Hello today’s blog will focus on just a few of Jack Stauber’s songs and what {in my opinion} they signify and mean! For some background Jack Stauber is American musician/ animator who is known for the unique sound parings he uses in his songs and how he sings in “cursive”.
1- Easy to breathe
This song was released November 6th, 2020, and was a song featured in a psychological horror film titled “Opal” it is sung by a character who smokes cigarettes incessantly and is obsessed with tv. This leads him to go onto sing this and the whole premises of the song is how he does not understand how the people in the tv can breathe so easily. He also goes on in this song to ramble about how the women on tv love him and idolize him and how they “want his soul” (mind you he is also singing this song to a young child). Though I believe there is a deeper meaning than just being a stay-at-home bum and bad grandfather. The deeper meaning is the story is about co-dependency and usage of unhealthy coping mechanisms. This can be seen because the man singing is both blind and has an illness. It is a theory that his illness is caused by his constant smoking but also that the illness in turn took his sight. Yet this man still chooses to watch endless amounts of tv? The answer to why he would do that is it is how he copes and it’s what he depends on. He watches the same shows daily because he can remember what they were like before he became blind, and it is his last connection to reality. As he seems to forget who his own grandchild is numerous times while singing. his cigarettes are something he has always had and is how he copes as his current living situation is quite unfortunate.
2- Dog nightmare
This song was released March 25th,2017 and honestly is one or was one of his more popular songs released. It also is a song that not much has been found out about when it comes to any deeper meaning. On the surface level it seems very unassuming with lyrics like “(My name is Jack) Hello! (Okay-)(Mmm-oy) (Go outside)(Here we go, ah!)” as you can see most people may not want to or will find this hard to really analyze. I see it thought as something that could potentially lead to the topic of an unhealthy relationship. If you look into just the title of the song dog nightmare automatically alludes to something more. And we are hit with a few key lyrics such as “I was dancing to your house last Wednesday night (I was dancing to your house last Wednesday night)I caught a little word of something you said (I caught a little word of something you said)Now I can’t let little prose come out of my head, ha”. This already sounds like something has gone down and combining with the rest of the lyrics speaking about going for a ride and allusions to biting. This insinuates maybe they are physically going on a drive to escape what’s going on and biting is a clear symbolism for violence. So, although this is not one of my favorite songs by him in my opinion its mystery surrounding it makes it very fun to analyze!
3- Dead weight
I love this song to an unhealthy extent so as one does, I simply over-analyzed it to death. This song was released April 14th,2018 (writing these dates is making me realize I’ve been a fan longer than I thought). This song though you can already see the underlying meaning fairly easily. Jack uses tones that almost sound similar to whining or someone who is mourning a person. It is also a fairly popular song as it creates a nostalgic tone that viewers loved. This also probably why it is one of three songs which have their own music video! The meaning I took away from this was just honestly a person who feels like a failure. It seems as the person alludes to that they have everything they “need” but not really anything else of importance. This is what leads them to spiral and talk and repeat many times the word “dead weight”. It alludes to the sense of what they feel being that in the grand scheme of things they feel minuscular.
So overall these are the meanings or take aways I have had after listening to these songs! Be sure to check out this songwriter if any of these speak to you and he also has many other silly songs and Claymation animations!
I love this soso much, I used to be obsessed with Jack Stauber. I need to get into his music again!!
I loooved Jack Stauber when I was younger. Most of his songs are really deep (I think?) but I never really understood them. Loved your breakdown of these!
i love jack stauber songs. it genuinly feels like i’m watching a movie or reading a book when i just listen to one of his pieces. he does such a good job at creating an interesting, eerie, and thrilling atmosphere through music. i hope he gets the oppurtunity to write music for a movie, tv show, or video game some day.
Didn’t know you listened to Jack Stauber!