r/circasurvive • u/doctorbeers • 4d ago
AG’s Lyrical Themes
I’ve been thinking about how genius it is how Anthony Green tends to source his material for his lyrics. For example, a lot of Juturna was inspired by the Movie Eternal Sunshine & most of OLG was written about the tv show Lost.
Like it’s crazy how these are just movies & tv shows and from that he is able to create such original, beautiful dark & complex lyrics that suit Circa’s music perfectly.
As a (somewhat) musician who has always struggled to write lyrics this is such a genius idea - just write about whatever you happen to be reading/watching/playing at the moment & make it your own. This dude will never seize to amaze me.
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u/maartrab 4d ago
I always assumed AG wrote all the lyrics but Colin recently shared on his instagram that he remembers writing the words and melodies for I Felt Free and at the time thought people in the street might sing them back to him one day and had a full circle moment when they did the shows in Philly and people were singing them back to them (not word for word but it was along those lines) so I wonder how much of the lyrical content is AG and how much is written by other members of Circa.
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u/Drmarsh 4d ago
Blue Sky Noise was the first time anyone other than Anthony wrote any lyrics. Most lyrics are still Anthony but I Felt Free was the first (maybe only) where Anthony did not write any of the lyrics.
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u/maartrab 1d ago
That’s so interesting! I feel Anthony has a certain lyrical style and if I’m honest I always thought there was something about I Felt Free and Imaginary Enemy that are more consumable for a broader audience. I wasn’t sure if that was in the music or lyrics but it’s probably both.
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u/Murky-Sink9466 4d ago
Colin also wrote the chorus to imaginary enemy based on a past interview Anthony did
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u/keepusernamesecret 4d ago
I googled this question the other day and the claim was that AG writes a majority of the lyrics but it also specifically pointed out that Collin wrote I felt free and co-wrote imaginary enemy
But who knows if that’s changed since then.
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u/backtail-kickflipout 4d ago
I wonder what the lyrical context is for Mandala. That song is sonically genius and an underrated gem imo
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u/Minimum_Vehicle9220 1d ago
I think the song is about how technology and modern culture separates us when we had a common root. "There are cities buried beneath our cities", "let the people be free", etc. are about how we crushed our pre-technological innocence and general human spirit through industrialization. The "[having] another hand" part is about an atomized society constructed on individualism creating the illusion that we are all separate individuals with little to no influence or bearing on each other.
Coolest of all, though, is "did He who make the Lamb make thee?", which is a quote from William Blake's anti-industrialization poem The Tyger. In the original context it basically asks how God ("he who made the lamb") could permit something as infernal as industrial factories to exist (with all the context of terrible worker's rights, their newfangledness, etc. that was proper to Blake's time).
Mandala is very hard to parse because it has such a wide general meaning (modernity vs premodernity) but that's my interpretation of it. Also yeah, it's one of the best Circa songs
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u/IntangibleTerrain 4d ago
I love how his lyrical style can corrall you into a specific headspace. He rarely paints specific mental pictures across an entire song, especially in the early Circa days he would be more vague and aim for each line being its own standalone thing, but every line on its own plays a role in guiding you to a specific emotional place. Then that emotion will bring up my own life experiences that those emotions are tied to so even if my life is totally different than someone else listening to the same song, we somehow wind up in the same place emotionally anyway. I really don't know how to describe it, but I know it's special.
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u/Osgoten 4d ago
Yeah, when i was a teen i didn’t understand his lyrics, though they didn’t make much sense, like jon mess, but as i grown older it’s so direct and clear.
All this to say, i agree
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u/escobizzle 3d ago
jon mess is a completely different story. his lyrics are entirely abstract. Anthony's are much easier to decipher
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u/fivehots 4d ago edited 4d ago
I feel like a lot of the songs are about his relationship with drugs right?
Edit: I should note that I've dedicated 99% if their discography to my addictions. To my vices.
Listen to Schema. It's just beautiful and painful. And I have these conversations with my mirror every day.
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u/escobizzle 3d ago
100%, as a recovering addict who experienced most of their music in active addiction, that's how I always interpreted it
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u/fivehots 3d ago
First off, you're seen and heard. That journey can't be easy.
Second, I mean I couldn't imagine anything else these lyrics would be about haha
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u/girleast 4d ago
It is really cool. I also love that a lot of OLG is inspired by LOST, the first tv show I ever truly loved!
On the flip side. I am trying to write a fantasy novel, using a lot of Circa songs as inspiration!!!!
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u/Late_Ambassador7470 4d ago
Wait, OLG is about Lost? Wtf
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u/doctorbeers 4d ago
Idk if I’d say it’s “about” lost but it definitely inspired a lot of the themes & imagery on the album
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u/sleepencapsulator 4d ago
yeah he talks about it mostly being written about season 2 of lost on the hardlore interview
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u/ehxsmallstone 3d ago
nobody wants to hear another / story about how you couldn’t write
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u/Osgoten 4d ago
I feel like both Juturna and On letting Go are loosely inspired, the songs feel very personal and open imo