01-10-19
I think it’s important to establish where the inspiration for today’s image came from. The body of the fox comes from a pretty well-known photo of Aesop Rock himself. The fox, well his name is “Aesop” Rock, so of course, I always think of Aesop’s Fables. The rising sun, that’s because we got’s to “keep on to the break of dawn.”
In most of Aesop’s song he aims to analyze anything he can, Daylight, is no different. Throughout the song, he’s continually talking about the frustration in trying to follow his dreams and trying to figure out a manner in which he would be able to fight for a better future.
Aesop Rock has talked about how his music is an exploration of the struggles within his own life and his own mind. This track gives more in-depth insight into some of those struggles giving reference to how he sees American and hip-hop communities and his thoughts on it. Ultimately, he’s speaking to his desire to be his own person over having to choose over the pursuit of his interests and goals—wanting to be judged by the substance of his work as opposed to being forced into a position of conformity.
The concept of wanting to avoid conformity is one that occupies my mind as well. I’ve always used this song as that spark to keep my eyes set on whatever it is I’m trying to accomplish. From the beat to the lyrics themselves there’s this push, something that catapults your spirit forward. When thinking about vigilance and how it requires intense concentration, I hear that focus in Aesop’s work. His struggle with wanting to be something authentic to himself keeps him vigilant of the work others are producing, and what other’s may be expecting of him. This isn’t to imply that he submits to these expectations or tries to conform to what is working successfully for someone else, on the contrary, his vigilance allows him to continue creating something that is uniquely his own.
Vigilance keeps us alive, and it also informs us in how we should move forward.
Lyrics:
[Intro: Sample]
Yes, yes, y’all, and you don’t stop
And keep on, ’til the break of dawn
Yes, yes, y’all, and you don’t stop
And keep on, ’til the break of dawn
Yes, yes, y’all, and you don’t stop
And keep on, ’til the break of dawn
Yes, yes, y’all, and you don’t stop
And keep on, ’til the break of dawn[Verse 1]
Put one up for Shackle Me Not, clean logic procreation
I did not invent the wheel, I was the crooked spoke adjacent
While the triple sixers’ lassos keep angels roped in the basement
I walk the block with a halo on a stick, poking your patience
Y’all catch a thirty second flash visual
Dirty cooperative med platoon
Bloom, head-trip split ridiculous
Fathom the splicing of first generation fuck-up
With trickle-down anti-hero smack (Kraken!)
I pace my game for zero hour completion cretin, splash
Duke of early retirement picket dream
American Nightmare hogging the screen
I’ll hold the door open so you can stumble in
If you’d stop following me around the jungle gym
Now it’s honor, and I spell it with the ‘H’ I stole from heritage
Merit crutched on the wretched refuse
From my teeming resonance
I promise, tempest tossed breed with a bleeding conscience
See, the creed accents responsive
But my spores divorced the wattage
And I’m sleeping now — wow! — yeah, the settlers laugh
You won’t be laughing when your covered wagons crash
You won’t be laughing when the buzzards drag your brother’s flags to rags
You won’t be laughing when your front lawn is spangled with epitaphs (You won’t be laughing!)
Then I’ll hang my boots to rest when I’m impressed
So I triple knot ’em and forgot ’em
His origami dream is beautiful
But man, those wings will never leave the ground
Without a feather and a lottery ticket, now settle down[Hook]
All I ever wanted was to pick apart the day
Put the pieces back together my way
All I ever wanted was to pick apart the day
Put the pieces back together my way
All I ever wanted was to pick apart the day
Put the pieces back together my way
All I ever wanted was to pick apart the day
Put the pieces back together my way[Verse 2]
Slacker-bound intimate tabloid headline with a pulse
Shimmy cross the centerfold, enter dead time engulfed
Divvy crumbs for the better souls
With seven deadly stains, adhere the blame to crystal conscience
The result’s a lowlife countin’ on one hand what he’s accomplished
Okay, link me to activism chain activate street sweep
Plug deteriorating cenobite pendragon
I hock spores coursed by the morbid
Spreading of mad men, Alley gospel
Sinking your Lincoln-Log cabin and Charlie Chaplin waddle
I could zig-zag and zig ’em again
For the badge dreams sparkle in my brick wall windows
Another thick installment of one night in Gotham
Without the wretched; Houston, we have a problem
Attached to the festive batch of city goblins
Who split holiday freaks on a box cut cinema high road bellow
Head gripped, watch red bricks turn yellow
Sort of similar to most backbones at camp Icarus
Where all fiddler crabs congregate
And get pampered for bickering
Life’s not a bitch, life is a beautiful woman
You only call her a bitch ’cause she won’t let you get that pussy
Maybe she didn’t feel y’all shared any similar interests
Or maybe you’re just an asshole
Who couldn’t sweet talk the princess
Kiss the speaker wire Peter/pacifism pegging threshold
Stomach full of halo kibbles
Wings span cast black upon vigils
Here to Duck Hunt ticker tape vision and pick apart the pixels
I got a friend of polar nature, and it’s all peace
You and I seek similar stars but can’t sit at the same feast
Metal Captain, this cat is askin’ if I’ve seen his bit of lost passion
I told him: “Yeah,” but only when I pedaled past him[Hook]
All I ever wanted was to pick apart the day
Put the pieces back together my way
All I ever wanted was to pick apart the day
Put the pieces back together my way
All I ever wanted was to pick apart the day
Put the pieces back together my way
All I ever wanted was to pick apart the day
Put the pieces back together my way[Outro: Sample]
Yes, yes, y’all, and you don’t stop
And keep on, ’til the break of dawn
Yes, yes, y’all, and you don’t stop
And keep on, ’til the break of dawn
Yes, yes, y’all, and you don’t stop
And keep on, ’til the break of dawn
Yes, yes, y’all, and you don’t stop
And keep on, ’til the break of dawn