Weatherman
Joshua Jackson December 2025
Lyric breakdown: I wanted the song to have lyrics relevant to climate change, but not inextricably related to the contents of the video. I did this to emphasize the connection many of these issues have to each other.
I’m beggin can we just do better man?
Got us in this rat race, while they stackin’ up the cheddar man
“ Rat race” is a term for the endless, competitive cycle of working hard for money, power, and status, often feeling trapped in a treadmill. The “elites” keep us like rats in this cycle of chasing money (cheese) while they endlessly make it themselves.
Find my seat in class, I’m tryna learn and hear a better plan
Wide eyes, mouth dropped, it got me feelin’ like the weatherman
Ties to why I took this course, to learn more about climate change. When hearing the concerning facts about our climate, this was my exact reaction, eyes wide, mouth dropped. This is how I imagine the weatherman must react when reading the same facts before they go to make the report
“One day they’ll forget it man”
HAHAHAH
This being a made up quote from one of the “elites,” representing their lack of empathy and how they continue to destroy our world, while morally soothing themselves with such comments. Followed by laughter, further accentuating their lack of care and knowledge of this cop out response to the issues.
They speak behind the curtain, say it’s fake and just to leave it lone
This heat boils up the pot that’s on the stove we just can’t leave it on
The “they” being the “elites” and how from an unknown place (behind the curtain) they claim climate change is no issue and we should just leave it alone. However, as we know, these issues are like a pot sitting on the stove. These issues literally and figuratively heat up and can’t stay forever ignored forever, otherwise we will face catastrophic consequences.
I hope this turn you(U) sideways, cause the vision we can’t see(C) alone
Caught up in my feels, it’s crazy that's what people sleepin’ on
A little bit of wordplay here. I hope this turns U sideways( to be shocked or upset), cause the vision we can’t C alone. Turn a U sideways and it makes a C. The real meaning being, I hope these issues concern everyone listening because everyone must see the vision for change to be made. It gets me caught (cot) up in emotion hearing how crazy it is that some people sleep on these issues. But also crazy how some people sleep on cots. While the “elites”...
While they fluffin’ up they pillow, one that’s made for ten
…sleep in giant beds, with giant pillows that could fit ten people, all nice and cozy.
They feed lies, and then expectin’ us to play pretend
Talk wit my sister, they want all ya’ll to behave again
And with the chance, they’d turn my ass into a slave again
A quick message to marginalized groups like women and people of color. Many people who support the “elites” as well as the “elites” themselves desire the time when women were submissive to their husbands, and with the chance, would enslave black people, like myself, once more.
Second chorus:
I’m beggin can we just do better man?
Got us in this rat race, while they stackin up the cheddar man
Find my seat in class, I’m tryna learn and hear a better plan
Wide eyes, mouth dropped, it got me feeling like the weatherman
No I can’t forget it man
The change in lyrics here is a response to the opposing lyric earlier. I and many others can’t and won’t forget about the plethora of issues the world faces.
My brain absorbs the facts, I’m steady thinkin’, I can’t leave it lone
I see the world on fire and it’s crazy how they leave it on
I chose to continue to use the same rhymes but with different lines to continue the opposition and/or connection of the previous lines. I can’t forget these things as my brain has absorbed them, causing me to think about them frequently. The pot has been left on the stove for far too and as expected, much like a house would be in the same scenario, the world is now literally and figuratively on fire
I’m feeling like we starvin’ on an island out at sea alone
A metaphor to represent the hopelessness that many of us feel. Hungry for change yet faced with little to no food as though stranded on an island
Caught running out of options, crazy that’s what people sleeping on
Once again, the same double meaning with the word caught (cot). We are running out of options to make a change, yet people continue to sleep on these issues. And once again, how crazy it is that some people sleep on cots, while others live lavishly.
Link to a playlist with songs on similar matters - https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1jigLH9ahkHklbp8Yx7Ec0?si=bdq1BrtsTnu8hNNuu_Earg&pi=9I5ei3gHQLmpg&nd=1&dlsi=d568aadacb4c4c42
Citations:
Beat used:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3DWOuHfiJI&list=RDT3DWOuHfiJI&start_radio=1
Videos used: