Stories come in many different forms, but it’s very rare that we ever see a story in the form of a song. Hobo Johnson (Frank Lopez Jr.) however, puts the stories he creates into songs… or rather, rhythmic poetry with music in the background. In 2018, he put out a song called “Peach Scone.” Upon the first listen, the meaning of the song sounds simple. It sounds like it’s about a boy who’s happy for his best friend for falling in love. But once analyzed, it has alternative meanings.
The song begins with the story of a young writer boy who falls in love with a girl who has a boyfriend. The young writer in this story is the singer, because he tends to fill his songs with emotional stories. The song says “she kinda loves him back, but not really. They’re just really good friends.” He loves her, but the girl obviously friend-zoned him, so they became really good friends because of it. This song is the story of how Johnson fights his desire to love her.
After the two main characters of the story are introduced, the story goes back in time, to when the two first met. Johnson introduces himself, asks the girl how she is, and asks if she’s in a relationship. When he finds out that she is, he says “disregard every time I call you pretty though it’s meant sincerely, it’s just my imagination drifting.” Johnson acts completely respectful of the fact that she’s in a relationship, and even goes so far as to say “brush me off like the dirt on Jay-Z’s shoulders.” He doesn’t want to affect her relationship, even though he likes her. This line could also take another meaning. It could hold some sarcasm, or anger even. Johnson could be using this line to be asking her to brush him off, because he’s “less important” than her boyfriend. The last part of this verse says “get ready to take over your heart, or at least your spare time.” This line shows that Johnson isn’t completely over his love for the girl, but he accepts that he isn’t going to be with her, hence the “at least your spare time.”
The chorus of the song highlights the struggles that many people go through when they realize they like someone. It deals with the question of do I like you, or do I just like the idea of you? It’s very important that Johnson highlights this thought, because while he wrote the song, he was in love with someone who was taken. It was good to debate whether he even wanted to date her, and whether it was worth it to try to win her over.
After the chorus ends, Johnson asks the girl out for a cup of coffee. The next verse occurs at the coffee shop. The two sit down, and Johnson decides to tell her how he really feels. He begins his sentence with “I love…” and then gets too scared because she’s in a relationship. His full sentence is “I love… these scones.” Johnson begins to get flustered over the fact that he almost confessed his love, and decides to change his subject from his love interest, to scones to recover. He ends up talking about scones for an extensive period of time. To finish off the chorus, the girl interrupts him to ask for some advice on her boyfriend. Apparently, her boyfriend made her upset a couple of days ago, and she wants to know what to do. Johnson doesn’t know what to say, because of his feelings towards her. His response to her was: “he was being mean at that part, point? But I’m sure he’s gonna turn around at some point.” Johnson fills this line with so much sarcasm that it doesn’t sound genuine. He makes it sound like the boyfriend isn’t going to turn around. From there, the song hops back into the chorus, which highlights the fact that he doesn’t even know if he wants to be with her.
This next verse after the chorus is arguably the most confusing verse in the song. You see, the farther into the song it goes, the more it sounds like Johnson is talking to the listener, and not the people in the story. This next verse is set a few weeks or so in the future, when he finally gets to meet the girl’s boyfriend. He mentions that he’s heard a lot about the boyfriend, and that it’s great that they’re doing lots of things together. After he says that, he says “you should keep doing all of them… I think.” This lyric really highlights the fact that he’s struggling to be happy for the couple. He’s trying so hard to congratulate them, and he couldn’t help but end his sentence with “…I think.” Now, the next part of this verse is the confusing part. It sounds like Johnson is taking time out of his story to call out his name, and the fact that he was the one who produced the song… all by himself. But after doing some thinking, I think it could be part of the story. Either he’s still talking to the boyfriend, and he decides to brag about himself to make him feel better, or Johnson actually paused the story for a second to point out the fact that he made the song all on his own. As I’m writing this, I think it might be the second option. You’ll see why at the end of the song, but Johnson mentions having other people that help him, and love him. But if he really made this song all by himself, then does he really have someone who loves him? But that’s just a theory.
This last part of the verse needs it’s own paragraph. Yes, this is still a part of the “meeting the boyfriend” verse, but I think it’s the most important lyric in the song, so it gets it’s own paragraph. After calling out his song, and that he made it all on his own, he starts to ramble about the fact that the girl cared for him when no one else did (I think that Johnson is talking to the boyfriend again here). Johnson rambles about how good of a friend she is, and how kind and caring she is, and that he doesn’t think he’s ever felt love before meeting her. He ends his rant by calling her a peach. To quote, he says “She’s a peach… scone. She’s a peach scone. Yes.” Now, if you’ll remember back a couple of paragraphs to when Johnson went on a rant about how much he loved scones, you’ll remember that he almost confessed his love to her, and then recovered by confessing his love to scones instead. So if you think about it, Johnson just told her boyfriend straight to his face that he’s in love with her, without her boyfriend even knowing. Sneaky move.
Finally, we’re on to our last verse. This verse sounds like Johnson’s talking to a crowd… Maybe even expressing his anger about the situation. That would work, if the original version wasn’t recorded in a studio. But, after doing a lot of thinking, I think this verse is about the last phone call between Johnson and the girl. In this call, he mentions that he doesn’t want the girl to get hurt, because “it takes about two years to come back down to earth from that lovely place that you’ve been.” Johnson is afraid of how heartbreak could affect his friend/love interest, and though he wants to date her, he also doesn’t want her to get hurt. After he expresses his interest for her wellbeing, he again mentions how happy he is for the couple. To quote, Johnson says, “good for you guys, I’m, I’m glad.” Which originally sounds like a nice way to say congratulations, but in the background of the song, you can hear some of the words from the chorus… “being so alone.” This again highlights the fact that Johnson isn’t truly happy for the couple, and that he isn’t truly happy being alone. Finally, Johnson makes his decision about what he wants to do with his love for the girl. In the song, he says that finding someone who loves you for who you are, is a once in a lifetime experience… “and who am I to get in the way of someone living their lifetime y’know?” Johnson decides to resign himself from her relationship, to let her be truly happy.
To close off the song, Johnson ends the call with the girl. He wishes the best for her, and says that they haven’t talked in a while. He says that he’s finally found someone who cares about him, and loves him… but they moved away because he doesn’t talk to them enough. So he ends the call with the girl he loves by saying he’s going to talk to someone who actually cares about him. But if we remember from earlier, Johnson said “I produced this myself.” So, does he really have someone else, or is he just lying to protect the heart of the girl he loves?
This song is ultimately about the sacrifice that someone can make for the person they love, to help them be truly happy. Johnson sacrificed his happiness for the happiness of the girl he loved, in order to preserve her relationship with her boyfriend. He honestly made one of the most painful and beautiful decisions he could’ve made.

“Okay, bye.”