Jesus Christ, I’m so blue all the time/
And that’s just how I feel.
Phoebe Bridger’s song “Funeral” is the setting for an in depth look at the life of someone experiencing depression. The narrator is going to a funeral for someone her own age, and she feels genuine sorrow for his/her family. However, the more immediate sensation she is having is of being overwhelmed by depression.
She realizes the absurdity of it. “How can I feel sad when these parents lost their kid?” But the realization that she is acting and thinking irrationally does not alleviate her symptoms—she is still down. Part of her blues may be brought on by her relationship with the kid who died, but overall, we get the impression that this just exasperated an already exhausted mind. It appears that she has suffered with depression (or “the blues”) for some time and she imagines she always will.
With “Funeral”, Bridgers’ stands in a strong tradition of women folk singers like Joan Baez, Karen Dalton, Bridget St. John, Janis Ian, and The Indigo Girls. Each of these women were great at singing the blues and their tradition rivals that of the men of folk music.
The sound in “Funeral” is straightforward—simple vocals with a picked guitar and fiddle. Bridgers’ voice sounds pleasantly clear. The only deviation from the traditional folk formula is the interesting introduction. It sounds like something you’d hear from a French avant-garde artist like Yann Tiersen. This adds a bit of color to an otherwise repetitive music genre.
Funeral Lyrics
I’m singing at a funeral tomorrow.
For a kid a year older than me.
And I’ve been talking to his dad, it makes me so sad.
When I think too much about it I can’t breathe.
And I have this dream where I’m screaming underwater.
While my friends are all waving from the shore
And I don’t need you to tell me what that means,
I don’t believe in that stuff anymore.
Jesus Christ, I’m so blue all the time.
And that’s just how I feel.
Always have and I always will,
I always have and always will.
I have a friend I call.
When I’ve bored myself to tears.
And we talk until we think we might just kill ourselves,
But then we laugh until it disappears.
And last night I blacked out in my car.
And I woke up in my childhood bed.
Wishing I was someone else, feeling sorry for myself,
When I remembered someone’s kid is dead.
Jesus Christ, I’m so blue all the time.
And that’s just how I feel.
Always have and I always will.
I always have and always will.
And it’s 4 A.M., again,
And I’m doing nothing.
Again.
Written by Phoebe Bridgers