4.9 ( 166 )

The meaning behind lyrics of Mockingbird by Eminem is intensely sad. It is one of his least violent songs for the record. The words in this song are so beautifully carved that many listeners tend to cry when they really focus on the words used in this song. Read the article below to learn more about an epic song by Eminem.

[Intro]

The Detroit rapper never hesitates to show his love for his daughter whenever and wherever he gets a chance to do so. The intro of this song is dedicated to his the then small baby daughter, Hailie, to show her real identity. This side of Eminem has made him a good father, which he talks about on a track ‘Bad Husband’ in Revival album as well.

[Verse 1, Part I]

Hailie was very small when Eminem started gaining popularity and when his relationship with his wife Kim started to become miserable. She had to go through the divorce of her parents when she was really small which might have affected her emotionally. As a child, she would see her friends having a normal family but then she would look at her personal life just to know that she can never have both of her parents by her side together.

The failed relationship of her parents must have made her really sad as a child. Eminem tries to put himself in her shoes and he sees the happiness of his daughter was overruled by intense feelings of emptiness and loneliness inside her head. He is aware of the fact that she wants to cry but she knows there is nobody except herself to wipe her tears. Hailie had to go through so much in her childhood.

[Verse 1, Part II]

Eminem is still inside Hailie’s head. She is scared. However, her father is not there with her, by her side, to comfort her. Even though he isn’t present by her side physically, Eminem makes sure that his prayers are always with her. He wants her to wipe her tears as she is able to feel her father’s presence from his prayers.

[Verse 1, Part III]

Lainie is Hailie’s cousin. The rapper talks to Lainie by his usual cold but a bold voice. He says he knows she thinks he is crazy. But he won’t mind it as long as she is aware of the fact that he loves her as much as he loves his daughter Hailie. Even though their family fell apart, he is trying his best to make Lainie understand that family is the only thing human beings have got in this earth and a family will always be the family.

[Verse 1, Part IV]

Hailie is very small and she doesn’t understand what’s going on yet. They both have become a joke at this point. Eminem was always moving for the tour and his ex wife was always on the news with the stories of a drug overdose, fighting with the cops, etc. He says he tried his best to keep his daughter away from the controversy. But the harder he tries to keep his daughter away from the public eye, the more his attempt to keep her safe backfires on him.

[Verse 1, Part V]

The rapper compares his childhood to his daughters childhood. He used to think he had had the worst childhood until he saw the childhood of his own daughter. Even though he didn’t want his daughter to go through what he had gone through, she has seen too much for her age.

Eminem confesses that he loved his ex wife a lot. However, due to the controversies and massive public backlash, they decided to move in their own respective paths. He says as much as Hailie wants her father and mother to be together, the relationship between them falls apart even more every single time.

[Verse 1, Part VI]

The rapper believes in a stereotypical concept that everything happens for a reason. He tries to explain his position in the whole drama between him and his ex wife. Eminem goes as far as to saying it was his fate that ignited the fire in a relationship between him and his wife. He wants all of them to be one long dream but we all know that’s not possible.

[Hook 1, Part I]

‘Hush, Little Baby’ is a very popular lullaby but we do not know anything about its origin. Even though Eminem isn’t there with her daughter, she can listen to this hook every time she tries to fall asleep. He is right there with her but with his prayers, with his words and not actual physical presence.

[Hook 1, Part II]

Apparently, Kim isn’t there with her daughter either. Maybe she is in the prison cell at the moment for her crimes. It is a complicated situation. Hailie is too small to understand it. He adds a line “we feel how we feel inside” so as to paint the situation by harsh reality. But Eminem makes sure that her mother is going to be alright.

[Verse 2, Part I]

The meaning behind lyrics of Mockingbird takes another turn to explain how did their lives come to the current situation. Eminem goes super emotional on this verse. He is reminiscing all the sadness that he and Kim had to go through. On one Christmas day, Kim had brought gifts for little Hailie but Eminem had no money. So, he had to compromise with Kim and make it look like they both had invested on those Christmas gifts for their daughter.

[Verse 2, Part II]

Eminem then further goes on to explaining how much that incident affected him. He tells us that he had had a job at the time. But as soon as he got his salary, people used to break into their house and steal the money. His only focus was on how to keep Hailie and Kim fed. It is evident that he felt extremely ashamed of his life at the time.

[Verse 2, Part III]

While Eminem’s job was to feed the family, Kim’s job was to save money for Hailie. They used to put money in a jar because they couldnt even afford piggy bank then. When they had collected almost a thousand dollars, someone broke into their house and stole the money. The situation was very emotional for both Kim and Eminem. They both felt like their life was going downhill once again.

[Verse 2, Part IV]

The meaning of the track Mockingbird takes another turn from this part of the lyrics. Now both Eminem and Kim are fighting. There is no peace in their lives at the moment. Kim moved to one place while Eminem moved to California with his CD. That’s when he met Dr. Dre who signed him in his record label. Then, Eminem flew off both Hailie and Kim to California.

[Verse 2, Part V]

However, Eminem was all about working because this is the only time he saw money around him. He wanted it all when the life was giving it to him. But Kim wasn’t fond of him getting popularity. Then, Eminem was featured on magazine covers while Kim fell in love with the drugs. The whole situation was so bizarre and random that both of them didn’t know how to handle it in a way that could save their relationship from dying.

[Verse 2, Part VI]

Eminem feels sorry that her daughter had to go through the events he was trying his best to avoid in her life. Despite his attempts to make her feel proud of her parents, they both have failed to actually make her proud of her parents. Eminem finally gets what he had been chasing all his life but he is alone and lonely. He spends his days looking at the pictures of Hailie and Lainie all alone in his empty house.

[Verse 2, Part VII]

The rapper creates a scene in his head where both Hailie and Lainie are all grown up to understand life. He can see both of them are grown sisters at the moment and both of them are comforting each other. The rapper had been with his daughter by his words in this song the whole time and he makes sure that he is still there with her, talking to her until she sleeps.

[Hook 1]

[Hook 2, Part I]

The meaning in lyrics of the second hook of Mockingbird takes a cute turn to father and daughter moments. Even though Eminem wasn’t able to get everything his daughter wanted to have when she was a child, he can get everything she wants at the moment. She doesn’t need to worry about anything anymore because her father had achieved everything that he had ever wanted to achieve. Now, all he wants to see is a smile on his daughter’s face.

[Hook 2, Part II]

Eminem goes as far as to saying he would get mockingbird, diamond ring and basically give her the whole world to see her smile. He is ready to kill the mockingbird that doesn’t make her happy and get another one for her. If the diamond ring doesn’t make her happy, then he is ready to go back to the jeweler and make him eat his diamonds, carats by carats of them.

Check Mockingbird by Eminem on YouTube:

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