This song is about a struggle with mental health, addiction and attempting to change your ways.
Jelly Roll gives listeners a significant amount to unpack with his dense lyrics rich with meaning. You have to ensure you’re up for the ride because it might feel like you’ve taken a beating by the end.
“Son of a Sinner” came out on the album “Crosses and Crossroads” and takes a deep dive into the personal strife of the artist. This includes his darkest demons around family issues and his own identity.
A New Kind of Sound
Jelly Roll does away with conventions by fusing 2000s rock with country, creating a unique twist that helps convey the complex existential problems. He sings about the emotions he faces due to addiction and mental health struggles, which are more common than ever. This is what makes “Son of a Sinner” such a highly relatable track that countless people have turned to in times of need.
Jelly Roll goes through an array of personal struggles, his father being one of the main focuses of the song. But the lyrics are by no means limited to paternal issues. He also goes into his own guilt, eventually finding his way over to vindication and how he feels he has been redeemed.
This lyrical journey makes this a song about how emotions often don’t take the most direct path possible. Jason DeFord, AKA Jelly Roll, gets vulnerable in a way that has become uncommon in mainstream music. He wants to be understood and explore what causes trauma and emotional baggage to be passed from one generation to the next.
“Son of a Sinner” spent 20 weeks on the Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart in the U.S. and showed up on the Country Airplay list.
Leaning Into Discomfort
The awkwardness and rawness of the opening lines make them all the more impactful. They’re supposed to feel uncomfortable, mixing an uncertain meter with haunting words:
“I never get lonely / I got these ghosts to keep me company”
After these opening lines, he uses an automotive analogy befitting of the genre to say he doesn’t want to be retrospective anymore:
“I took the rearview off of this old Ford so I only see in front of me”
Jelly Roll makes passing references to his struggles with cocaine addiction in the last lines of the first verse:
“Now the past is out of sight and out of mind / Swore I changed, now I’m back chasing these white lines”
The Ultimate Battle
The chorus explores his struggles between good and evil, his personal identity and his family issues all in one fell swoop:
“I’m just a long-haired son of a sinner / Searching for new ways I can get gone / I’m a pedal to the highway if you ever wonder why we write these songs / ‘Cause I’m only one drink away from the devil / I’m only one call away from home / Yeah, I’m somewherе in the middle / I guess I’m just a littlе / Right and wrong”
In the bridge, he first confesses more of his mistakes:
“Mistakes I made, I paid for them in cash / Walked a million miles on broken glass / I’m feeling like I’m fading / My hearts been slowing breaking / Might pop a pill, and smoke, and maybe drink”
He ends, however, on a note of hope for redemption:
“Talk to God and tell him what I think / At first, he’s gonna hate me / But eventually, He’ll save me”
“It goes back to right and wrong,” Jelly Roll told Billboard. “Everything about it was wrong, but felt so right.”
Lyrics
I never get lonely
I get these ghosts to keep me company
I took the rearview off of this old Ford
So I only see in front of me
Now the past is out of sight and out of mind
Swore I changed, now I’m back chasing these white lines
I’m just a long-haired son of a sinner
Searching for new ways I can get gone
I’m a pedal to the highway
If you ever wonder why we write these songs
‘Cause I’m only one drink away from the devil
I’m only one call away from home
Yeah, I’m somewhere in the middle
I guess I’m just a little right and wrong
These backroads got me
These pills pretend to be my friend
I’m done for the last time
I’m lying to myself again
I always say that
Now I’m on my way back here somehow
I should know by now
I’m just a long-haired son of a sinner
Searching for new ways I can get gone
I’m a pedal to the highway
If you ever wonder why we write these songs
‘Cause I’m only one drink away from the devil
I’m only one call away from home
Yeah, I’m somewhere in the middle
I guess I’m just a little right and wrong
Mistakes I made, I paid for them in cash
Walked a million miles on broken glass
I’m feeling like I’m fading
My heart’s been slowly breaking
Might pop a pill and smoke and maybe drink
Talk to God and tell Him what I think
At first He’s gonna hate me
But eventually He’ll save me
I’m just a long-haired son of a sinner
Searching for new ways I can get gone
I’m a pedal to the highway
If you ever wonder why we write these songs
‘Cause I’m only one drink away from the devil
I’m only one call away from home
Yeah, I’m somewhere in the middle
I guess I’m just a little right and wrong
Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Ernest Keith Smith / Jason Deford / David Ray Stevens
Son of a Sinner lyrics © Big Loud Mountain Music Llc, Songs Of Universal Inc., Ern Dog Music, Songs Of 78
