Lyric Analysis 4: "Reasons Why" by Nickel Creek

Time now for a discussion of Nickel Creek's "Reasons Why," a haunting, provocative song from their self-titled major label debut. Here are the lyrics:

"Reasons Why"
lyrics by David Pucket. music by Sean Watkins

Where am I today? I wish that I knew
'Cause looking around there's no sign of you
I don't remember one jump or one leap
Just quiet steps away from your lead

I'm holding my heart out but clutching it too
Feeling this short of a love that we once knew
I'm calling this home when it's not even close
Playing the role with nerves left exposed

Standing on a darkened stage,
stumbling through the lines
Others have excuses,
but I have my reasons why

We get distracted by dreams of our own
But nobody's happy while feeling alone
And knowing how hard it hurts when we fall
We lean another ladder against the wrong wall

And climb high to the highest rung,
to shake fists at the sky
While others have excuses,
tI have my reasons why

[Bridge:]With so much deception
it's hard not to wander away
It's hard not to wander away
It's hard not to wander away

So we have 3 verses, a bridge, and two choruses that are really more like bridges themselves, or turnarounds -- just extensions to the verses. The rhyme scheme for the verses is:

A
A
B
B
with two of the three "B" couplets ending on assonant rhymes (same vowel, different consonant)

For the chorus, it's

A
B
C
B

The bridge is "A" for the first line, then "B's" all the way since the last three lines are identical.

You'll notice that with good songs, the rhyme scheme of the chorus is often different from the verses. This is one way (melody and of course subject matter being others) to make the chorus stand out.

Another thing that Pucket does here is change the lyrics of the chorus slightly to continue developing the metaphor established in each verse. So when the second verse ends with:

Playing the role with nerves exposed

he continues with theater symbolism in the chorus:

Standing on a darkened stage
Stumbling through the lines

Likewise, the third verse ends:

We lean another ladder against the wrong wall

and the altered chorus begins:

And climb to the highest rung
To shake fists at the sky

This grouping and development of metaphorical content contributes to the integrity of the song's structure. The soft, mid-tempo, yearning music that Watkins built around the lyrics does so as well, by putting the listener in a contemplative mood before the first note is sung.

The song is about faith, and as is often the case, the "secular" band Nickel Creek (all group members are evangelical Christians, though they are not a "Christian band") has formed a song that is more in the spirit of the Psalms than what is sung in most churches. Yet there is no "churchiness" to the lyrics -- no ten-gallon theological words or phrases.

But it is more than just an ability to put Biblical concepts into "street language." It is about courage and freedom -- the freedom and courage required to say "I'm confused and cold right now." "Christian" artists can't say that -- or at least they think they can't. We Christians have to have all the answers (there is a difference between knowing The Answer and having the answers). We have to stand on a tower and shout "I Have Found The Way," lest anyone mock us when we wimper "I feel like I'm lost in a crowd." I think we figure that people won't want to follow Christ until we Christians can make them believe they will be perfect when they do. I'd be interested in reading anyone's thoughts on this matter.

This narrator has distilled a big truth of the human condition into a couplet:

I don't remember one jump or one leap
Just quiet steps away from your lead

We often don't lose sight of Christ overnight -- it's a gradual slipping away. And we want to return to our first love, while at the same time fearful of being rejected, of having played the prodigal once too often:

I'm holding my heart out but clutching it too
Feeling this short of a love that we once knew

The narrator is also unafraid to place the blame where it ultimately belongs, rather than a simple, lazy "devil made me do it":

We get distracted by the dreams of our own

At the same time, this is a narrator who is unable to approach full candor. She (the song is sung by Sara Watkins) wants us to know that, wink, wink, others offer the same sentiments as "excuses," but to her they're "reasons why." Watkins conveys a hint of irony in these lines. Of course "excuses" and "reasons why" amount to the same thing. And so while it is true that:

With so much deception
It's hard not to wander away

The truth is, this is just another "reason why." The genius of the Nickel Creek recording is their ability to convey the irony. We sing along, all the while realizing that our excuses are inadequate. We have drifted. Check out "Reasons Why" on their Sugar Hill debut Nickel Creek (2000).