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.
Jessica
Kaki King Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I'd be eighteen when
She is turning twenty-three
Decorates her room with greeting cards
They burn up when she turns the light on in the dark
Trying to remember love that never really was
When the milk tasted like perfume
The lyrics in Kaki King's song "Jessica" paint a picture of a woman who is still holding onto a past love. Although the singer is promised by Jessica that she will wait for him until he reaches eighteen, she will be turning twenty-three by then. Jessica is portrayed as someone who is living in the past, as her room is decorated with greeting cards that eventually burn up when she turns the light on in the dark. This can be interpreted as a metaphor for how her memories of past love eventually become distorted with time.
The lyrics then go on to describe how Jessica is trying to remember a love that never really was. As the milk tasted like perfume, we can infer that she is trying to relive a love that was only an illusion or a fantasy. The line "you had been drinking from the carton" further emphasizes the idea of trying to hold onto something that is not truly obtainable.
Overall, the lyrics in "Jessica" convey a sense of melancholy and longing for something that may never be. The focus on memory and nostalgia adds a layer of complexity to the song, as it suggests that the past can never truly be recaptured.
Line by Line Meaning
Jessica says she'd wait for me
Jessica promises to hold out for me
I'd be eighteen when
I'm just a teenager
She is turning twenty-three
Jessica is much older than me
Decorates her room with greeting cards
Jessica tries to surround herself with happy imagery
They burn up when she turns the light on in the dark
These happy symbols lose their strength when faced with reality
Trying to remember love that never really was
Jessica clings to a romance that never truly existed
When the milk tasted like perfume
Even something as mundane as drinking milk becomes strange and dream-like
You had been drinking from the carton
Jessica's partner was not concerned with conventional manners or expectations
Lyrics © Songtrust Ave
Written by: ANDREW KIRKLAND, GLEN KING
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind