Up all night
You wore your falling heart
And opened up to us
And now
We know the place
You left
You sailed
The saddest smile
And turned it inside out
Your mother
She knows your face
Can do without
In the middle of the day
We find love
So quietly
You gave to us
Our life our laugh
Our life our laugh
And turned it inside out
I know it hurts
Feeling so stuck
When you can’t
Come out
But you brought us up so high
You wore your falling heart
And opened up to us
And now
We know the place
You left
The saddest smile
And turned it inside out
Your mother
She knows your face
Can do without
We find love
You gave to us
Our life our laugh
Our life our laugh
And turned it inside out
I know it hurts
Feeling so stuck
When you can’t
Come out
But you brought us up so high
Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.
Actually this song is about a fan, she had terminal cancer and her best friend somehow talked to warpaint, they went to the hospital and when they arrived she was so sedated that she could only say "hi" and wave her hand, she passed and they wrote the song in honor to her.
That really makes sense, I'm crying now cause I understand the lyrics! Thanks
That really makes sense, I'm crying now cause I understand the lyrics! Thanks
“There was a fan, a fan of ours. She was 16 and she had leukaemia, and her friend reached out to us and asked if we would go to the hospital and sing her a song, so we did … we went there.
It was a really beautiful experience but really intense. Her family was there in the room with us as well, in this really intimate space. It felt like, one, we were walking into this world that we didn’t know, and two, it was tragic because she was dying and it felt like we didn’t belong there. It felt like we were intruding upon the family’s really personal, last moments with their daughter, and we were all really awkward, but then we had been asked to be there, and we were her favourite band, so we went and sung her a song.
She was kind of in a coma and she wasn’t awake, but she woke up while we were there and I remember sitting on the bed with her and she didn’t really have … her central nervous system was shutting down and she didn’t really have the motor skills … but she was definitely moving around like she knew that we were there, and she was excited — or as excited as she could be in that state — and we just kept waving to her, saying ‘Hi, hi!’
Her name was Haley, Haley Butcher, and we were waving to her, trying to get her to notice that we were there. Theresa went home that day and wrote a song about that experience and it’s called Hi.”
-Jenny Lee Lindberg (Rip It Up interview, 2014)
I think it's pretty easy to overcomplicate stuff. This is a song about a friend that came to the narrator (or the band) and talked with them "up all night about their falling heart". This person was "leaving a place" (a metaphorical closet).
The person opened up to their mother first and their mother denied them "she knows your face, can do without".
The person is talking with them all night about this conflict, and the receiver(s) of this information are just overjoyed that someone is sharing something so deep, and so personal. The person is "coming out" to the narrator, and the narrator is very sad this person was rejected by family "I know it hurts...when you can't come out", but also extremely happy and grateful they opened up so much "but you brought us up to so high".
The chorus is them telling this person to be optimistic, to be happy "In the middle of the day, We find love". Be yourself and love will happen at the most random of times.
The title, "Hi" is because they feel like they're finally meeting the truest form of this person for the first time.
@CovinS actually it was written for my sister to reflect the day warpaint came to play for her 2 days before her passing. I stumbled upon this post after a nostalgia inspired search of her as her angel anniversary is tomorrow. Two bands actually played for her within those two last days and warpaint was the only band to which she responded. They are amazing, empathic women and my mother holds this song close to her heart, s they told her that Haley would impact their lives. This song is not about conflict or coming out, but a recognition of...
@CovinS actually it was written for my sister to reflect the day warpaint came to play for her 2 days before her passing. I stumbled upon this post after a nostalgia inspired search of her as her angel anniversary is tomorrow. Two bands actually played for her within those two last days and warpaint was the only band to which she responded. They are amazing, empathic women and my mother holds this song close to her heart, s they told her that Haley would impact their lives. This song is not about conflict or coming out, but a recognition of the beautiful person whose life was taken too soon
@CovinS "I think it's pretty easy to overcomplicate stuff."
@CovinS "I think it's pretty easy to overcomplicate stuff."
writes 4th-grade fiction tale that doesn't compute
writes 4th-grade fiction tale that doesn't compute