Dissect - S9E11 - So It Goes by Mac Miller

Episode Date: December 14, 2021

We continue our season-long analysis of Mac Miller’s Swimming with it’s final track “So It Goes.” Among the many revelations made in this episode is how “So It Goes” intentionally sets up Swimming’s companion album, Circles. Dissect will return in January 2022 to analyze Circles over 6 episodes. Follow Dissect on Tiktok, Instagram, and Twitter. This season includes discussion of substance misuse and addiction. For resources on these topics, visit spotify.com/resources. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey everyone, quick heads up that today's episode is our last on swimming, and we'll be taking a few weeks off for the holidays. But don't worry, we're coming back with a handful of episodes on Circles, which will begin publishing on January 18th, the week of Circle's anniversary and Max Birthday. Again, we will return to analyze circles beginning Tuesday, January 18th. I hope you all enjoy the holidays, and thank you so much for listening. Everything ends, but what do endings even mean? Every ending creates a beginning. One cannot exist without the other. They are bonded together, creating one fluid, continuous experience, like the infinity symbol, or yin-yang, or a circle.

Mac Miller understood this idea well. In one of our favorite quotes at the time of swimming, Mac reflected on what he would tell his younger self, saying, quote, Everything has so much weight, but it's all just chapters, it's all just pieces of the story. There's going to be a next part. It's not a big deal. It's not. That's the thing.

Trust. The more I trust in who I am as a human being, the more I'm like, Okay, this will kind of all figure itself out, unquote. This wisdom permeates throughout swimming, an album whose central motif, water, so perfectly captures this continuity between beginnings and ends, life and death, as water is the replenishing source of life

that can just as easily pull you under. But even death, the ultimate individual end, is not the end. There was a time before you, there will be a time after you, and everything will kind of figure itself out. For life to continue, it has to. And so today we come to the final track of swimming, a song that is at once an end and a new beginning, a song that was the last thing Mac ever posted about on the day he passed.

A song that captures both the closure and complete lack of closure that most accurately resembles our lives and existence. From Spotify, I'm Cole Kushna, and this is Dissect, long-form musical analysis broken into short, digestible episodes. Today we continue our serialized analysis of Mac Miller's swimming with its final track, so it goes. so it goes was produced by mac miller with additional production by john brian in terms of its harmony the track is relatively simple oscillating between two chords the entire song c major 7 and d minor played on a guitar as we'll find out by the end of this episode there's more in the meets the ear with these two chords as they will come to represent something incredibly significant by the song's end or should we say beginning next mac adds a simple drum loop consisting of just a kick drum

drum and snare drum with the wire turned off, which gives it a more muted, hollow sound. Next, a subtle synth played by John Bryan enters the track. While this synth begins rather simply, it will grow in complexity and prominence as the track progresses. Something will want to keep top of mind as we continue our analysis. Finally, in the opening moments of So It Goes, we hear another element, ambient background noise of a dog barking, and Mack enthusiastically yelling back at the dog. Mac's affinity for dogs is clear to anyone who's followed his career. On his MTV reality show, Mack Miller and the Most Dope family,

we saw Mac adopt a dog, Ralphie, along with his sister, Lauren. And while the dog barking here on So It Goes is reportedly Myron, who Mac adopted in 2017, we can look back at Mac's reflections on losing Ralphie in 2014 to see what symbolic weight and resonance he found in their companionship. Yeah, no, I see the love that you have for him. No, no, no, it's just real. That dog saved my life, so. How do you save your life?

Don't get deep with me. Come on, man. If you can't get deep with me, or can you get deep with it? No, no, no, no. I mean, it's just like, you know, to keep a real, like, the, I believe in, like,

dogs being like reflections of yourself and your soul in them. So, like, they're, that, you know, it was nice to have the little homie. To Mack, the relationship he had with his dog allowed for reflection of his innermost self. This is also felt in the iconic lyric from Mack's song grand finale.

God lives in my, dog's soul, the devil in his dog bowl. If Mack saw dogs as a reflection of his innermost self, then it stands to reason that he also sees God in himself, and the devil in dog's bowl is symbolic of substances, of consumption, of those things that can distance us from our divinity. Knowing the symbolic importance he sees in dogs, hearing Mack interact with Myron at the beginning of So it goes is a raw, touching moment. But there's also another possible layer to this intro we have to address, and to do so, we have to back up a moment and acknowledge the likely origins of the song's title, so it goes. A phrase that was most famously used

in one of the more popular pieces of American literature. Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut. Slaughterhouse 5 was inspired by Vonnegut's own experience in World War II and surviving the horrific firebombing of Dresden, Germany. The story details the life of Billy Pilgrim, who, like Vonnegut, survived the bombing of Dresden. Only Pilgrim eventually becomes abducted by aliens from the planet Trialphamador. Unlike humans, these aliens have the ability to perceive time as a landscape. To quote the novel, all moments past, present, and future always have existed, always will exist. The Trialphamadorians can see how permanent all the moments are, and they can look at any moment that interests them. It's just an illusion we have here on Earth that one moment follows another,

like beads on a string, and that once a moment is gone, it's gone forever, unquote. Billy Pilgrim and Vonnegut both famously adopt the Tralphamadorian saying in response to any death, so it goes. This phrase appears more than 100 times in the novel, used any time a death is described or even alluded to. It's a phrase of acceptance, an acknowledgement of the inevitability of death, a phrase that takes on the full weight of mortality. It's also a phrase max off fit to to end his magnum opus with. Fittingly, Slaughterhouse 5 contains a motif of barking dogs, also tied tangentially to death. Specifically, there are four instances of the sentence, Some Were a Dog barked, used as a forewarning. When Billy Pilgrim is abducted by aliens,

a big dog barks in the distance. When Pilgrim is taken as a prisoner of war in Germany, he again hears a dog. And it's in this instance Vonnegut clues us in on its symbolic meaning, quote, Somewhere a dog barked. With the help of fear and echoes and winter silences, that dog had a voice like a big bronze gong, unquote. In Western music, a gong is typically used to intensify the impression of fear or horror. It would seem Vonnegut here is doing something similar with barking dogs preceding pivotal events in which the character feels his life is in danger. Along with these more ominous appearances, Slaughterhouse 5's opening chapter shows a dog in a different light. It's here that the story's narrator, Vonnegut himself, describes his desire

to write a book about his war experience. He tells us of his troubles trying to find people to talk to, but find Solace in the company of his dog, Sandy, quote, And I let the dog out, or I let him in, and we talk some. I let him know I like him, and he lets me know he likes me. He doesn't mind the smell of mustard gas and roses, I'm quote. Importantly, the smell of mustard gas and roses is used here to describe the narrator's breath after he has been drinking all night. And this same description returns at the very end of the novel, the final page, actually.

It's here that in the aftermath of the horrendous firebombing of Dresden that killed over 25,000 people, Billy Pilgrim and other survivors attempt to bury the dead. Quote, There were hundreds of corpse mines operating by and by. They didn't smell bad at first, were wax museums, but then the bodies rotted and liquefied, and the stink was like roses and mustard gas, so it goes, unquote. Here roses, those beautiful flowers with bones that pick,

and mustard gas, a tool of biochemical warfare, both appear simultaneously as products of alcohol, war, and death. It's a tragically beautiful combination of elegance and ugliness in line with so much of Mac Miller's work on swimming. And in the end, all that can be said is, so it goes. Or as Mac Miller said back on, what's the use, it is what it is. We of course don't know if Mack was aware of this dog motif in Slaughterhouse Five, or if he purposefully used the audio of his dog as anything more than some fun ambience. But given that the title, So It Goes, does feel like a direct nod to bonding its book.

The dog as companion, and the barking dog foreshadowing some pivotal, possible. deadly event, joins a number of ear connections, intentional or not, to Mack's own life and death we're going to discover on this track. Indeed, the intricacy of the Slaughterhouse 5 illusion throughout the track cannot be underestimated. War and consumption are intertwined. Good humor faces doom. Like Vonnegut, Mack begins his song with an acknowledgment of canaan companionship, perhaps as a remedy to the unsolvable problems of man, and the alert of a barking dog prepares us for a turning point, and end. So it goes. You could have the world in the palm of your hands, you still might drop it.

And everybody want to reach inside your pockets. I tell them red light. Stop it. Shit, that give me more headaches and alcoholics. There was nothing in my water. Mac begins so it goes, wrapping one of its refrains. You could have the world in the palm of your hands. You still might drop it.

To have anything in the palm of your hands demonstrates complete control or mastery, which Mac immediately reveals to be an illusion. There's nothing you can hold for very long, and swimming on this blue planet requires constant effort and adaptation in the face of ever-changing tides. These lines also specifically evoked success, that you can have everything, money, power, influence, but you're always at risk of losing it all. Throughout his career, Mack seemed to seriously consider this dynamic,

as well as the responsibility and weight that came with his influence. On his debut album, Blue Slide Park, Mack decided that having the world in the palm of your hands wouldn't mean anything unless you changed it for the better. Mac's Intuitive, where would you take it? I found that being famous in reality, well, it ain't shit. Because you get out the world in the palm of me hand, but it don't mean a thing till you change it. Listen, baby.

Max's intuition of improving the world while he holds it was also felt as recently as the previous track on swimming 2009. There he rapped, weight of the world, I got to carry my own. With these arms, I can carry you home. I'm right here when you're scared and alone. Even in the actual year 2009, when a 17-year-old Malcolm McCormick still dreaming of success, he wrote on his blog, quote,

I don't want to be a performer, I want to make a difference in the world. I realize that my voice is through music. All I want to do is change the way people see the world, and I believe I have the power to do just that, unquote. And while Mack's progressive ambitions are admirable, he also expressed moments where he felt like the responsibility of influence was too much. On the 2013 track, I Am Who Am, Mac rapped, I waste away in this room spitting out raps. Yahweh put the world in my hands, I'm giving it.

back. It's clear the symbolism of having the world in your hands was important to Mac. While he pondered of this for years, oscillating between wanting to use this power to improve the world and wanting to give up the mantle of responsibility, it seems Mac recognized the true nature of achieving anything. That is, any progress, anything attain, anything held, can be lost. Thus, we need to prepare for both states. having and having lost. Mac then continues so it goes lamenting, and everybody want to reach inside your pockets. I tell them red light, stop it, shit that gave me more headaches than

alcoholics. While Mac looks at the world from on high, those on the surface are concerned with survival, competition, and exploitation, as they seemingly attempt to take advantage of him. When Mac says red light, there are added vocal layers pitched higher and made warbly, indicating distress. The red light reference also continues the car and travel motif we've heard on swimming. Mack is looking for green lights and healthy passengers, not red lights and exploitative friends. Mack then pairs dealing with these red lights to the headaches of alcoholics, indicative of their symbolic bond. Those headaches might refer to hangovers or withdrawal headaches that occur when shifting to sobriety. Either way, Mack feels pain in trying to control the actions of others

or prevent himself from losing anything. This reference to empty pockets then bridges into verse one, where Mac begins rapping about a time when he didn't have any money. My wallet just a lot of dreaming. I build a crib on top of the promised land, we'll call it even. I bring more flavor than all the seasons. Winter, spring, summer, fall, the grass is always greener till I cut it all. Please leave me to my studies. I give you no applause.

My hands been counting money and it's hard to be the boss, but somebody got to do it. Think it so adjusted. Offing with the bullshit. And baby, I've been through it. Enough for the both of us don't come over later and we won't let no one. Mac begins verse one rapping, There was nothing in my wallet, just a lot of dreaming. Mac brings us back to the beginning, back to a time when there was nothing to take from

his pockets. This is Mac before wealth and success, before he had the figurative world in the palms of his hand and still dreamed of making it big. He then flashes forward in the next line, I built a crib on top of the promised land, we'll call it even. Here Mac brags about building a house, a symbol of success, on top of the promised land, a religious reference to the land God gave to Abraham and his descendants in the Old Testament, which might be a nod to Mack's Jewish roots.

More casually, the term promised land is used to mean any type of satisfying achievement or a state of realized dreams, which would fit Mack's previous line about dreaming and the notion of having the world in the palm of your hand. Max saying will call it even implies that the promised land was never given to him, which seems to itself implied that he earned it or took it. Building a crib on top of this same land thus feels like a major flexive achievement, the fulfillment of his dream. The boasting continues, I bring more flavor to all the seasons. Winter, spring, summer, fall, the grass is always greener till I cut it all.

Mack here cleverly uses seasons two ways, as both the seasons of weather and the seasoning that gives food complex flavors. Throughout swimming, we've seen weather as a metaphor for varying moods and emotional states. Here in a boastful state, it feels like Mac is claiming to have surpassed these shifting emotions, at least for now. The grass is always greener nods to the phrase, the grass is always greener, greener on the other side of the fence, a phrase meaning that we often think that what others have is greater than what we have. Given the previous weather reference, Mack might be talking about

how others look at him. That is, the grass looks greener around Mack in his promise land crib. But then Mack says he'll cut it all, meaning he'll cut the grass, that he'll destroy the facade that his life is so much better than ours. Throughout swimming, Mack has shown us the interior struggles that take place in that promised land crib, proving that money and success don't always solve everything, that he still gets headaches, he still deals. with anxiety and stress. The cut-it-all line might also implicate drugs, such as cocaine, which is cut, or weed, which is sometimes called grass. If this is the case, Mack could be saying he feels things could get better or greener, but that he cuts that possibility out by instead staying on his

side of the proverbial fence, doing drugs and cutting the outside world off. Then as if building walls up around him, Mac wraps, please leave me to my studies, I give you no applause. This desire to stay inside is both a boast of Mack's high intelligence and artistry, but also we know there's a danger in him getting stuck inside, especially after a drug reference. Mac doesn't have the ability to applaud anyone else because he says, quote, my hand's been counting money and it's hard to be the boss, but somebody's got to do it. This is followed by a deep voice stating it gets so exhausting. On one level, Mack is saying he's so tired from counting money and feigns reluctance about being the one with so much wealth and power. But Mac has already lamented about money

causing trouble on the hook. He's also specific about referencing his hands that count the money, which feels like a callback to you can have the world in the palm of your hands, you still might drop it. Thus we suspect Mack is actually tired of being in the limelight. When the added vocal creates a deep distortion on the phrase, it gets so exhausting, Mac evokes trouble and darkness, as if overburdened by wealth. Thus these lines are simultaneously a flex and an emission of weakness. Seemingly acknowledging his hubris, Mac raps, often with the bullshit, and baby I've been through it, enough for both of us, so come over later and we won't let no one close to us. We could be posted up.

Throughout swimming, bullshit has been used as code for indulgence and or mental health struggles, and here seems no different. The drums even cut out when he says bullshit and a weird out-of-tune synth hits, accentuating the dissonance and unrest associated with the word. Macdon describes secluding himself indoors, presumably in the crib he built on the promised land in order to avoid conflicts outside. He also invites an unnamed woman for a late-night visit. it? This scenario sounds eerily similar to the oblivion section of self-care, when he's saying,

let's go back to my crib and play some 45s. It's safe in there. I know there's still a war outside. We can spend our nights all liquored up, our mornings high. Can you feel it now? In both scenarios, Mac is trying to stay inside for intimacy, but also seclusion, protection, and indulgence. He's even trying to take shots with both. He's liquored up in self-care, and the phrase posted up used and so it goes, refers to a basketball player positioned in the post, in order to get a scoring opportunity, that is, to take a shot. Okay, well, you could have the world in the palm of your hands, you still might drop it. And everybody want to reach inside your pocket so it goes.

It's like in every conversation we to top it. It's narcissism or like narcotics, so it goes. Mac repeats the beginning of the chorus, while you could have the world in the palms of your hand, you still might drop it, and everybody want to reach inside your pockets. But then Mack shifts, where earlier he tried to stop that thievery, now he wraps, so it goes.

This is an acceptance of loss. People want to take from his pockets, okay, that happens, keep going. It's a breakthrough of acceptance, felt in the pause between So It Goes and the next line when Mac wraps, it's like every conversation with a topic, this narcissism, more like narcotics,

so it goes. After accepting the possible loss of money, Mack positions himself as the center of attention, but then immediately calls out the peril of that hubris by comparing it to drug use. As we mentioned before, this phrase, So It Goes, is almost certainly a reference to Slaughterhouse 5 and its infamous over-repetition of So It Goes as a Memento Mori, a reminder of death. This calls to mind Matt carving the words Momentumori into his coffin in the music video for self-care. This phrase evoking death is used as a reminder to live, to maximize your time on earth.

We see here that So It Goes functions in a similar manner. People want to steal from my pockets. My ego sometimes gets the best of me. So it goes. That's life. Let's not let these things bog us down, because life is too short, we're all going to die soon enough anyway.

Mac continues the chorus, now adding a new part. He begins, While everybody gather round, I'm still standing, sit down. Mac here is assuming the storyteller position, the cornerstone of human history and civilization. As if standing in the center of a circle, emphasized by gather round,

Mac is operating as a leader, sharing knowledge. The Macca's quote-unquote still standing is a testament to his strength and perseverance, his ability to stay afloat after taking all the punches we've seen on swimming. It's this experience that gives him the ability to provide wisdom to those of us listening. He then sings, I know I've been out, but now I'm back in town, so I show you the ropes. If swimming was a traditional narrative, this would be the heroes return home at the end of the story. Having undergone their journey, they come home with new knowledge able to share, it with our community. On the ending credits this song embodies, Mack wants to communicate the core

reverberation and wisdom of the album. But what is it? What are these ropes? That's right after the break. Welcome back to dissect. Before the break, Mac proclaimed himself back in town, ready to share some central wisdom with us, his community. It's after this buildup that Mac reveals what the wisdom is. It's just three words. So it goes. After promising to show us the ropes, Mac breaks into a sing-song, almost anthemic delivery, repeating so it goes over and over in between carefree, jubilant chants of la-da-da-da-da-da. We also hear more ambient background noise, the chatter of friends, some of whom join in singing with Mack. This atmosphere reminds us of the song's beginning, with Mack now engaged with even more than his dog, going from man's best friend to all of his friends.

With so it goes being a mantra of acceptance, the overall effect of this chorus feels like a celebration of life, a communal anthem of existence. On swimming, Mac has oscillated through multiple emotional states of being, and as the album comes to a close, he finds a way to accept it all. It's beautiful, joyous, and the group vocals feels like an invitation to join in and enjoy this moment together at the end of the album's journey. And given that the phrase, so it goes, ends up being the wisdom Mac wants to share with us, we might look again to Slaughterhouse 5 for more contextualization of this concept, of accepting everything that comes in our life so that we may appreciate the good times. Towards the end of the novel, Kurt Vonnegut addresses the reader directly, quote,

If what Billy Pilgrim learned from the Tralphamadorians is true, that we will all live forever, no matter how dead we may sometimes seem to be, I am not overjoyed. Still, if I'm going to spend eternity visiting this moment and that, I'm grateful that so many of those moments are nice, unquote. This was a concept seemingly near and dear to Vonnegut's heart, a lesson he constantly repeated in lectures and speeches, most often by telling a story of his beloved, loved Uncle Alex, who knew the importance of acknowledging the good times. But what Uncle Alex found objectionable about so many human beings is that they so seldom noticed it when they were happy.

And so we would be sitting under an apple tree, for instance, on a July afternoon drinking lemonade, and, you know, talking about this and that, practically buzzing honeybees. And Uncle Alics would stop everything. and say, if this, wait a minute, stop. If this isn't nice, I don't know what is. And so he would do that again and again.

And it was very good advice, and I've taken to them. And I hope that you will take up this habit, too, of noticing when things are really awfully nice and say, if this isn't nice, I don't know what it is. As we hear Mack and his friends join in boisterous celebratory singing, we understand this is a real moment of felt joy. Mack is out of his head and in the moment, singing his heart out. He has swam through stressful waters to experience this relief. It's truly a special moment, importantly placed at the end of his magnum opus, a pinnacle achievement of Mack's

life and career. And if this isn't nice, I don't know what is. This is a special delivery. Coming to you live with an endless artillery, always down to ride. My eyes on. the enterprise nine lives never die fuck of heaven i'm still getting high never mind did i mention i'm fine because her pussy getting weather when the weather dry climbing time peeling off and everyone get left behind i'm only five back back begins the second verse rapping this is a special delivery coming to you live with the endless artillery he's introducing the verse as something special and real with coming to you live mimicking live television or performance the endless artillery reminds us when Matt claimed he would never run out of jet fuel, and we see again he's capable of taking infinite shots,

whether that be taking chances or shots of alcohol. He continues, always down to ride, my eyes on the enterprise. Being down to ride means ready for action or willing to take part in what is typically a dangerous or legal activity, which ties back into Mack having endless artillery. Mac's eyes being on the enterprise seems like a play on the phrase, eye on the prize, communicating Mack's focus. But considering the down-to-ride insinuates a car or vehicle, we realize Mack is also making a clever reference to the company Enterprise, which rents vehicles. He might even be nodding to the main spaceship in Star Trek named the Enterprise, possibly continuing the threat of Mac being in a spaceship on Conversation Part 1. This ego and stunting turns to mortal defiance as Matt continues, Nine Lives, Never Die, Fuck a Heaven, I'm Still Getting High.

The Nine Lives here cites the adage that cats have nine lives due to the fact they are extremely deft and often land on their feet when falling or thrown. By proxy, this seems to imply that Mack himself has escaped a handful of deadly situations, and since he immediately ties this notion to getting high, we suspect those deadly situations involve drugs. His feeling of invincibility and immortality causes him to say, fuck a heaven, since he feels he can reach those heights himself with drugs. It's a chilling few bars in retrospect, as Max seems to be fully indulging in the pleasures of substances without caution. That is, until he pauses, as if he realize he's talking out loud, not to himself, as he then says, never mind, did I mention I'm fine? Perhaps as his Mac being

self-aware, knowing that those last few bars were over the top and would cause some to worry about him. This pressure to let everyone know he's fine was something that he talked about during the time of swimming's release. Those things are important, you know, and you get the, you get the urge and the itch to tell people, don't worry, I'm okay, don't worry, I'm okay. Because, you know, like, I have people that care about me and fans that love my music and it's a beautiful a beautiful relationship with them of people who have been with me through being a 19 year old wide-eyed kid to being a self-destructive depressed drug user to you know making love music to all these different stages and then they see something like that and they worry so your first reaction is let me tell them

I'm cool. On so it goes, Mack offers another rationale for why he has to put himself together and appear fine. He wraps, because her pussy getting wetter when the weather dry. Given the previous nine lives cat reference, Mack's use of pussy here is a clever continuation. We also get another use of the weather motif, with warm weather typically representing happiness, which has the intriguing effect of making his partner wetter or more attracted to him. But dry is also used to mean getting sober, or at least having a body that is free of substances in that particular moment. In this scenario, Mack would be saying his partner is more attracted to him when he's not under the influence. We know Mack's substance use caused issues in his relationship in real

life, so this interpretation would seem to bear some truth, especially after he just said he puts himself together and appears fine because her pussy getting wetter with the weather dry. This threat of drugs and a woman continue with the following line, Clementine, peeling off and everyone get left behind. This is one of the more complex lines of the entire track, offering a handful of possible interpretations. Clementine, a woman's name, is also a citrus fruit hybrid between a mandarin orange and a sweet orange. Clementines are sweeter and juicier than the typical orange, which relates to the pussy getting

wetter and the sunny weather needed to grow citrus. You also have to peel clementines to eat them, which seems to be why Mack says, peeling off to describe this woman driving away, leaving everyone behind, including possibly Mac himself. We heard a similar scenario described back on Perfecto when Mac wrapped, bare feet, running late, her car started, even though the only thing that she's driving a hard bargain. We interpreted these lines as a personification of his addiction to substances. Fittingly, Clementine is also a sativa-dominant, energizing strain of marijuana,

which relates back to Mack stating he's still getting high. And so just like Perfecto, we get another instance of Mac interweaving women, drugs, and driving. Still, there might be more to Mack choosing to specifically call this woman figure Clementine. The most famous instance of this name being used as a term of endearment comes from the American folk ballad, Oh My Darling Clementine. While most of us likely know the main refrain of this song, less known is the song's narrative, which is about a woman who falls into a river and can't be rescued by her lover because,

wait for it, they can't swim. To quote the song, Alas, I was no swimmer, so I lost my Clementine. Perhaps this connection to swimming is unintentional, but if Max somehow meant it, he's perfectly matched the imagery of losing love because of an inability to jump in and swim. If you don't get in, you get left behind, or as Max said, peeling off and everyone get left behind. Finally, there's one last possible layer to the Clementine name choice. If you listen closely, you'll hear an outside synth note play as Mac says, Clementine. a synth played by John Bryant. Because her pussy getting wetter when the weather dry.

Climbing time, peeling off and everyone get left behind. I'm only five. Mack sought out a musical relationship with John Bryan because he had a deep respect and admiration for his work, which includes Brian's original score for the 2004 film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. It was clear Mac loved this movie. He mentioned it in interviews and even called it out by name in some of his songs.

Here's Of the Soul from Blue Slide Park. Eternal Sunshine, Jim Perryfield At the amusement park Scared the Heights Terrace will Double Derry to kill For those of you who haven't seen the film definitely watch it immediately But in short, it's about two lovers

Joel and Clementine who have a fight And Clementine impulsively has a brain procedure that erases all her memories of the relationship She peeled off her memories and left Joel behind. Max Yusuf Clementine feels purposeful then And gives us another reason why he phrased the previous line the way he did, as her pussy getting wetter when the weather dry seems to allude to the film's title, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. As dry weather

relates to sunshine and spotless mind, within the context of so it goes, might be another way to say a dry or sober mind. Bravo, Mac, Bravo. Max and kicking back just ain't exactly in the plan. I can't get no satisfaction. Goddamn. They're saying I've been gone too long. I could just tell them fuck you, but that come on too strong. My God, it go on and on.

Just like a circle like a background crumb. Matt continues verse two boasting, I'm only 5'7, except I'm feeling like I'm 7.5. Mack's actual height doesn't match how high he feels, so he flips the numbers around. even though he may have just been left by his darling Clementine, Mack is still able to feel good, either because he's accepted everything,

he's confident in himself, and or because he's getting high. Circling the numbers like this also exemplifies the revolving feelings of reality and fantasy, interconnected, even if seemingly different. He then continues, Damant, cross-planets, interstellar, never land, not a Jackson packed with action,

so what's happening, my man. He's flying around in his spaceship, never running out of jet fuel. He references both, the Neverland Ranch, the infamous home of Michael Jackson, as well as the 1988 film Action Jackson. This fury of references show Mack blazing with Rat Bravado, embodying the gargantuan stature to show off his wordplay and skill, which he then uses to confront both us and himself with, So What's Happening, My Man? If Mac is scorching his way through the cosmos,

what are we doing that could possibly compare? Cleverly, Mac's flow during the syllabic barrage is quicker and more intense than his previous bars, a bit of text painting where the delivery of the words resemble what the words are saying. This has made even more obvious in the next lines, no relaxing, kicking back this ain't exactly in the plan. I can't get no satisfaction, God damn. True to his constant motion, he can't kick back and relax, which feels like a nod to his music career and the constant need to create content for people to consume, which often comes at the cost of his well-being. Caught between a rock and a hard place, Mac is unable to feel content in action or rest, and he voices this frustration with a reference to the classic Rolling Stone song,

I can't get no satisfaction. Given Mack just talked about his non-stop energy in motion, a rolling stone feels like an appropriate symbol, as a rolling stone is literally a constantly moving circle. Also, I Can't Get No Satisfaction is from the stone's album titled Out of Our Heads. Recall Mack told us on the first song on Swimming that the journey of the album was to find a way out of his head. Mac then continues voicing more frustration, rapping,

They say, I've been gone too long. I could just tell him, fuck you, but that come on too strong. This seems to specifically address the two years he took in between releasing the Divine Feminine and swimming, the longest he'd ever taken to release a project, which left some in the public in press and patient. For instance, in spring of 2018, Hot New Hip-Up reported, quote, Mac Miller's absence has been noted, taking a respite to presumably play roles of husband-aspireant to longtime sweetheart Ariane Grande. Mac has left fans with a cliffhanger by the way of the Divine Feminine. We certainly lament his departure from the game and eagerly await his triumphant

return." And this was a supportive report. Of course, there were others with more harsh judgment for Mack's apparent absence. Knowing this, it makes sense that Mack wants to say fuck you to everyone pushing him faster than he wants to go. He's finally come to a place of relief, of accepting his own pace, but struggles against a world that wants to push him to be a rolling stone that chastises his relaxing. Exasperated by the world, Mack then wraps as his final line from his final verse on the album's final song, My God, it go on and on, just like a circle I go back where I'm from. Like the rest of the verse, these bars contain multitudes, showcasing Mack's lyrical brilliance and fine attention to detail, especially as we near the end of the song and album.

Most immediately, Matt cleverly continues the Rolling Stone nod, as a rolling stone goes on and on, moving continuously. What exactly goes on and on, at least on the surface, is the pressure of the outside world, particularly Mac releasing music and touring. We've seen this inside outside motif run throughout swimming, where inside represents comfort and safety, but also seclusion and isolation, which for Mack is often paired with the lure of drugs and alcohol. On the other hand, outside represents the outside world, a place where he can shine, where he can live, gain experiences, and form bonds with others, but it also comes with what he describes as a war of conflicts, pressures, and social anxiety. In this way, with Mac feeling pressure from the outside world,

going back where he's from seems to suggest he's going back inside, hidden away from the war outside. Also, the phrase, It Go On and On, likely calls back to On and On by Erica Badu from Baduism, one of Mac's favorite albums of all time. Recall this was the song sampled on self-care and has the lyric, I Was Born Under Water with $3 and 6 Dimes, which contains both the water symbolism of swimming, as well as the 360 degrees of a circle. Fittingly, right before this line, Erica Badu herself makes a reference to a rolling stone. Erko Badu's On and On acutely focuses on divinity and spirituality, which Mack also incorporates in his own line, particularly with the inclusion of, my God, it go on and on, just like a circle

I go back where I'm from. Following the spiritual threat of this line, this might allude to the biblical phrase from ashes to ashes dust to dust, the idea that our bodies are made of Earth and will return to the Earth when we die, a cyclical journey. Meanwhile, the Earth simultaneously spins while rotating around the Sun, each being circular rotations. This universal, all-encompassing reading of the line feels appropriate since so much of swimming addresses grand existential subjects. Really, Mack seems to capture all the time of life with these lines. With the passage of time operating as a god, the grand existential it goes on and on forever, and Mac finds himself using a circle to capture his movement as he goes around the world,

or around his head, or to and from any of the oscillating and simultaneous dichotomies we have examined this season. These cyclical patterns of the human experience are unrelenting. We feel great one moment and like shit the next. We improve for a little while only to fall short again. We win, we lose over and over and over again until we die. So it goes. The grand lesson of swimming is to come to terms with this inevitability and savour the beautiful moments when we're lucky enough to be graced with them.

Of course, while it was in public knowledge at the time of swimming's release, these final lines of the final verse importantly lay the groundwork for his already planned follow-up album Circles, a lyrical link bonding the projects together. But really, this circle motif is just getting started. Perhaps the biggest revelation is tied to what happens after Mack says this line. He recites the chorus once more asking everyone to gather round, like a circle. Only this time the synthesizer that's been growing prominence throughout the track really comes to the forefront.

As Mac recites the chorus once more, he stands at the center of the circles, sharing his wisdom with us. And just as he said he's like a circle, going back where he's from, we realized that the circular motif has been present in this chorus the whole time. That is, he's been out of town, but he's back now, returning from where he came. Perhaps this is the way it goes, and circles, for all of us, always. Then as this final chorus continues, we hear Mack and friends once again chant the universal refrain, so it goes, only now those rising synths all but take over the musical texture, enveloping Mac and company in a gorgeous, ethereal weightlessness. At this point, the phrase so it goes,

Mack's last words on the album, is the purifying absolution of surrendering to the universe, freeing the soul to express joy and to enjoy the moment. For Mack to conclude his arduous album-long journey with this sentiment is both beautiful and heroic. It's an acceptance and love of all things, including death. The carefree la-da-da is one of the purest possible communications of this feeling. Words alone cannot express the understanding and being with the universe's passage of time. Only melody, sound, vibrations from within can come close. This is innocent and learned, youthful and ancient, an expression of music, rhythm, song, and our shared energies.

At the same time, we come to the realization that in this moment, Mac has employed one of the most brilliant lyrical strokes of his entire career, because if you listen to the way Mac and his friends say so it goes, It becomes clear that they're also saying circles, to the point where the two phrases are indistinguishable from one another. So it goes, so it goes, so it goes. Circles, circles, circles. Somehow, Mack found a homophonic phrase that captures and binds both the end of his journey

and the start of a new one, because everything ends. But what do endings even mean? As we bask in this revelation, we are like Mack, swept away in this moment, completely out of our heads, the weight of the world lifting from our shanour. shoulders. To quote Vonnegut, everything is beautiful and nothing hurts. So now there's only one thing left to do. Ascend. Swimming concludes with a deconant orchestral-like gathering of ascending synthesizers performed by John Bryan, a continuation of what began on the song's final chorus. Turns out Matt gave Brian specific instructions for what he wished this outro to depict. On the night of

September 6th, 2018, Mac posted what would be his final two tweets, one of which was about this outro. Quote, the end of So It Goes is so beautiful man. I told John Bryan to play the Ascension into Heaven and he nailed it, unquote. On this same night, Mack would post what would be his final Instagram story. It simply showed his record player in his home studio, playing the final chorus of So It Goes followed by this ascension into heaven. Tragically, Mac would be pronounced dead less than 12 hours later. With So It Goes being a phrase closely associated with death, in the end of this song being a depiction of the ascent into heaven, the natural bond between the final moments of swimming

and the final moments of Mack's physical life are undoubtedly compelling. As Mac himself said about the interaction between his art and his real life, quote, stuff like that always happens with my music, that shit just connects. You just have to get out of your own way, and everything will just connect for itself, unquote. But we can look back to Mac's former projects

and see that ending albums with death is actually a motif that runs throughout his discography, that death and rebirth were methods in its constant evolution. As Max's close collaborator Josh Berg said, quote, At the end of every project, it always felt like we were just getting started. We would laugh about that.

It always felt like a new beginning. Some reason I'm like obsessed with album's ending in death, I don't know why, and it's not even necessarily a negative sad thing, but I guess to me an album is just a life, like it's like a mini lifetime. Recall that on the first episode of this season, we discuss this self-described obsession with ending albums and death,

which we can trace as far back as faces, a project that ends with the song Grand Finale. It's here that Mack entertains his own death, wondering aloud if this might be the final song of his life. This imagined end-of-life scenario bleeds into the next album Good A.m., a literal wake-up call, a fresh start. This album ends with Eukami from the band Little Dragon, playing what Mack himself described as God welcoming him into heaven.

This female god at the end of Good AM sets up Mack's next album, The Divine Feminine, which itself ends with a moving monologue by Mack's grandmother about his deceased grandfather. I feel I just gave him a wonderful life, a good marriage and a wonderful family, and I know he really had a beautiful life, than I did too. After this monologue, and not unlike the end of swimming, the Divine Feminine ends with an extended musical outro

played by another extraordinary musician pianist Robert Glasper. As we outline in this season's first episode, the final chord of the album is musically inconclusive. That is, it doesn't resolve the song. It leaves it hanging, like ending a sentence with dot, dot, dot. If the piano part were to start over where it began, it would play a C major seventh chord. The very chord that swimming begins with,

bridging the two albums together harmonically, and ending bonded to a new beginning. This, of course, brings us to come back to Earth, the very place we began the journey of swimming. Within the context of the album, we might even say this is the place where Mack is from, which if we believe what he says on So It Goes, he's bound to go back to, like a circle. With this in mind, let's take a closer look at the Ascension into Heaven's synth outro John Bryan composed for the end of so it goes. The part is based on two chords that repeat over and over, the same two chords that Mac plays on guitar,

C major 7 and D minor. On top of these chords, Brian plays this rising melody over and over. The cool thing about this melody is that when it's first heard in the final chorus, it begins on a lower register. Over the chorus of the synth outro, the same melody is played in a higher and higher register. It literally ascends, just like Mac asked. But here's where things get really good.

Those two chords, C major 7 and D minor, were actually played on the album's opening track Come Back to Earth in a similar manner, oscillating back and forth during the song's B section. We can actually superimpose max vocals during this part over the outro of So It Goes to hear just how related these two sections are. Directly after this section of Come Back to Earth, a synth enters the track behind Max vocals. While I can't say with complete certainty, I'm pretty confident this is the same synth used on the outro So It Goes, and it also plays a similar rising or ascending melody. Finally, we can take a look at the end of So It Goes and the beginning of Come Back to Earth, for what to me is the most compelling connection between these two tracks.

So It Goes ends on a C major seventh chord. This C major seventh is the very same chord come back to Earth begins with, the very same chord that opens the album. In other words, harmonically speaking, swimming ends where it began. With these numerous connections between the opening and closing songs of swimming, the fact they are both in the same key signature, both have parts that use the same core progression, both use what sounds like the same synthesizer, and both start and end on the very same chord. Mac has yet again tied another end to a beginning. So not only does the lyrical references to circles at the

end of so it goes create a bridge into swimming's companion album circles, it also clues us into the structure of swimming itself. Musically, the album ends where it begins. Well, conceptually, the final rise sets up the opening fall. Swimming is a circle. Turns out Mack did keep his promise to go back to where he is from, because after he ascends into heaven, we're all left here waiting for Mack to come back to Earth. So I just really want to do like some crazy things that I can look back when this is all said and done and be like some, and I could be proud of what I've done, you know, and really feel like that I've changed something in a good way for years to come.

Any last words? Yeah. Fun is for everyone.