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White Lie Lyrics

As a kid, my hands were red
When you asked me I denied it
I've told lies that never came true
I have stolen and so have you

If we can make it through another day
With you believing in my innocence
And we can make it through another year
Cause we both need it to forget this fear

If it's all the same to you
Then it's just a little white lie
Then it's all the same to me
And it's just a little white lie
If I was to blame would you?
Would you still believe?

I don't want you to forget
Just pretend that it never happened
And it's just a little white lie
And it's just a little white lie

If it's all the same to you
Then it's just a little white lie
Then it's all the same to me
And it's just a little white lie
If I was to blame would you?
Would you still believe?
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Submitted by
muucowofdeath On May 04, 2016
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Cover art for White Lie lyrics by Lumineers, The

To me this song is about a guy that has been telling little lies since he was a kid with "red hands" (being caught red-handed by his parents and friends). Now he's in a relationship, still used to telling little little white lies, but they have a huge affect on the girl he's with. She wants to leave him because he's a liar, he wants her to stay and get through it with him. After all "it's just a little white lie" and if it's "all the same to you, and it's all the same to me" he says it shouldn't bother either of them but she completely disagrees and wants to leave.

I think she was the offender here and she was trying to ease her conscious by saying its "just a little white lie". She tells a lie to conceal her wrong doing, and gets off with its "just a little white lie". I think he is slightly sarcastic when he says "It's just a little white lie",implying if it was "just" a white lie to her he can also fuck up and rub it off as a little white lie,hence the line "then it's all the same to me". Tit for tat situation. The opening lines is his attempt to generalize we all tell fibs at some stage in our lives, so his issue is not that she lied, his issue is that she rubs it off/console herself with "It's just a little white lie". She is thus not taking responsibility, hence him saying "I don't want you to forget" (fourth verse). In the last verse he is asking what would happen if the tables were turned, "If I was to blame would you still believe?" He probably knows the answer to that as she probably gave him shit about a minor wrong doing in the past. He concludes by saying and "if I was a thief?", which he knows she feels is wrong. So he is trying to erase any discrepancies between offenses, implying they are the same, all equally wrong. Anyway just my little white take on the song! Love it!

@All your insides fall to pieces very good point of view and I agree with you.