San Francisco based singer/songwriter Soul Folk aka Will Hammond Jr. scored… Read Full Bio ↴San Francisco based singer/songwriter Soul Folk aka Will Hammond Jr. scored a decade ago as the writer of Tara Kemp's international hit, "Hold You Tight," (Warners Bros.) The song went to #3 on the Billboard Pop and R&B charts and went to become a certified gold record with 800,000 units sold. In 2003, he released his first solo project named “brothafromanuthaplanet” was under his pseudonym, Soul Folk. However, Hammond has not himself recorded an album under his moniker, until now, with his upcoming cd “To Be Continued…”

Will Hammond started his artistic career in elementary school, attending the Cathedral School for Boys and singing in the Grace Cathedral Choir of Men and Boys. Once he graduated to high school he honed his craft at the Urban School of San Francisco, performing and singing in various plays under the direction of Ellen Sebastian (Life on the Water Theater) and George Coates and performing with the Young People’s Musical Theater ensemble. He also performed with San Francisco rap group Midnight Voices and opened for Grammy-nominated artist Ledisi, Goapele and funk rockers Flipsyde.

Along with his new cd, his most recent projects have been in composition and sound design for theater productions, working on “Flow” by Luminating Works, “Trucker Rhapsody” and “La Sangre” by playwright Toni-Press Coffman and “To Hades and Back” by Katherine Murphy. Will has also composed the score for the play “The Seven” by playwright Will Power, a hip-hop rendition of Aeschylus’ greek tragedy “Seven Against Thebes” which premiered off-Broadway in 2006 at the New York Theatre Workshop and will be on tour at San Diego’s La Jolla Theater in 2008.

(© 2008 Dreamtree Ent.)

Breakdown
Soul Folk Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

[Verse 1:]
Life is crazy sometimes I feel like I'm just going out of my mind
Ain't no pleasure in this pain that's why I hide all my fears inside
(I'm keepin it real, girl)
So you ask me what is wrong and I try my best-to explain
(This ain't no love song)
It's just a temporary chemical imbalance messin with my brain
(And I'm not feeling alright, no no)

[Chorus:]
Stop the world from moving
Can't hang with this groovin'
It's the day to day thangs be buggin me (oh no)
Like I'm havin a nervous breakdown
And it's kickin me in the worst way

[Verse 2:]
Sometimes you go through it all the money in the world can't fix it
Sunny days seem so blue feels like I lost a good friend can't deal with it
Anxiety attacking me through all my thoughts and my sanity
Finding it so hard to concentrate on love, life and creativity

[Chorus:]

[Vamp:]
Gotta just live my life
Then I'm gonna feel alright

No stressin and no more strife
Gotta make it feel alright

Overall Meaning

The Soul Folk's song Breakdown is a powerful depiction of the feelings and emotions that come with mental struggles. The first verse begins with a sense of confusion and a feeling of being overwhelmed. The singer feels like they are losing their mind and are unable to find any solace or pleasure in the pain they feel. They try to open up to someone, but find it difficult to articulate their troubles because they fear vulnerability. The lyrics provide a raw and honest portrayal of the challenges one faces when they are going through a mental breakdown.

In the chorus, the singer expresses their overwhelming desire to escape reality, to stop the world from moving and avoid dealing with daily life. The chaos and the constant motion of everyday existence are too much to bear, and they feel like they are barely holding it together. The second verse delves even deeper into the struggle of living with mental health issues. The lyrics illustrate the reality that even financial security cannot always resolve one's pain. The singer experiences anxiety that attacks them mentally, making it difficult to focus on important aspects of their life like love, creativity and self-care.

Overall, the lyrics in Breakdown provide an honest and heart-wrenching depiction of the struggle that comes with mental illness.

Line by Line Meaning

Life is crazy sometimes I feel like I'm just going out of my mind
Life can be overwhelming and cause mental instability

Ain't no pleasure in this pain that's why I hide all my fears inside
I don't find any enjoyment in being in pain or dealing with fear, so I keep it to myself

(I'm keepin it real, girl)
I'm being honest with you

So you ask me what is wrong and I try my best-to explain
You're trying to understand what's going on with me and I'm doing my best to explain it

(This ain't no love song)
This song is not about love

It's just a temporary chemical imbalance messin with my brain
My mental state is caused by a temporary chemical imbalance in my brain

(And I'm not feeling alright, no no)
I'm not okay

Stop the world from moving
I need the world to stop so I can catch my breath

Can't hang with this groovin'
I can't keep up with the pace of life

It's the day to day thangs be buggin me (oh no)
The little things in life are causing me stress

Like I'm havin a nervous breakdown
I feel like I'm having a mental breakdown

And it's kickin me in the worst way
It's affecting me in a very negative way

Sometimes you go through it all the money in the world can't fix it
Money doesn't solve all problems

Sunny days seem so blue feels like I lost a good friend can't deal with it
Even good days are overshadowed by sadness and loss