Pollyanna

I never understood this song's meaning until last week I was in the car with someone who had never heard it before. Halfway through the song he says out of nowhere "this song is about being cheated on."

It really matches up really well, but depending on the way you are trying to hear it each time can change whether it seems he cheated or she did, and who is the protagonist.

So this is how it ends

• introducing his story, kinda like saying "this is how it went down" Toxic AND DELIBERATE (indeliberance is not a word)
• she cheated on him, intending it to hurt him She's blood red at the neck
• she's emotional as she tells him (blushing from regret, or anger, w/e) Boiling off finger prints
• tryin to erase evidence of her guilt This hospital love
• dying love, or maybe he sees it as sick being healed is making death seem elegant
• giving up is easier than fighting to keep her just don't breathe and we'll stop time
• asking her to stay with him and keep things the same

she said/ i've got this delicate lisp/ that speaks in tongues and upper-lips

• metaphor describing how she cheated (?) your silhouettes my favorite/ im not letting go of it/im not letting go of it
• it seems here like she cheated and is keeping him with the other man "on the side"

shes got a leash that grips/ my teeth that cleans the air/ i breathe/ its wrapped around this city

• basically he's saying she's everywhere with him in his thoughts, even when theyre apart hes thinking of her and she is controlling him

you look so lovely running through my fingers/ running through my fingers/ where everything's always felt right...

• she's slipping away, but he hasn't lost any of his feelings for her

she glides off the bed

• he seems to be watching her as she cheats in this verse and giving us a play-by-play with unflinching relevance
• it doesn't change how important she is to him so completely motionless
• describing himself, like he's shocked you're so heavy, you're so warm
• heavy= weighing him down emotionally, warm= he's still fond of her just a pillow ive used/ a thousand times before
• sex with her wrapped in velvet
• condom and filled with thorns
• the damages to their relationship they're ignoring

ive got this weakening grip

• losing her... around her arm, around her hips/ her silhouettes my favorite/ im not letting go of it/ im not letting go of it
• she's leaving but he is unwilling to accept it

I will chase it, grab it, stake it

• do anything to catch her Rub until she fakes it
• sex again We all blew faster
• emotions ran higher An oncoming disaster/ I will let this hurt
• he realizes what is going on, and lets it end

most of the lines have similar meanings, and the he cheated vs. she cheated question depends on when you place lines like " just dont breathe and we'll stop time/ SHE SAID/ i've got this delicate lisp." If "she said" follows "just don't breathe and we'll stop time" in the story, he cheated. If "she said" precedes "i've got this delicate lisp" then she cheated...