Hell Is Around The Corner by Tricky Lyrics Meaning – A Journey Through Shadows
Lyrics
Lick a rock on foil (nigga I’ll come forth)
Say reduce me, seduce me (They juice me, seduce me)
Dress me up in Stussy
Hell is round the corner where I shelter
Ism’s and schisms
We’re living helter skelter (been livin’ on a study)
If you believe and (or) deceive common sense says shouldn’t receive
Let me take you down the corridors of my life
And when you walk, do you walk to your preference?
No need to answer till I take further evidence
I seem to need a reference to get residence
A reference to your preference to say
I’m a good neighbor, I trudge (shrug)
So judge me for labor
The bond on me ensures (lobotomy) my good behavior
The constant struggle (strum) ensures my insanity
Passing the ignorance ensures the struggle for my family
We’re hungry beware of our appetite
Distant drums bring the news of a kill tonight
The kill which I share with my passengers
We take our fill, take our fill, take our fill
I stand firm for our soil (a source)
Lick a rock on foil (nigga I’ll come forth)
Say reduce me, seduce me (they juice me, seduce me)
Dress me up in Stussy
Confused by different memories
Details of Asian remedies
Conversations, of what’s become of enemies
My brain thinks bomb-like
So I listen he’s a calm type
And as I grow, I grow collective
Before the move sit on the perspective
Mr. Quaye (Mr. Kray) lay in the crevice (distant cradle in the crevice)
And watches from the precipice
Imperial passage
Heat from the sun some days slowly passes
Until then, you have to live with yourself
Until then, you have to live with yourself
I stand firm for our soil (a source)
Lick a rock on foil (nigga I’ll come forth)
Say reduce me, seduce me (They juice me, seduce me)
Dress me up in Stussy
Hell is round the corner where I shelter
Ism’s and schisms
We’re living helter skelter (been livin’ on a study)
If you believe and deceive common sense says shouldn’t receive
Let me take you down the corridor
My brain thinks bomb-like
Bomb-like
My brain thinks bomb-like
Bomb-like, bomb-like
My brain thinks
Bomb-like
Beware of my appetite
Gritty, cryptic, and bathed in the smoke of its own inscrutability, Tricky’s ‘Hell Is Around The Corner’ stands as a testament to the musician’s ability to weave unnervingly raw tapestries of sound and meaning. Through the brooding beats and enigmatic lyrics, the song captures the darker corridors of human experience.
At the heart of this track lies the interplay between a menacing beat, sampled from Isaac Hayes’ ‘Ike’s Rap II,’ and the velvety dissonance of Tricky’s spoken word delivery. This marriage of sounds sets the stage for a deep dive into the psyche of a protagonist navigating through the chaotic tapestry of life, against a backdrop of societal and personal turmoil.
The Elegance of Despair: Untangling the Title’s Paradox
With a title like ‘Hell Is Around The Corner,’ Tricky spins a paradox of seductive darkness. The song title suggests an omnipresent doom, one that’s intimately close yet temporally indefinite. It invites listeners to conceptualize ‘hell’ not as a distant realm of afterlife, but as a lurking shadow within our earthly existence.
By presenting hell as a corner away, the song thrusts us into a mindful awareness of our own peril, both from the external world and from within our psyches. It’s turning the corner that’s pivotal—the moment at which one’s path can lead either to salvation or deeper into the abyss.
A Tapestry of Isms and Schisms: Unraveling Societal Strains
‘Ism’s and schisms’—these few words ripple through the chorus with potent succinctness, encapsulating a world divided, fragmented by ideologies and conflicts that seep into the fabric of daily life. Tricky’s lyrics paint a stark reality of being consumed by a society that is ‘living helter skelter,’ chaotically, without direction or sense.
The mention of ‘isms’ serves as shorthand for complex systems of belief and discrimination that influence behavior and social structures. It hints at the inescapable social constructs that define and, often, confine us in our pursuit of identity and belonging.
The Hunger Inside: A Metaphor for Human Desires
Cut to the visceral image of ‘Distant drums bring the news of a kill tonight,’ and it becomes clear that Tricky is expounding upon a basic human condition—the unrelenting hunger. This hunger transcends the literal and metamorphoses into an allegory for our fundamental desires and the extents to which we’ll go to satiate them.
As Tricky professes a shared kill with his passengers, there’s an acknowledgment of communal longing, the universal quest for fulfillment that binds humanity in a silent pact, driven by our primal instincts.
Life in a Crevice: The Song’s Hidden Meaning of Survival
Among Tricky’s cryptic lines, the peculiar mention of ‘Mr. Quaye (Mr. Kray) lay in the crevice’ seems to point towards survival in hostile conditions. The reference to the Kray twins, notorious figures in British crime, conjures an image of both power and the need for concealment—even the fiercest must find respite in the cracks of society.
This covert hideaway from Imperial passage, possibly symbolizing relentless scrutiny and control, may suggest the song’s deeper narrative of enduring and persisting in a world designed to oppress and marginalize.
Memorable Lines that Echo in the Mind’s Corridor
Tricky’s repetitive invocation ‘My brain thinks bomb-like’ is a haunting refrain that echoes throughout the song. It’s evocative of an awareness rigged for destruction, perhaps a defensive mechanism against an untrustworthy world, or an admission of internal turmoil ready to detonate at any moment.
‘Bomb-like’ becomes a mantra for the charged state of being, an anticipation of explosive potential whether in thought, emotion, or deed. The line reverberates, leaving an indelible mark on the listener’s imagination, tying back to the central theme—while hell may be around the corner, the spark is carried within.
