Punisher Analysis- "Punisher"

I love Elliot smith! His music is super depressing though so you have to be in the right mood for it. Very poetic and beautiful though

Eden McFadden

Awww--thank you so much for this! Literary analysis has always been my favorite part of English, and I love being able to apply those skills to lyric analysis. I would always tell my students that it is totally ok not to understand something at first, but like you said--there's always that lightbulb moment if you work with it long enough!

English Teacher KP

Haha, I am noticing that, too 😭😭😭

English Teacher KP

Wow! Another song I have heard performed and listended to many times whose lyrics went right over my head. I googled the artist she is singing about in this song, and apparently he lived for a while in a house that is litterally called the “Snow White Cottages”. I am starting to realize that with Phoebe the answer to “Is she being litteral?” is always “yes” haha.

Wow, it’s so fun to watch you puzzle through Phoebe’s lyrics! They can be super confusing and frustrating, but that lightbulb moment where it starts to come together is always so rewarding. That’s what I love about textual analysis in general - when you first read (or hear or watch) something that’s overwhelming and seems like it’s just a big jumble that doesn’t mean anything, but then you find a tiny thread to pull and before you know it you’re finding all kinds of meanings and connections that you couldn’t have seen before. I just love English-y things! Haha. Thank you for taking us along with you; this is one of my favorite albums of all time and it’s so cool to see a “textual analysis” take on it from someone who’s not familiar with it already. I’ve loved the reactions so far and I’m looking forward to what’s to come!❤️

Kalee

Thank you so much for this info! Ill definitely check it out!

English Teacher KP

I can definitely see how this is a relatable song! It was a super fun song to dissect for sure!

English Teacher KP

I think this one is lyrically the most confusing and specific song on the album. I had to read meanings on genius to fully understand it 😂 but even before that I already liked that the speaker shows extreme yearning while feeling lost and wanting to become someone else. Coupled that with this being written about her idol, the song's content is so unique yet so relatable

If you're interested in seeing the lyrics written out, there's an official lyric booklet that comes with the vinyl and maybe you could find pictures of it online! I also have it, but I don't know if it's possible to post pictures on here

So you touch on something really interesting here which is the nuance of her admiration. Like, on one hand, the speaker is absolutely fixated on her idol. She admires him for both his work and the way he handles celebrity. She wants to emulate him. His addictions are sort of referenced in passing, but you're absolutely right that she's only seeing the "smoothed out" version of him.

English Teacher KP

Trust funds and punishers are two types of annoying fans. Punishers are fans who don’t know when to stop talking (like phoebe admits she would be if she ever met Elliott Smith). And trust funds are young wealthy fans who follow artists from show to show (cause they can afford to buy tickets to every show). Something interesting in the subtext here is that Phoebe mentions that Elliott was often alone and looking his worst. I actually just watched a video essay on Elliott Smith (https://youtu.be/xzra0Eamwas). Apparently he suffered from addiction and paranoia towards the end of his life. And often forgot the words to his own songs at shows. I think this verse speaks to the dichotomy of artists struggling with their mental health but still being expected to be nice in public with their fans. And phoebe admits that she can sometimes feels like she’s not meeting that standard all the time. I also think it’s interesting that her idol is someone who struggled with addiction when she also writes so much about struggling with her father’s addiction. The juxtaposition really highlights the difference between the two. Because phoebe knows her father and has to live with his behavior. But she only knows Elliott through secondhand stories, so she’s only able to see a smoothed out version of him (the same version of him that the trust funds and punishers saw).

Sav Miller

Also, Mariah, I have to agree with you-- if I ever met Taylor Swift, I'm pretty sure I'd just start crying and embarrass myself 😭😂😂

English Teacher KP

Interesting! I've never heard of a "chemical cut"; I did accidently give myself a "heat haircut" a few times back in the 2000s. That flat iron had me in a chokehold 😭😭😭

English Teacher KP

Yes! She confirmed this on twitter saying, “plagiarizing Elliott Smith is the copycat killer part (like when people copy serial killers for the media attention) and chemical cut because I bleach my hair and it’s so fried I never have to cut it” https://twitter.com/phoebe_bridgers/status/1326378032089747463

Phoebe bleaches/dyes her hair silver. I've always thought "chemical [hair]cut" refers to the breakage that happens with repeated bleaching - I've definitely had a chemical cut many times in my life. I love Phoebe's music because it's so specific but manages to still be relatable. For instance, this song makes me think of the relationship I have to Taylor Swift (I don't think I'd ever want to actually meet her, I'd black out and make a fool of myself)

Mariah Matherne

Phoebe references substance use in this song and in Kyoto and also in other songs. This quote from an interview gives her perspective: “I’m dealing with a lot of that specific type of relationship pattern. My dad is an alcoholic, I’ve dated a lot of alcoholics, I am friends with a lot of addicts. These are relationships I need to learn how to deal with because they are not going away. I need to grapple with my own control issues. When you’re in those types of relationships, they’re so tempting because you’re watching someone destroy themselves and you feel this savior complex shit for sure but you also feel like an angel every day. You never have to examine your own issues because you’re so focused on someone else. That’s definitely an overarching album theme.” https://pitchfork.com/features/moodboard/phoebe-bridgers-interview-10-things-that-influenced-new-album-punisher/

Ok, this makes so much sense. It explains the speaker's fear of saying too much, which she reveals at the end of the song.

English Teacher KP

Thanks for this! I just Googled Elliot Smith; I am unfamiliar with his work, but I'll have to look into it. Also, I just looked up the Snow White cottages- so cute!

English Teacher KP

From an interview in 2020: “A punisher is someone who doesn’t know when to stop talking,” she says of the title. “It’s like when you’re in an Uber and someone’s showing you their demos. Sometimes I can put my foot in my mouth too though, so I guess the fear is that when I meet my heroes, I’ll be the punisher. It’s my nightmare. I’d way rather be judged for being a bitch or shy or any other personality trait than for overstaying my welcome.” https://i-d.vice.com/en/article/bv8nwm/phoebe-bridgers-punisher-album-interview

The song is about the musician Elliott Smith (who died in 2003) so you were spot on about it being about a specific celebrity. I had to look at Genius lyrics to understand this song. Genius explains that she is referring to the Los Feliz Snow White Cottages in LA where Elliot Smith lived (also you’re right that’s it also has the double meaning of being a cocaine reference). Genius says that a “punisher” is a fan that doesn’t stop talking. https://genius.com/Phoebe-bridgers-punisher-lyrics

Also, the fact that the album is called Punisher, and here the speaker alludes to a "punisher" has to be significant. Upon listening to the song a few more times, I realized that the "punisher" must be a type of person, much like the "trust fund' type also mentioned. The implication seems to be that the object of our speaker's fixation is very kind. This is made evident by their willingness to interact with both types of people-- the trust fund and the punisher. This tells me that these types of people are, at the very least, sort of annoying. This is interesting to me because the speaker does seem to have a fear of being annoying to the object of her fixation. At the end, she reveals that it's probably best that she's never met them because she might either not know what to say, or she might say too much.

English Teacher KP