Jesus Christ, I am so blue all of the time
That’s exactly how I feel.
Phoebe Bridger’s song, “Funeral”, is the setting for a deep look into the daily life of someone suffering from depression. The narrator is at a funeral for a relative of her age and feels genuine sadness for the family. The more immediate feeling she has is that of being overwhelmed with depression.
It is absurd, she realizes. She is still feeling down even though she realizes that her actions and thoughts are irrational. While some of her depression may be due to her relationship with the child who died, overall we feel that it just made her more exhausted. She believes she will always have depression, or “the blues”), and it is clear that she has been suffering from the condition for some time.
Bridgers’ “Funeral” is part of a strong tradition that includes women folk singers such as Janis Ian and Bridget St. John, Karen Dalton and Bridget St. John. These women were all great at singing blues, and their tradition rivals the folk music men.
Funeral Meaning
Phoebe Bridgers
The sound in “Funeral” is straightforward–simple vocals with a picked guitar and fiddle. Bridgers’ voice is clear and pleasant. The interesting introduction is the only thing that breaks from the folk formula. This sounds like something Yann Tiersen would have composed. This gives life to a music genre that is often monotonous.
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
