September 9, 2014
Mockingbird by Eminem The song “Mockingbird” by Eminem reveals many concepts throughout the song. Many emotions were shown through his lyrics for the love he has for his two daughters. His lyrics provide a brief and straight forward message but if you take time out to interpret each line it consumes a story of his life. The word alone proved an important message about how he feels about himself as a father and describes the problems he faced trying to raise Hailie and Laney. The music adds emotion to the lyrics but just reading the lyrics alone is enough to understand the struggles Eminem went through. I believe that true rap music serves its purpose by sharing life stories and confronting harsh realities. There is a rap song called “Mockingbird” by Eminem, and it is about Eminem telling his daughter that he will always be there for her even though he is thousands of miles away. Lyrics of “Mockingbird” is a heart-warming sensation and addresses to a lot of people who are without a member of their family. “Hailie I know you miss your mom and I know you miss your dad” (Eminem). This is the first line to the song Mockingbird by Eminem, which is one of many songs that tell a story about his life. This is the one that I feel is the most powerful and fullest of emotion, more than any other song he has written. The first line turns on a switch for the rest of the song, and bursts into questions like: “Why does Hailie miss her parents?” “Where are her parents and when will they come back?” He ends up answering all of these questions in vivid detail. The first lines to start off the song are “Hailie I know you miss your mom and I know you miss your dad, Well I'm gone but I'm trying to give you the life that I never had” (Eminem). Hailie wishes that her parents were home, as much as Eminem wants to be home he wants to make something of himself and able to give Hailie the things that he never had. Later it moves to “Daddy's always on the move, mamma's always on the news” (Eminem). Although Eminem is out there making something of career and is able to provide for her, he is never there to watch her grow up or be with her, and her mom is always getting herself in trouble with drugs so she doesn’t have someone stable to take care of her. He then moves to being sorry by stating “We did not plan it to be this way, your mother and me” (Eminem). Meaning Eminem and Kim had planned a different life for them, being together as a family not being separated all the time, not broke, not influenced by drugs. He then says “But then of course everything always happens for a reason” (Eminem) meaning life happened and the real world is a different place and they had to make their own way through it. He tells Hailie “But no more worries, rest your head and go to sleep, Maybe one day we'll wake up and this will all just be a dream”(Eminem). He has hoped to change his ways and to come home and be with her more and to help Kim so they can be a family again like they always were. In “Mockingbird”, Eminem describes his difficult situation of being a celebrity and having to be out working forever, without having contact with his daughters. It is the same situation. First, Eminem shows his worry for his daughters. This means he really wants to be a good dad but he can’t. Eminem is sad and stressed out because he isn’t able to see his family and he got divorced. In Mockingbird, Eminem shows that he really cares for being a good dad, even before his career. We can see this in the lines that say: “Cause daddy felt like a bum, see daddy had a job But his job was to keep the food on the table for you and mom.” What Eminem is trying to say is that even before he was famous, he worked many hours so Hailey and his wife could life well. This shows that he did care about his family especially his daughters. We can find more evidence about this when he says: “And if you ask me too Daddy’s gonna buy you a mockingbird I’mma give you the world I’mma buy a diamond ring for you I’mma sing for you
I’ll do anything for you to see you smile” What he says is that he will do anything just to see Hailey smile. He really cares about his daughter and wants him to see her happy. The bad thing is that he can’t, because he is working far away from home as the song says: “Papa was a rollin’ stone, momma developed a habit And it all happened too fast for either one of us to grab it
I’m just sorry you were there and had to witness it firsthand” In these liens, Eminem says that his career screwed up his relationship and bonds with his family so now; he can’t easily go and visit his family. He also demonstrates his love and that he misses his family when he says: “Now I’m sitting in this empty house, just reminiscing Lookin’ at your baby pictures, it just trips me out
To see how much you both have grown, it’s almost like you’re sisters now” In these three lines Marshall Mathers (Eminem’s name) exposes his sorrow and that he misses his daughters. Also he is sad because he is able to see how much his daughters have changed and he is not able to spend time with them. Another thing, Eminem, believe that everything that happened was destiny or fate. In Eminem’s song we can provide evidence in the lines that say: “But then of course everything always happens for a reason I guess it was never meant to be but it’s just something we have no control over and that’s what destiny is.” In these lines, Eminem says that everything that has happened to the family; his divorce and split, has happened for a reason, and that it must have been fate which made this situation to happen.