Rings Around The World - Lyrical Themes

Lyrical Themes

Singer and chief lyric writer Gruff Rhys has given several explanations of the lyrical themes present on the album. He has claimed that the record is "about Earth, and the pollution of space: it's about debris" and that it was originally going to be a "state of the planet concept album" before the band decided against it. Rhys has also stated that the album is about the human condition, citing tracks such as "Fragile Happiness" and "Receptacle For The Respectable" as examples. Critics have referred to the album as "thematically eccentric" and lacking an "overarching theme" with The Independent claiming it leaps "from religious fundamentalists to modern telecommunications and the old Hollywood star system with disorienting glee".

In contrast with 1999's Guerrilla, which featured songs with "self-consciously disposable, happy" lyrics, the tracks on Rings Around the World are, according to Rhys, "broodier and more revealing". The track "No Sympathy" was originally written for a film entitled Plop, which followed three unsympathetic characters who lived for a week as though it were their last. Rhys has described the song as quite a departure for him as a lyric writer and claimed that out of context it could appear bleak and scary. "Presidential Suite", about former United States and Russian presidents Bill Clinton and Boris Yeltsin, is a "a reflective look back at the decadent nineties" during the Lewinsky scandal and asks if "we need to know if he really came inside her mouth?". "Juxtapozed with U" addresses social injustice and is about "house prices going up, and people being left behind by the super rich" and has been described by Rhys as "grotesque in its upness and lift". "Sidewalk Serfer Girl" was initially written about Patti White Bull, a girl who fell into a coma for 15 years, awaking in 1999, but became an amalgamation of the lyrics of several different songs, including one section in which Rhys describes his disdain for extreme sports. "Receptacle for the Respectable" is about simultaneously being in awe of, and being hurt by, a "girl around town" while "It's Not the End of the World?" is "a romantic song about growing old". "Run! Christian, Run!" was influenced by guitarist Huw Bunford's interest in "doomsday cult websites". Bunford printed out several essays from these websites and gave them to Rhys who used them as inspiration for his lyrics along with his own recollections of watching Christian television shows during the band's American tours. The album's title track, "(Drawing) Rings Around the World", is based on an idea put forward by Rhy's girlfriend's father and is about "all the rings of communication around the world. All the rings of pollution, and all the radioactivity that goes around". "Shoot Doris Day" refers to shooting American singer and actress Doris Day with film—"a very cinematic reference" for a song which Rhys claims is "over-the-top lyrically". The track is about "how people change" and also references Labour Party 'spin doctor' Peter Mandelson, in the guise of 'Victor Panache'.