Dissect - S9E15 - Hand Me Downs by Mac Miller

Episode Date: February 8, 2022

We continue our analysis of Mac Miller’s Circles with “Hand Me Downs,” an gentle anthem dedicated to those who hold us down when we lose our grip. 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, Cole here. I had a few announcements before we get to today's episode. We're nearing the end of the season. And if you've been listening to Dissect for a while, you know that we end every season with a montage of listeners submitted audio clips, sharing what the album, in this case swimming in circles, means to you. It always ends up being my favorite part of the season, hearing from you guys, and you guys getting to express a little bit about what the album has meant to you or what the season meant to you or really anything you want to say about Mac or the album. So if you're interested in doing that, go to Dysak Podcast on either Twitter or Instagram and you'll find instructions on how to submit your clip. You'll want to do that soon,

the deadlines only in one week. So go to Dysak Podcast at Instagram or Twitter and find the instructions. Also, I had a chance to speak to Australian musician Baro Sura, who's the vocalist that sings on the chorus of Hand Me Downs, the subject song of today's episode. You're going to hear a few bits of our conversation interspersed in today's episode, but I'm also going to be posting the entire episode this week on the dissect feed. It's a really, really great conversation. Barrow is a wonderful human and has a pretty incredible story about meeting Mac Miller, first being a fan of McMillar, meeting him, and then creating this song with him all within like three days. It's a crazy story. So definitely check out the full conversation when it comes out and a few days here. All right,

and I think that's it. Enjoyed today's episode. From Spotify, I'm Cole Kushana and this is Dissect, long-form musical analysis broken into short digestible episode. Today we continue our serialized examination of Mac Miller Circles with its eighth track, Hand Me Downs. Hand Me Downs was produced by Mac Miller and John Bryan and features Barrow Surrah, the only credited vocal feature on Circles. The track was conceived while Mac was playing shows in Australia in September of 2017, and it's one of the few songs we know for sure that was consciously written with circles in mind. According to Vic Weinstein, quote, He went to Australia and recorded hand-me-downs there.

He loved that effort because of how organic it came together and how bare bones it is, nothing too crazy on the production front, unquote. Local Melbourne musician Barrow-Surro also spoke to the track's organic origins, as it was birth from a spontaneous studio session he had with Mac just a few days after meeting him for the first time. I actually had the privilege of talking to Barrow directly about this studio session, and he recalled how it began with him on a keyboard and Mac on drums.

After about 15 minutes of jamming together, Mack went into the control room and Barrow hopped on the drums, and eventually he fell into a simple groove that caught Mack's attention. And I was sitting down, playing the drums, and Mac was listening, and it was like, yo, keep that going right there and kept it going. And it was kind of like, the pocket was like not there. It was like kind of out of pocket, but like, it was like, nah, no, keep it going. I was like, nah, I'm not sure about it. I'm not sure about it. It's like, nah, keep it going, keep it going. After laying down this beat, musician Garrett Stevenson started playing a guitar part. And Garrett was playing like a little riff on the guitar over the drum.

And Mack was like, play it like this, like do this, do this. And then he just put everything else like around the song, like the keys in the face and just kind of just filled it out. And we're just all sitting in the, we ate ramen and we're all sitting in the, in the, in the, control room kind of thing and we're just writing and um i was sitting there writing and mac was writing too and he came up to me and then he was like um are you writing right now and i was like yeah and it's like um what are you writing i was like kind of like a verse kind of thing he's like get we get the hook get the hook i was like all right for sure and so um i just wrote like that that hook that that i wrote was like initially meant for like a verse and i was like nah this is kind of cool so like

I kept it as the hook and kind of made it like a hook kind of thing. Oh, he came off to me. He was like, yo, like, what do you got? Come, like, sing it to me after he recorded his verse, the first verse. And I was like, hell and nervous, man. And I was like, yeah, yeah, I'll do it, I'll do it. And then so I started singing my part to him, but I was like, hell of quiet. And I wasn't really hitting it at all.

And I was like, yo, yo, just let me go in. I'll just go try and record it. And so I started recording it. And usually it takes me like a few takes to be like comfortable and like to kind of get into the pocket and like, you know, get in tune with everything. And I did my third take and Mac was like, yo, that's it. And I was like, no, no, no, no, let me get it again. It's like, no, man, that's it.

That's it. That's the one. I was a great design. Hey, who. I don't say you need more of the fans. Turn these things into him. I was like, hi, for sure. And he was like, oh, the part, like, off to the chorus when I'm singing Down, down, down.

He was like, you should do this at the end of that. And I did that. I was just, like, kind of just like doing kind of what he told me to do. Down, down, down, down. And then we just added the layers and everything. And I just kind of just like all-struck by like what was happening. Like I was just like literally like my dream. And yeah, we kept hanging the whole weekend and we just kept playing this song.

And I couldn't like, I didn't really realize. how great the song was or how beautiful and how just like how layered the song was I was just kind of just awestruck about what happened and how like I kept my cool and everything and how I'm here with like my favorite artist and yeah man like just the whole weekend Mack just kept playing and he was like man like we did something really special

we did something really special what Mack, Barrow and Garrett Stevenson laid down in Australia became the demo version of the song. Mack would write what became the second verse at a later date, and producer John Bryan would eventually re-record the guitar and drum parts. But we can actually hear a piece of Barrow's original drum recording that started it all in the very beginning of hand-me-downs. It's the very first drum set we hear before John Bryan's beefier drums take over the part.

The chord progression we hear played throughout the song is five chords in total, D, E, F-sharp, G, and A. What's interesting about this progression is that each chord is higher than the next. That is, it moves sequentially in order, D-E-F-G-A. Typically, sustained rising or ascending core progressions convey a feeling of levity, optimism, or in the case of hand-me-downs, gratitude. I'm thinking maybe I should thank you. Oh, baby, I should buy you another round.

Because you don't care, and I swear that I'm here, but I'm never getting harder to hum me down. Get away to a place with a leg, such a great. Grape you leave the bank a couple hundred down. I made it for eight. Once I built it, I break you. That might just break me down. Mack begins verse one singing,

I'm thinking maybe I should thank you. Oh, baby, I should buy you another round. He begins in a place of extreme gratitude, praising who we assume to be a romantic partner. To buy someone another round is to buy them another alcoholic drink, though it feels like Mack here is using the phrase more as a figurative gesture of appreciation. Round also subtly evokes the image of a circle, perhaps symbolizing the reciprocity present in this relationship. This person has helped Mack in some way, and he wants to reciprocate, a circular exchange.

He continues singing, because you care and I swear that I'm here, but I'm there, it's getting harder to hunt me down. It's lines like these that exhibit how Mack's mastery of rap informs his more singer-songwriter efforts, as these lines contain a number of internal rhymes, care, swear, here, there, while also maintaining the outer rhyme, scheme round and down. This density of rhyme isn't so common in pop music, but Mac manages to infuse his hip-hop tendencies seamlessly. And it's in these lines we get a sense of what Mac is thankful for. This person truly cares for him despite the fact that he's all over the place. This could refer to him physically being gone, a thought perhaps inspired by the fact this song was written in Australia, away from home. It could also refer to Mack's constantly fluctuating mental states,

which we've heard him document throughout swimming in circles. Despite his wandering mind traversing across various emotional planes, Mack assures this person, I swear that I'm here, expressing his commitment to being present with them. Mack then continues the high-frequency rhyming, singing, Get away to a place with a lake, such a great view, leave the bank couple hundred thou. Here the vowel A is the through line.

Away, place, lake, great, bank. Mac proposes a getaway excursion with his love, perhaps a way to bring peace and stasis to a wandering mind. He imagined sitting by a placid lake, utilizing the large body of water's unique ability to provide tranquility and calm, another subtle development of the water motif central and swimming in circles. Coming off this image of the lake, there's some clever wordplay with Mack leaving the bank with a couple hundred thousand dollars, as bank not only refers to a financial institution,

but also a river bank, the land alongside or sloping down to a lake or river. While he likely could withdraw a few hundred thousand dollars from his bank account, it feels like Mack here is equating the lakehouse getaway with the value normally associated with that amount of money. In other words, it's not money that fulfills him. It's the quality time spent present with his partner, in harmony with water in the natural world. Matt caps off the first verse sustaining the heavy internal rhymes. I made it, but I hate it once I build it, I break it, that might just break me down. The initial I made it plays off the previous line of withdrawing large amounts of cash from his bank. But once again, Mac dodges the cliche here,

as he uses this phrase to then express how he ends up destroying the things he's made. and that this is a recurring source of anxiety for him. We heard him amid these self-destructive tendencies throughout circles. On good news, he's saying, Why I got to build something beautiful just to go set it on fire? And then on woods he wrapped, put it together, then it breaks, all the energy it takes, it never stop. It would seem this feeling of ruining what he's worked to create

is one of the common destinations for his wandering mind, taking him out of the present moment and mentally away from his partner. We actually hear this play out in real time in this verse, The imagined relaxation of the lakehouse is overridden by Max's self-critiques. He destroys the beauty of the daydream by thinking about how he always destroys everything beautiful. It's a vicious circle, the auroborous or serpent with its tail in its mouth, continually devouring itself. It's no wonder he wants a break. Matt

when it ain't really safe And it don't seem right But with no You get used to the bullshit Screws they go missing It's likely they might be but Matt continues Hand Me Downs with its pre-chorus

Singing and all I ever needed With Somebody with Some Reason Who can keep me sane Here we get more clarity About what Mack's partner offers him A stabilizing grounding force When he credits for keeping him sane As a bit of wordplay

And somebody with some reason as he could be referring to reason as in a purpose or justification for an action, in this case keeping Mac sane, or he could be saying reason as in someone who thinks logically, in which case that reasoning logic could be used to show Mac the irrationality of his thought process, feelings, or decisions. Whatever the reason, Mac feels this person truly helps him, as he continues, ever since I can remember, I've been keeping it together, but I'm feeling strange. The idea that Mac has to keep it together in the first place implies that doing so requires ongoing effort. Keeping it together even implies fragmentation, in line with him breaking everything he's built into pieces.

He's falling apart and putting himself together, over and over, swimming in circles. He ends the pre-chorus singing, Get away when it ain't really safe and it don't seem right. But what's new, you get used to the bullshit, the screws they go missing, as likely they might be. This vague scenario feels like it's meant to illustrate Max poor decision-making. He leaves somewhere, be it physically or mentally, despite it being unsafe, and against his intuition. Asking what's new implies these absences are recurring, exemplifying those early lines of verse one,

when he said he's getting harder to hunt down. And at this point in the season, the line you get used to the bullshit should set a few bells off. Throughout swimming, bullshit was used a number of times to signify indulgence, most often drugs or alcohol. And it might be that Mack's getaways are in pursuit or paired with substances.

Though there's always the possibility Mac is simply using bullshit to describe his poor decision-making in general. The pre-chorus then concludes with Mack singing, The screws, they go missing, as likely they might be. Screws are what keeps things together, so when the screws go missing, things fall apart. Using the word missing also continues the theme of Mac being gone or not present, harder and harder to hunt down.

Thus it feels like Mac is saying these indulgent getaways, these poor decisions he keeps making, are what is causing things to crumble around him, extending the breaking everything he builds theme that screw together this song so far. For Hand Me Down's hook, Mac passes the baton to Barrow, who comes in singing an elongated U, centering the chorus around the partner.

With Barrow now singing about a lover, the song's aperture widens, feeling more like a universal proclamation about the ways relationships or certain people help us achieve balance, the yin-yang of opposing yet complementary energies. Continuing to draw out each word, Barrow sings,

You remind me, shit, I need to stay in line. The self-destructive tendencies Mac expressed in the verse and pre-course remain a throughline here. A large part of being in a relationship is committing to living for more than yourself, understanding that your actions have dramatic effects on your partner and health of the relationship. Barrow and Mac are thus inspired by their partners to stay in line, to strive to be the best versions of themselves. He continues,

You damn well are a great design. It's a beautiful sentiment full of affectionate adoration, evoking a carefully planned and meticulously crafted work of art. as if hand sculpted by God or self. The description also helps to portray the contrast between the partner and what Mack expressed about himself in the verse. One definition of design is to do or plan something with a specific purpose or intention in mind. It implies forethought, execution, and stability, the opposite of Mac and his missing screws, things constantly falling apart. Finally, the hook concludes, you, despite being an only child, say you need more

family round. Let's turn these jeans into hand-me-downs. It's another variation of the album's central circle motif, now centered around the idea of family, a lineage created by the overlapping life cycles of each generation, ends linked to new beginnings. This idea is potently conveyed in the song's main symbol, handing down jeans or clothing, which are used garments passed from one family member down to another, the unique wear of the jeans over time, symbolic of the unique history of the family's lineage. Cleverly, jeans is a homophone, which is when two or more words have the same pronunciation but different meanings. In this case, genes can be heard as J-E-A-N-S, as in denim pants, or G-E-N-E-S, as in the section of DNA that

determine your features, like your eye or hair color, which are passed down from your parents. This latter interpretation gives the previous line, You Damn Well Are a Great Design, even more weight, as it refers to the actual genetic design of their partner. Be it denim genes or hereditary genes, the message is the same. The partner is looking to start a family, to build and grow something sustainable. a relationship that births generations. They are ready to commit at the highest possible level, and it's perhaps this readiness to settle down

that has Mack examining his wavering presence and his tendency to spontaneously leave on indulgent getaways. A family demands that you be the best possible version of yourself. You can't just leave when you want. You have to be present, physically, mentally and emotionally. You have to, as the chorus says, stay in line. You have to grow up. The post chorus finds Barrow riffing on the word down.

Here we can acknowledge some clever text painting, where the melody reflects the lyrics. There are four main melodic phrases in this section, and each of them are descending melodies, that is, they move downward, just like the word being sung. Here's the first. The second, third, and fourth. It's a subtle musical detail that fits nicely into the idea of growing a lineage of descendants, a family passing down genes through generations. Following this post-chorus, Mack enters the track once again, this time with a more rap delivery.

We'll dissect that second verse and the rest of the track right after the break. Welcome back to dissect. Before the break, we heard Barrow's beautiful chorus and post-course, establishing the themes of sustainability and lineage. With verse 2, Max switches his delivery to a rap flow full of quick internal rhyme schemes. Yeah, well, I'm just being honest, my conscience ain't doing bad because I try to minus the problems that I attract.

And after time, the wheels is in the back of my mind. Just keep on turning till this. Tyves flat and burn until the fire crack I do not lie though facts may seem a little far fetch That's only because I may be make-believing full of darkness When I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place Walking drop and change inside your empty guitar case That's charity um

I move carelessly Mac begins verse 2 Yeah well I'm just being honest My conscience ain't doing bad Because I try to minus the problems that I attract This far into our season on swimming in circles when Mack says he's just being honest, we believe him. He makes clear that he's doing his best at addressing his problems,

and that provides him with a clean conscience. This pragmatic attitude toward who he is, flaws and all, speaks to the maturity and growth Mac has exhibited across swimming and circles. While there are still issues and shortcomings he wants to improve, he's able to accept where he is in the process, rather than beating himself up or expecting everything to be solved immediately. It's a quality that Circles producer John Bryan also observed during his time with Mac. You know, I think if he decided to write something honestly about himself,

if it was him being angry or confused about an aspect of himself, he wrote that. You know, it wasn't platitudes. He wasn't in the midst of selling himself in the act of writing lyrics. And I know a ton of people who do that. He did not. So I think saying like circles and a few other songs on this record, you hear him, acknowledging aspects of himself either that he doesn't feel capable of changing things he thinks are questionable things you'll hear in the lyrics directly when yeah I'm this way and I think other people might not understand how I think but actually I'm okay with that

Matt continues the second verse and half the time the wheels that's in the back of my mind just keep turning till the tires flat and burn until the firecrack once again we get Mack's mind racing to the point of exhaustion, such as we heard throughout swimming in circles. Most recently, Mac opened the song Good News singing, spent the whole day in my head, and would later admit, I'm running out of gas, hardly anything left, hope I make it home from work. On hand-me-downs, Mac expresses a similar metaphor, lagging his mind to the flat burning tires on an over-driven car. Within the context of the verse so far, it seems that Mack here is saying that a lot of those problems he attracts are self-made, a result of his overworked mind creating issues that don't actually

exist or only exist in his head. Matt continues with more honesty, rapping, I do not lie though, the facts may seem a little far-fetched. Here we have to point out what feels like a little inside joke, as Mac follows a line about fire, burn until the fire crack, with a rebuttal, I do not lie though. He's subtly evoking the children's playground taunt, liar-lier pants on fire. This is now the second time he's done this on the album. Recall in good news, Mack saying, why I got to build something beautiful just to go set it on fire. I'm no liar, but sometimes the truth don't sound like the truth. In both cases, Mack insists he's being truthful about his condition, even though some might doubt a person in his position having this level of anxiety or problems.

To this kind of thinking, Mac responds, facts may seem a little far-fetched, that's only because I may be make-believe and full of darkness. Here it seems like Mac is saying those imagine anxiety-ridden scenarios in his head tilt toward darkness or the worst possible outcomes, a common expression of anxiety. Mac uses this image of darkness to pivot to the line when I'm stuck between a rock in a hard place, which if we imagine this as a physical location, it would likely be pretty dark. Being stuck between a rock in a hard place is a common adage that means you're facing a conflict with two equally difficult or unpleasant choices. There's no good option. You're trapped, forced to choose the lesser of two evils. Interestingly, Mac pivots from this image to another,

walking, dropping change inside your empty guitar case, that's charity. Like the previous rock in a hard place line, we suspect this image to be metaphoric. Perhaps the Change Mac drops here is his two cents, his thoughts, positioning the partner as someone he can depend on when things get dark or when he feels stuck. While there will always be times when hardship is unavoidable, it's in the people we love most, those who truly care about us that we find solace in comfort. Perhaps they can't change dire circumstances, but they can hold our hand while we endure the unavoidable struggles inherent to the human condition. You help me go to distance.

Not too efficient, but the way it's always been until the day we have to meet again. Continuing his stream of consciousness, the image of Mack walking in the dark morphs into the line, I move carelessly, that's why I'm always tripping. Here we get a possible quadruple entendre

with Mack's use of tripping, a word Mac employed a number of ways throughout swimming. Most obvious is the play on moving carelessly, perhaps still in the dark, and he physically trips because he's not watching where he's walking. A way of admitting his decision-making is at times pretty clumsy and lacks forethought.

Relating to the previous line about the wheels of Mack's anxiety-written mind being flat and on fire, tripping here could also refer to overreacting to things or certain situations, creating problems that don't exist. Finally, moving carelessly and always tripping calls back to those indulgent getaways or trips he's been mentioning, providing us with the third and fourth possible meaning, physical trips to a different location, and or the psychedelic trips of drugs. Whatever interpretation we choose, be it clumsy decision-making, overreacting, indulgent getaways, or the effects of drugs, the underlying message is the same. These self-described careless trips

are taking him away from his partner, physically, mentally, and emotionally. But once again, Matt credits this person for helping him persist to find balance. He raps, I guess it's like electrolytes, you help me go to the distance. Electrolites are minerals in your blood that help regulate and control the balance of fluids in the body. And popular calls, they are most commonly associated with sports or recovery drinks like Gatorade. And it seems this is what Mack is referring to here, as his love is the stabilizing force that helps him endure the marathon of his continued struggles. It also seems relevant to note that electrolyte heavy sports drinks are commonly consumed

to ease the effects of a hangover, adding to the subtextual allusions to substances throughout the track. This may be the reason why Mac follows with the line, not too efficient, but the way it's always been. It seems Mac is saying that his current way of living isn't. ideal. The recurring need for recovery implies a lifestyle that leaves him constantly depleted. It relates to the idea of him breaking the things he builds, perpetually in need of restoration. Finally, Mac punctuates the second verse with the line, until the day we have to meet again.

It's a slight variation of the idiom until we meet again, a warm way of saying goodbye, as it's paired with an understanding that this isn't the final goodbye. Throughout the song, Mac has noted his physical trips and mental lapses that take him away from this special person. Given that he just said, it's the way it's always been, perhaps Mack here is being honest about this cycle continuing into the future. He knows he's likely to leave again, but he provides assurance that he will always come back. It's an incredibly sweet gesture underscored with a bit of tragedy. He's being wholly candid about his condition, realistic about the difficulty of change. He's not projecting some idealized version of himself that will magically

manifest in the future. Like so much of circles, he's being completely honest. promising nothing more than who he is. After a repetition of the pre-chorus, we are treated to one final hook, with the image of Hand Me Down jeans being passed through generations, creating a lasting impression of reciprocity and sustained growth. The love, care, and connection between two people births connection among many, and we are motivated to be our best selves for the sake of each other, to preserve the connections we cultivate.

This is how we help each other grow. We hold each other together when we feel ourselves falling apart. We offer each other light when overcome by darkness. The importance of human connection has been central across swimming in circles, with the music of Mac Miller itself serving as a nexus that connects the millions of us humans who are compelled to live more honest and inspired lives because of his art. Even Mac and Barrow coming together on this track speaks to the power of human connection. Having met each other just a few days before creating hammy downs, these two artists are now

immortalized together. They cultivated something that will outlive them. circles, along with Mac's art more broadly, is preserved and cherished through the generations, like the very genes they sing about. I remember he told me the best part about this shit is meeting new connections and making new connections, which really stuck with me, man, is like, you know, whatever, whoever, whatever level this person is out, or however great they are, their craft, whether they're a great guitarist or a great singer, or they can write really good songs. Like, the best part is just,

really connecting with someone and, you know, making these special moments that lasts forever. Today's episode was written and produced by me. An extra special thank you to Baro Sura for taking the time to talk with us. Remember, you can hear our full conversation later this week right here on this feed. If you enjoy today's episode, please tell a friend about the show or share on social media and tag at Dissect Podcast. It really helps.

Theme music by Birocratic. Instrumental Recreations by Andrew Atwood. Audio editing by Eric Bass and me. All right, thanks, everyone. Talk to you next week.