The song lyrics were written by the band Van Halen, as they were asked to write a song for the 1979 movie "Over the Edge" starring Matt Dillon. The movie (and the lyrics, although more obliquely) are about bored, rebellious youth with nothing better to do than get into trouble. If you see the movie, these lyrics will make more sense. It's a great movie if you grew up in the 70s/80s you'll definitely remember some of these characters from your own life. Fun fact, after writing the song, Van Halen decided not to let the movie use it.
Say you're sorry
That face of an angel
Comes out just when you need it to
As I paced back and forth all this time
'Cause I honestly believed in you
Holding on
The days drag on
Stupid girl
I should have known, I should have known
That I'm not a princess, this ain't a fairy tale
I'm not the one you'll sweep off her feet
Lead her up the stairwell
This ain't Hollywood, this is a small town
I was a dreamer before you went and let me down
Now it's too late for you
And your white horse, to come around
Maybe I was naive,
Got lost in your eyes
And never really had a chance
My mistake I didn't know to be in love
You had to fight to have the upper hand
I had so many dreams
About you and me
Happy endings
Now I know
I'm not a princess, this ain't a fairy tale
I'm not the one you'll sweep off her feet
Lead her up the stairwell
This ain't Hollywood, this is a small town
I was a dreamer before you went and let me down
Now it's too late for you
And your white horse, to come around
And there you are on your knees
Begging for forgiveness, begging for me
Just like I always wanted but I'm so sorry
'Cause I'm not your princess, this ain't a fairytale
I'm gonna find someone someday who might actually treat me well
This is a big world, that was a small town
There in my rear view mirror disappearing now
And it's too late for you and your white horse
Now it's too late for you and your white horse, to catch me now
Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa
Try and catch me now
Oh, it's too late
To catch me now
That face of an angel
Comes out just when you need it to
As I paced back and forth all this time
'Cause I honestly believed in you
Holding on
The days drag on
Stupid girl
I should have known, I should have known
That I'm not a princess, this ain't a fairy tale
I'm not the one you'll sweep off her feet
Lead her up the stairwell
This ain't Hollywood, this is a small town
I was a dreamer before you went and let me down
Now it's too late for you
And your white horse, to come around
Maybe I was naive,
Got lost in your eyes
And never really had a chance
My mistake I didn't know to be in love
You had to fight to have the upper hand
I had so many dreams
About you and me
Happy endings
Now I know
I'm not a princess, this ain't a fairy tale
I'm not the one you'll sweep off her feet
Lead her up the stairwell
This ain't Hollywood, this is a small town
I was a dreamer before you went and let me down
Now it's too late for you
And your white horse, to come around
And there you are on your knees
Begging for forgiveness, begging for me
Just like I always wanted but I'm so sorry
'Cause I'm not your princess, this ain't a fairytale
I'm gonna find someone someday who might actually treat me well
This is a big world, that was a small town
There in my rear view mirror disappearing now
And it's too late for you and your white horse
Now it's too late for you and your white horse, to catch me now
Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa
Try and catch me now
Oh, it's too late
To catch me now
Lyrics submitted by lilwad1323
White Horse Lyrics as written by Taylor Alison Swift Elisabeth Wagner Rose
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Anthem Entertainment
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Light Up The Sky
Van Halen
Van Halen
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
Ebba Grön
This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
Amazing
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran tells a story of unsuccessfully trying to feel “Amazing.” This track is about the being weighed down by emotional stress despite valiant attempts to find some positivity in the situation. This track was written by Ed Sheeran from the perspective of his friend. From the track, we see this person fall deeper into the negative thoughts and slide further down the path of mental torment with every lyric.
Page
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
He led her on to believe that she had a chance when really, he was playing games. And now that he wants her, she's over him and it's just too late.
This is exactly my situation and, believe me, it hurts..
I know how you feel.im going thru it right now.I found out he was "liking"this other girl alot.and so i told him fine have her,you wont have me when u come back.
Yep that was me and my best friend for a while. The bitterness and the pain in this song is so raw, I love it. Especially the line: "And there you are on your knees-begging for forgiveness, begging for me. Just like I always wanted but I'm so sorry..." It's so true. All you ever wanted was for them to realize how much they care for you, but when he finally gets a clue, all the time you spent hurting kind of overrules the feelings for him.
this song is simply amazing. i think its about a girl who loves a boy. He probably doesn't feel the same way back, but in her mind they are perfect together. He either does something to make her realize he is not a perfect prince, or she just gets sick of not being his princess. Reality hits her and just when it does, he realizes he lost her and comes begging for forgiveness- but its too late.
This may just be my interpretation in relation to myself and my relationship, but I think it's about being naive and hoping for something that just isn't there. She clearly cares for this boy and wants him to be the one, her "knight in shining armor," but he doesn't treat her like she deserves and she comes to realize that he isn't what she thought or hoped for at all.
This a Good sequel to "Love Story". THis makes me Cry cause i'm going through this.
your right, love story made me cry as well cuz i used to and still do wish that my best friend and i will have a relationship like in "love story" but sadly, he made it clear that he just wants to be friends, very subtle but i got the hint :-/ so this song made me cry too :'(
This song relates to me sooo much. 3 years ago, a guy made me fall head over heels for him. All my friends said he was a jerk, i didn't believe it. I made it clear how i felt to him, he just ignored the situation. Then, he betrayed me. Then he stopped speaking with me. Then, i begged him and pleaded with him to just talk to me, and he wouldnt. then, he dated one of my best friends for eight months. They just broke up, and he and i got into more fights. But now, he has started talking to me all of a sudden and i just ignore him, im finally over it. He can live with the pain, not me. Thats why i love this song so much, he was supposed to be prince charming on his white horse to come and save me. He wasn't .
I just wanted to say that I've loved this song since I heard it on Grey's. It's incredible.
i just wanted to say that that exact sichuation could be me in 7 more months. the same thing happened to me and now he is dating my best friend. it hurts
Same with me.im still going thru it too.
I love this song! i think its about a girl who really likes this boy, the boy plays around with her, making her belive that one day, maybe one day, the will finally be something. That day never came. She gave up. Now he wants her back. to late.
this song is the same exact situation im in, except he hasnt begged for forgiveness, or begged for me. im still trying to give up.
me too.im waiting but im trying to forget about him.its for the best.): i still love him.
Took the words right out of my mouth! Exactly what I think the song means.<br /> <br /> How I can relate is he hasn't begged for my forgiveness either<br />
I never thought anyone was going through the same thing as I was. I totally understand, and I'm glad that now I know I'm not alone.
@vvblondie101 Same here.
The whole song is amazing, and I can totally relate to it.
I love how in the last verse it changes from "I'm not a princess" to "I'm not YOUR princess" I think that's how every girl should feel, just like a guy treats her like crap doesn't mean she's not deserving, it means she needs to "find someone someday Who might actually treat [her] well"
Omg amazing song, I love it. I think it's about a girl who was really in love with a guy, and maybe they were good friends, but he never knew she liked him that way. Then he did something to betray her trust, maybe told her he loved her and then hooked up with another girl, and now she realizes that he never was her "prince" and she's not a princess. Especially the part: And there you are on your knees Begging for forgiveness Begging for me Just like I always wanted But I'm so sorry
He's begging for her to forgive him, he's begging for her, just like she always wanted him to, but she's not going to forgive him, because it's too late for him and his "white horse" to come and catch her.
I listen to this song everyday (and Im listening to it right now actually) because for the past few days I've been feeling like the girl in the song does. What I think is, the boy and girl are in a relationship, and he called her his Princess, but as time went on, he got busy with the rest of his life and wasnt' as dedicated to her as before, he didn't think of her as a priority, and he did so many things to hurt her, like not listen to her, or pay attention to her, and she forgave him every time, and always gave him a chance. She gave him so many chances she can't even count, but he doesn't even appreciate her for anything. For any little thing or any big thing. Now, she realizes she has to stand up for herself, that she doesn't have to take all this, there is someone out there who will treat her better. She's not going to give him another chance, no matter how much she loves him.
Girl meets boy and falls madly in love and is blinded by whatever mistakes boy made. And girl finally realises and you get this song.
I love it. I heard it on Grey's and I love it. Taylor Swift is awesome and the part at the bridge where she sings "so sorry", her voice's simply awesome.