Song Analysis: He Doesn't Know Why (2024)

He Doesn’t Know Why is a beautiful single from Fleet Foxes’ self-titled album. On this track, lead singer Robin Pecknold delivers very intimate, poetic lyrics about feeling confused and hopeless when seeing the sad state of a family member’s life (most likely his brother). The song is not confirmed to be based in truth, but nonetheless Robin’s passionate singing sure makes it feel deeply personal. The song has a powerful, catchy melody backed by a great folky instrumental. I saw Fleet Foxes live last week and was blown away by the whole set. Admittedly, before that point I was much more familiar with Helplessness Blues and Crack-Up than their previous projects. However, the instant I heard this song I fell in love and I’ve constantly had the self-titled album on repeat since then.

I will go through a line by line analysis, in an attempt to analyze the masterful writing and point out what makes this song so beautiful to me.

Penniless and tired with your hair grown long
I was looking at you there and your face looked wrong

The song begins with Robin seeing his brother for the first time after a long period apart. Robin immediately points out the obvious changes in his brother’s appearance. Even though he only uses three descriptors, they are very effective and allow the listener to easily imagine a face, perhaps even a transformation of someone the listener is close to themselves. The use of the word “penniless” is needs to be appreciated. With one word, Robin causes the listener to imagine many, many consequences of being poor.

Robin ends the second line with “your face looked wrong” which is a very blunt and devastating statement. After spending a long time together with someone, you develop the idea of a “correct” way they person should look and act. It is heartbreaking to hear anyone say that that one of their siblings’ faces looked wrong.

Memory is a fickle siren’s song
I didn’t understand

Sirens are mythical creatures known to lure sailors to their death with their enchanting singing. This simile is beautiful. It causes us to reflect on the harsh reality that our memories can entice us into making bad decisions. Humans often cling too tightly to the past and act dangerously to “return to the good old days”.

This song is constructed of four line sections, as we can tell by the repeating melody and instrumentation. Four lines is not a lot, so we feel that each line must be carefully chosen based on importance. Here Robin just chooses to say that he didn’t understand. This highlights to the listener the severity of how confused he really felt. Robin didn’t, or perhaps couldn’t add more information about the situation, so he just chose to emphasize his confusion.

In the gentle light as the morning nears
You don’t say a single word of the last two years

Robin paints a scene reminiscent of many drama films. We imagine Robin’s brother coming home before dawn and waking Robin up. Even though there is nothing to do in the darkness, the two just ignore each other. The sun gradually rises, which reinforces the idea of wasted time. Robin’s brother keeps to himself, not wanting to explain what happened to him and Robin doesn’t ask, not wanting to push too far. When listening, we can only guess how long they’ve been stuck in the silence, making this image even sadder.

Where you were or when you reached the frontier
I didn’t understand

Rather than talking to his brother, Robin continues to get lost in his thoughts, trying to make sense of what he’s seeing. Of course, he is only able to make wild guesses and is still as confused as before. This is shown through his repetition of “I didn’t understand”. As before, emphasis is placed on his confusion by closing out the four line section with this line.

See your rugged hands and a silver knife
Twenty dollars in your hand that you hold so tight
All the evidence of your vagrant life
My brother, you were gone

Robin begins to point out more observations, having recovered from his initial shock. He starts to observe not only his brother’s appearance, but also what he he is holding. This masterful use of imagery again evokes sadness in us as we are reminded of the terrible state of Robin’s brother life’s. It also brings up many new questions and answers few. We see that the brother has become so poor that he cherishes twenty dollars. We do not know what the knife is for or how his hands have become so rugged, but it is certain that his life has been difficult.

Robin switches it up and does not end this set of four lines with “I didn’t understand”. He instead sings “my brother, you were gone”. This is another heartbreaking lines, similar to the previous one about his brother’s face looking wrong. Robin feels as though the brother he once knew and loved doesn’t exist anymore, and perhaps can’t be recovered. Although it is true that Robin still doesn’t fully understand what happened to his brother, it appears that he has gained enough information to confidently state that his brother is gone.

And you will try to do what you did before
Pull the wool over your eyes for a week or more

The listener learns that this is not new behavior for Robin’s brother. This gives us another perspective and places even more importance on the “I didn’t understand” lines. Robin was not only saying that he didn’t understand what happened to his brother, he was also baffled at how this possibly could have happened again. These lines are filled with hopelessness, as Robin understands that his brother is stuck in a vicious cycle. He acts recklessly, then pretends like he doesn’t have issues and goes back to destroying his life. The fact that this has become so predictable to Robin makes us feel extremely sad.

Let your family take you back to your
Original mind

Rather than giving up hope, Robin still tries to convince his brother to let the family help him. Even though Robin knows that his brother is stuck in this cycle, he must still do all that he can to revive the man he once knew. The use of the word “let” is important here. Robin understands that he can’t force his brother to accept help. His brother needs to recognize his destructive behavior on his own, otherwise no amount of help can change him.

There’s nothing I can do
There’s nothing I can do
There’s nothing I can say
There’s nothing I can say, I can say

The last set of lyrics are a continuation of the idea created by the previous line. Robin has tried to help his brother and has now accepted the fact that there’s nothing he himself can do. His brother must control his own fate, no amount of pressure from Robin can change this.

After Robin sings the last line, the usual instrumental continues for a bit longer and then the song appears to finish. However, an unexpected piano outro comes in. This makes us extremely confused. We have no clue what this outro means. Perhaps it is just a way to forget about Robin’s brother, this abrupt change in music could just be Robin leaving the subject unresolved. A happier interpretation could be that the original music has become linked to Robin’s confusion and sadness, and this new instrumental indicates a happier time after his brother actually does return to his old self. That’s one of the beautiful things about this song, we’re able to decide our own ending and take away what’s most important to us.