SINGLE: “What Do Y’all Know About Shakespeare”
It’s soul folk with a Shakespearean twist.
“What Do Y’all Know About Shakespeare” is the second single from soul rock singer-songwriter Buggy Jive’s forthcoming album Icarus Ascending. The single drops on digital streaming services Friday. Sep. 12.
Over crunchy acoustic guitars and a no-nonsense cajon groove tailor-made for fans of acoustic-driven funk and soul, "What Do Y'all Know About Shakespeare" is a line-by-line series of the songwriter’s inside jokes with himself recounting a visit to New York City earlier this year that he describes as "a fun, informal art sabbatical."
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The recovering English major is hard-pressed to elaborate beyond that, but the lyrics provide some clues: hints at recent runs of "Othello" and "Purpose" on Broadway; a reference to an old high school friend's art installation in Soho; and even a Cécile McLorin Salvant performance at Carnegie Hall.
Together with the contemplative timpani and piano zen of the b-side “This Can Not Be That,” Buggy Jive once again offers up the stuff of modern soul singer-songwriters like Brittany Howard, Meshell Ndegeocello, and Frank Ocean, while also appealing to literary music lovers and recovering English majors who might dig Joni Mitchell or Elvis Costello.
Soul folk with a Shakespearean twist.
CREDITS
From the forthcoming album Icarus Ascending. Guitars and keys and vox and stuff performed by Buggy Jive. All songs copyright 2025 by Bryan Paul Thomas. Drums produced by Yurt Rock. Mastered by Troy Pohl. Copyright 2025 WT3 Records and Radical Plastical Music. All Rights Reserved.
TRACKLIST
What Do Y’all Know About Shakespeare? (4:14)
This Can Not Be That (4:18)
LYRICS
WHAT DO Y’ALL KNOW ABOUT SHAKESPEARE
By Buggy Jive
He thought he was about to get the come up
But Venetian Bugs Bunny got the one up
Now he’s calling out her daddy before the sun up
Then he gonna trick a black brotha til he done up
And the Times said Kenny got it wrong.
But the play's the thing that was wrong all along
So what do y'all know about what's at stake here?
And what do y'all know about Shakespeare?
Same day, different play, I’m tryna check it
Cuz I know Steppenwolf ain't gonna step and fetch it.
I'm diggin' blackamoors and soft conversation
With only one degree of separation.
A few good footloose hollow man in the darkness
But I’m still six degrees away from Durville Martin
Found my purpose from Phylicia in two acts, baby
And the closer laughs along like she's a black lady.
And I'm tryna figure out what it meant to me.
And what I would have done differently?
I wanna tell y'all who was sittin next to me
But I'm tryna respect a couple’s privacy
So what do y'all know about what's at stake here?
And what do y'all know about Shakespeare?
After waiting for the future with David
And the big found art he created
They told me practice practice practice for admittance
But all I had to do was buy a ticket
And sit up straight in the balcony and act right (white!)
But Jimmy Baldwin knew the ticket had a black price
Been tryna write another song about the Waste Land
But Paul is paying reparations for Graceland
Cecile be killing his American [Tune] rewrite
She be weary to the bone, but she gon be all right
And Orson got Macbeth with the voodoo
But Langston ain't impressed with that hoodoo
Olivier gon' do it up in blackface
And everybody’s apoligizing for his poor taste
Jive talking pillow talk ain't okay
Screw driver vodka Bronco dranking O.J.
So baby, what do you know about Othello?
And what you know about the so-called "ghetto"?
And what you know about Iago?
Or Red Summer 1919 Chicago?
What you know 'bout Desdemona
Or the burning of Tulsa, Oklahoma?
And what do you know about love?
What you know about amour?
What you know about the lord above?
What you know about what we're fighting for?
So what do y'all know about the stakes here?
So what do y'all know about the stakes here?
So what do y'all know about the stakes here?
And what do y'all know about Shakespeare?
THIS CAN NOT BE THAT
By Buggy Jive
The scene I tried to paint
Defined by what it ain't
A color wheel conceals the grays
Of sinners and saints.
The scene I tried to write:
"A dark and stormy night."
There's no magic in an adjective
We've heard a thousand times.
This cannot be that.
No, this cannot be that.
A song is not enough.
Tears and purple prose.
It’s all a little too on the nose.
Monet, Seurat, cliche dot dot dot
Ellipses... and blurry souls.
This cannot be that.
No, this cannot be that.
A song can be too much.
This cannot be that.
