Hoop has lived all over the map, and her rich life experience is reflected in her distinctive voice and natural gift for inventive song craft. She learned to sing at an early age, harmonising with her musical Mormon family in northern California. She began writing highly idiosyncratic songs at the age of 14 to keep her company on her long walks to school. At 16, Hoop broke away from her strict upbringing and began what she calls her 'life as a racoon', off the grid & close to nature. Rambling through the high mountain deserts of the Southwest and along the coastlines of the Northwest, she worked as a wilderness survival guide and chalked up skills in farming, surveying, and carpentry. Her songwriting continued throughout, shared on porches, in deep river canyons and around campfires.
In 2004 the desire to share these songs on a broader scale set in. She settled in Los Angeles, where she honed her songwriting craft and developed a reputation as a unique and beguiling live performer of real substance. Though she now resides in Manchester, England, Hoop returned to Los Angeles to record her third album, The House That Jack Built.
Jesca has quite the collection of fans in high places: Tom Waits described her music as being "like a four sided coin. She is an old soul, like a black pearl, a good witch or red moon. Her music is like going swimming in a lake at night". Peter Gabriel took her to South America to sing with him, and in recent years she has been hand picked to play as support on tour for Eels, Andrew Bird, Punch Brothers, Shearwater and Elbow: Elbow's Guy Garvey has even had her do stints as guest presenter on his BBC radio show, to great reception.
The follow up to 2009's critically acclaimed Hunting My Dress, "The House That Jack Built" displays a striking duality: light and dark, head and heart, it juxtaposes the macabre and visceral with a disarmingly candid intimacy. The resulting combination is powerfully evocative, with overarching themes of biology, nature and humanity - Hoop's stone-turning observations are mired in the equal beauty and violence of a nature that, for her, is clearly red in tooth and claw.
D.N.R.
Jesca Hoop Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The diabetic didn’t feel his feet step out of bed
The truck filled with TV dinners
Needing delivering round town
They would drive behind the paper boy throwin’ them headlines out
And no antidepressant of sort
Could change the weather report
When the wind chill factor was high he took the whole bottle down
DNR DNR DNR DNR DNR DNR
Jesus wants me for a sunbeam, he raised his kids up right
But bein raised in the light of Christ adds insult to injury that night
When the mail order brides and the phone sex and his negligence became real
The wall covered in spit how’s it to make your teenage daughters feel
He called his flame that never died
She could hear something weren’t right
Now we’ve got one more failed attempt at a suicide
Keep it right by your side
DNR DNR
By no heroic measure
Restart restart his heart
A lonely heart was the black hole that did him in
From the first attempt to his current critical condition
Now were talking over who will take the dog if he’s gonna make it through again
And were takin’ turns tell him the stories of the good times worth rememberin’
And then my sister asked
Are we prayin’ for him to pass
And no one dared speak out loud but we all knew
And pushed the paperwork through
DNR DNR
By no heroic measure
Restart restart his heart
The song "D.N.R." by Jesca Hoop is a poignant and melancholic reflection on a family's struggle with the decision to let go of a loved one who is terminally ill. The song depicts the father's deteriorating health and the family's attempt to find an answer to the question of whether or not to resuscitate him. The opening lines of the song describe the father's daily routine of delivering TV dinners around town while dealing with his diabetes. The father is depicted as a man who is tired and worn out by life, unable to face the harsh realities of his existence.
Throughout the song, Hoop alludes to multiple factors that have contributed to the father's health issues, including his negligence, addiction, loneliness, and infidelity. The lines "Jesus wants me for a sunbeam, he raised his kids up right / But being raised in the light of Christ adds insult to injury that night" suggest that the father's religious upbringing may have created unrealistic expectations for him and caused him to feel ashamed of his shortcomings. The chorus "DNR DNR" is repeated throughout the song, representing the family's difficult decision to do not resuscitate their father.
In the final verse, the family is seen grappling with the prospect of losing their father. They reminisce about the good times they shared with him and contemplate whether it would be cruel to prolong his life. The line "And no one dared speak out loud but we all knew / And pushed the paperwork through / DNR DNR" depicts the family's unspoken agreement to accept the reality and let their father pass away with dignity.
Line by Line Meaning
Winter’s dark morning woke my dad
My dad woke up to a dark, gloomy morning in winter
The diabetic didn’t feel his feet step out of bed
My dad, who is diabetic, couldn't feel his feet as he stepped out of bed
The truck filled with TV dinners
The truck was loaded with TV dinners
Needing delivering round town
The TV dinners needed to be delivered all over town
They would drive behind the paper boy throwin’ them headlines out
They followed the paper boy around and watched as he threw the papers on people's porches
And no antidepressant of sort
No antidepressant could help my dad
Could change the weather report
No medicine could change the gloomy weather
When the wind chill factor was high he took the whole bottle down
When the temperature dropped too low, my dad took all of his medicine
He’s got his paperwork now
My dad has his end-of-life paperwork ready
DNR DNR DNR DNR DNR DNR
My dad has signed a Do Not Resuscitate order
Jesus wants me for a sunbeam, he raised his kids up right
My dad was raised with strong Christian beliefs and raised his children the same way
But bein raised in the light of Christ adds insult to injury that night
However, his religious beliefs made the situation worse
When the mail order brides and the phone sex and his negligence became real
When my dad's involvement with mail order brides and phone sex became real, it was clear he had been neglectful
The wall covered in spit how’s it to make your teenage daughters feel
The disgusting state of the walls made my teenage sisters feel uncomfortable and disgusted
He called his flame that never died
He called his longtime love interest, whose feelings for him never faded
She could hear something weren’t right
She knew something was wrong when he called
Now we’ve got one more failed attempt at a suicide
My dad attempted suicide again and failed
Keep it right by your side
Keep the DNR paperwork with you at all times
DNR DNR
The Do Not Resuscitate order is still in effect
By no heroic measure
We won't be able to save him through heroics
Restart restart his heart
There's nothing anyone can do to restart his heart
A lonely heart was the black hole that did him in
My dad's loneliness was what caused his health to deteriorate
From the first attempt to his current critical condition
He has been in poor health since his first suicide attempt
Now were talking over who will take the dog if he’s gonna make it through again
We're discussing custody of the dog if my dad recovers
And were takin’ turns tell him the stories of the good times worth rememberin’
We're reminiscing about good times with my dad
And then my sister asked
My sister has a question
Are we prayin’ for him to pass
She wonders if we're praying for my dad's death
And no one dared speak out loud but we all knew
We all know what we're thinking, but no one wants to say it out loud
And pushed the paperwork through
We completed and submitted the end-of-life paperwork
Contributed by Owen R. Suggest a correction in the comments below.