My palms are sweaty, knees weak, and there’s no real way to break this to you, so I guess I’ll just say it: the “mom’s spaghetti” line is not in the original version of ‘Lose Yourself’.
In fact, none of the original lyrics made the final cut, despite being every bit as dexterous and clever as anything he has written. The music stays much the same in both versions – not surprising, considering how hip hop is created from the beat up – but the lyrical differences between this version and the final show how driven Marshall Mathers was at this point, honing the words until they were perfect.
He rewrote and reworked the lyrics between takes on the set of 8 Mile, recording the final three-verse version in one frenzied take. He came game-ready. One shot. The energy shifts from a swami-like harnessing of self to that of an attack dog; both sets of lyrics implore action, but only the finished version hums with the urgency that is the song’s ultimate hallmark.
The second verse on the demo is downright poetic: “When we descend together, we begin to move as one / In perfect unison just like the moon and sun.” It’s heartening to think of young Marshall penning this ode to the same sweetheart he once wrote, “Quit crying bitch, why do you always make me shout at you?”
Co-writer Jeff Bass told Billboard that, during the year or so it took for the finished version to emerge, they continuously played the chunky guitar line back. “The only thing that we noticed, honestly, is that the track felt so good. We didn’t know why it felt so good, but it was something that felt good to us.”
Millions agreed. The song is perennially used as hype music by everyone from Olympic athletes to motivational speakers. While the music itself clearly breeds something inspirational in the vein of the Rocky theme or Chariots Of Fire (or St. Elmo’s Fire, for that matter), the key is the triple-punch of the uplifting music, the rags-to-slightly-better-rags plot of 8 Mile, and Mathers’ exceptional lyrics.
The original intro contained the same loose idea – “Yo, if you could just, for one minute, or one split second in time, Forget everything / Everything that bothers you, all your problems” – with one vital change: the original is about escapism, while the finished version is about being so inside a moment that you can control it, and with this laser focus, perhaps control your own destiny.
Or at least win a rap battle, fuck Brittany Murphy against the wall of a stamping plant, and make millions of people regularly rap the word “mom’s spaghetti” in dead earnest. That’s how to harness power.
