Song Meaning
Devendra Banhart’s “Soon Is Good” is a psychedelic koan wrapped in folk whimsy, less a narrative and more a feeling state. The mantra-like repetition of “Soon is good, sooner is best” sets the stage – an anxious anticipation that borders on manic. It's the impatient child's lament, the lover's desperate plea, the artist's restless muse all rolled into one insistent demand. The lyrical fragments scatter like tarot cards – "under evil doorsteps," "Evil Elvis, good afternoon" – suggesting a world where light and dark, the sacred and the profane, are in constant negotiation.
The May/June/July references act as temporal anchors in this sea of yearning, grounding the abstract desire for 'soon' in the concrete reality of passing time. But even these markers are warped and stretched, the repetition of “May, of May, of May, of May DALW!” hinting at a breakdown of linear time, a spiraling obsession. The line "Prize beats puzzle everytime" subtly acknowledges that the pursuit of immediate gratification is often a frustrating, cyclical endeavor. We chase the 'prize' of 'soon,' only to find ourselves back at the beginning, puzzled by the delay.
Ultimately, “Soon Is Good” isn’t about *what* is coming, but the *feeling* of waiting. It’s about the tension between hope and anxiety, the push and pull between desire and patience. Banhart captures the essence of that uniquely human experience where the future holds both promise and dread, and the present is simply a space to be filled with the echoing mantra: soon, soon, soon.
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