Last Year Lyrics
January came and took my heart away
February felt the same
March, my hugs became hold ons
April, I huffed like porridge on the boil
Morning May, I'm downwind from your shampoo
Ichi, ni, san, go, roku, nana, hachi, kyuu, jyuu
June, I learned to count to ten in Japanese
Dry July, like wiping skin from my skull
Instead, I visit family
They told me I'm special
Hmm
Augustus came and stabilised me with my father's pain
Relieving drug, diazepam
Life floats away
October, I swam back for my birthday
Firework display in a cafeteria of my old school
Happier my coal-black sleep in my cold, deep bed
December, you sang at my funeral
[Verse 2: Marika Hackman]
If it's depths to your rivers, I've picked one for you
Oh, greedy with Ss but equalled by Is
If it's stones for your pockets, I've collected a few
To hold you down
To hold you down
Mississippi, come back to me
Oh, Mississippi, your coal-black sleep
Oh, Mississippi
[Bassoon Solo]
[Refrain: Joe Newman and Marika Hackman]
Mississippi, come back to me
Oh, Mississippi from your cold black sleep
Oh, Mississippi
About
A tranquil song in two parts that tells the story of the narrator’s “Last Year”, which was both the year before this one and and also the last year of his life. The first part is a narrator recounting the months the led to his ultimate suicide in December. The second part is the song that his former partner “sang at [his] funeral”.
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
In an interview with IndieShuffle, Gus Unger-Hamilton said:
Marika’s part is another a song within a song. The first part, where Joe is singing, is someone reading sort of literally of this decline and depression and death over the course of a year. And the final line is “to be sang at my funeral,” which leads into this person singing at his funeral.
It’s a very, very sad song. It was the last song to be added to the album. It was one that was written at Christmas. Joe was talking to me about it and like, “Yeah, it’s really, really, really sad. I’m not sure I can show it to anybody, it’s depressing.” But it’s a beautiful song, so we put it on the album.
In a 2021 interview with The Guardian about their next album, Joe admitted that he had reservations about releasing this song because it’s not based on any real experience that he’s had:
“I feel kind of shameful in a way, that it’s not real emotion. I had this dilemma with a song on the last album, called Last Year. It’s such a sad song, but it’s purely fictitious. Then Gus said: ‘You don’t need a doctor’s note to write a sad song.’”