Katherine Elizabeth King (b. 1979), known by her stage name Kaki King, is a… Read Full Bio ↴Katherine Elizabeth King (b. 1979), known by her stage name Kaki King, is a U.S.A. musician and composer. King is known for her percussive and jazz-tinged melodies, energetic live shows, unique use of multiple tunings on both acoustic and lap steel guitar, and her diverse range in different genres.

King was born on the 24th August 1979 in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A., the first of two daughters. While King was a small child, her father noticed her natural musical ability, and encouraged her interest in music. She was introduced to the guitar at the age of four, and played for several years, but after taking up the drums a few years later, they became her primary instrument as an adolescent.

Convinced that her break in music would come from being a drummer, King played in bands in high school with classmate Morgan Jahnig, who would later become the bassist of Old Crow Medicine Show. Upon graduating from The Westminster Schools in Atlanta in 1998, the two friends made their way to New York University. During her time there, King picked up the guitar again, and revisited the finger-style techniques that intrigued her as a child. From there, King played a few occasional gigs and busked in the New York subways.

In February 2006, Rolling Stone released a list of "The New Guitar Gods", with King as the sole woman and youngest artist honoured. In addition to a ten-year career that includes six LP and two EP albums, King has also spent significant time scoring music for television and film. She worked alongside Eddie Vedder and Michael Brook, contributing the music for the soundtrack to Sean Penn's Into the Wild, for which King, Vedder, and Brook were nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score.

King's style combines fret-tapping with slap bass techniques, using the guitar for percussive beats, as well as sound layering and looping. Her playing style has been compared to Michael Hedges and Preston Reed; she explicitly cites the latter as an influence.

2 O
Kaki King Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

2 O'Clock you're still sleeping
When you wake up you'll be in such pain.
And I wait with the plate, piled high with my love
That you wont eat from

Love, you think you can contain me
But the future is already known
We give up our rest, and the best of us though

We'd be better off alone

There's no need to be so terrible
When you know I would do anything for you
This is so laughable, whatever happened to
Knowing that this was forever.
File off the sharpness of feelings so
I'll be protected from all of your evil

When you come round my love, I'll be gone, finally done
Never to come to your rescue.

Overall Meaning

The song 2 O by Kaki King opens with a scene where the first person narrator is watching the person they love sleeping at 2 O'clock. The lyrics suggest that the person they love is going to wake up in pain, and it is unclear what is causing this pain. The second line of the song, "When you wake up, you'll be in such pain," provides a hint that it could be emotional pain. The singer seems to be ready to provide comfort and support to the person they love, as they wait with the plate piled high with their love. However, the person they love rejects this love and doesn't eat from the plate.

In the following lines, Kaki King describes the dynamics of a troubled relationship where one person tries to contain the other, but it is already known that the future is bleak. The singer seems to have given up on trying to make the relationship work, stating that they would be better off alone. The lyrics suggest that the person they love is being terrible, and the singer has to file off the sharpness of their feelings to protect themselves from the other's evil. The song ends on a note of finality, where the singer is done and will never come to the person's rescue again.

Line by Line Meaning

2 O'Clock you're still sleeping
It is already 2 o'clock and you're still asleep.

When you wake up you'll be in such pain.
You'll be in a lot of pain when you wake up.

And I wait with the plate, piled high with my love
I wait with love and care for you.

That you wont eat from
But you refuse to accept or appreciate it.

Love, you think you can contain me
You believe you can control and trap me with your love.

But the future is already known
But the future is predetermined and I cannot be contained.

We give up our rest, and the best of us though
We sacrifice our comfort and the best part of ourselves.

We'd be better off alone
We'd be happier if we were not together.

There's no need to be so terrible
There's no need to be cruel or hurtful.

When you know I would do anything for you
Especially when you know I love you and would do anything for you.

This is so laughable, whatever happened to
It's ridiculous and absurd, whatever happened to our love.