?

Then you wonder how can kids eat up these albums like valiums
It’s funny; cause at the rate I’m goin when I’m thirty
I’ll be the only person in the nursin home flirting
Pinchin nurses asses when I’m jackin off with jergens
And I’m jerkin but this whole bag of viagra isn’t working
And every single person is a slim shady lurkin
He could be workin at burger king, spittin on your onion rings
{*hach*} or in the parkin lot, circling
Screaming I don’t give a fuck!
With his windows down and his system up
So, will the real shady please stand up?
And put one of those fingers on each hand up?
And be proud to be outta your mind and outta control
And one more time, loud as you can, how does it go?

Lots of stuff here in this last hunk, which is pretty tight. I couldn't find a nice spot to split it. Note in the first line, you have (how, album, valium) and I'm not sure that would go for anyone else, but it goes for Eminem. You don't even question it. I also like the -er (thirty, nursing, flirting, jergens, jerkin, working, lurking) and I like the up... system up, stand up, hand up. And, well, the -ou sound (proud, outta, loud) at the end is nice.

So, y'know, it's not just swearing. It isn't. There's actual literary technique there. The thing's layered and put together pretty well. It's amusing. It's occasionally quite deft. There is some actual bona-fide ability here.