“Hayloft II” picks up a story that was started and abruptly ended 14 years ago by the band Mother Mother. The song tells the story of a girl who loses her way due to a traumatizing experience from her childhood. These demons grow inside of the girl and make her take revenge on the person who caused her to be this way.
The Canadian indie rock band Mother Mother released its eighth studio album ‘Inside’ on January 28, 2022. The deluxe version of the album contained the continuation of a story they began 14 years ago in their 2008 album ‘O My Heart.’ The original song was titled “Hayloft.”
On “Hayloft,” Mother Mother tells a story of two young lovers getting caught having sex in a hayloft in a barn. They get caught by the girl’s father, who happened to carry a gun at the time. Out of sudden rage, the father shoots the boy and he dies from gunshot wounds. The young girl is left traumatized by the horrors that unfold in front of her eyes.
Fast forward 14 years…
Listen to “Hayloft II” by Mother Mother
Mother Mother “Hayloft II” Lyrics Meaning and Song Review
At the beginning of the song, Ryan Guldemond of Mother Mother reminds us of the old story. He asks us if we know what happened to the two young lovers?! To summarize, this is what happened to the two young lovers;
One got shot and the other got lost in
Drugs and punks and blood on the street
Ryan reminds us of the young boy who got shot and lost his life in the hayloft. The girl, however, survived her father’s wrath, but she was never the same ever again. Losing your lover is difficult enough. Having to witness your lover’s body blow up in front of your own eyes causes damage beyond repairable to her psyche.
So, she turns to drugs, alcohol, and a wasted life in the streets.
On a side note, Ryan also reveals that the barn itself was burned to the ground as if to erase the tragedy that stained the place. The barn may have burnt to a crisp and disappeared off the face of the Earth in an hour, but the young girl was never to forget what happened.
What happened to her father? He went about his usual life (somehow unscathed from murder charges).
But…her father knows something is not right with his little daughter. He notices her new behavior and the way she looks at him–eyes full of rage. She has a gun, too.
My baby’s got a gun
I better run
My baby’s got a gun
In the third and final verse of “Hayloft II,” we see the story come in a full circle. The daughter slowly grows colder at heart and boiling with rage at the same time. These demons grow inside of her until the day she is not able to control herself anymore and her gun brings in the ‘justice’ she was edging for all her life.
She had to do it
They’re not a bad kid
The song ends with a justification that the daughter had no choice in the matter. The demons that her father planted in her only grew and consumed both of them. Debates of ‘justice’ aside, “Hayloft II” wraps up the story that began 14 years ago.
Let us hear what you think about this song in the comments below. Check out the complete lyrics on Genius.
Notice how in Hayloft the lyrics went like:
My daddy’s got a gun
My daddy’s got a gun
My daddy’s got a gun
You better run
But in Hayloft II the lyrics were:
My baby’s got a gun
My baby’s got a gun
My baby’s got a gun
i better run
So, in hayloft Pop was the one with the gun, and ‘you’ was meant to the boy,
but in hayloft II The girl was the one with the gun, and i better run means about everybody, since she got crazy because of the demons in her.
and last thing, in the last verse, it went from,
She had to do it
to
They had to do it,
Which refers to the fact that it was not only her, but also her demons (they)
I think you’re spot-on.
When I first heard Hayloft II , I thought it was just a really fun remix of Hayloft, from
O My 🖤. (One of my favorite albums of the 10s)
But on further listen, it becomes clear that Hayloft II is a continuation of a tale stated in 2008.
II, not only gives new life and meaning to the original Hayloft, it’s a rad stand-alone track.
I love it. Inside (Deluxe) is my favorite Mother Mother record since OMy🖤.
I wanna point out that they were “queer lovers” so it would most likely be a girl and not a boy, someone of any gender that isn’t a boy.
I’m glad you pointed out Their queerness, Jaden. Good call.
Mother Mother is an unapologetic queer band that formed in a time when it wasn’t safe to be openly queer… but some of us were anyway.
Perhaps, an opposite-sex couple could still be queer though, right? Like the first dead lover could have been a trans-masculine boy, or like, non-binary but still used He/Him/His pronouns?
I’m not contradicting you. I’m really glad you bought up Their queerness, I’m just pointing out that the umbrella term ‘Queer’ is not necessarily indicative of gender or gender identity. 🖤
I believe that the meaning is that the old man is running from his daughter, who was traumatized by him when she was younger. She is going after him with a gun. She kills him for killing the innocent young lovers.