[Verse]
You're growing tired of me
You love me so hard and I still can't sleep
You're growing tired of me
And all the things I don't talk about
[Refrain]
Sorry, I don't want your touch
It's not that I don't want you
Sorry, I can't take your touch
[Chorus]
It's just that I fell in love with a war
And nobody told me it ended
And it left a pearl in my head
And I roll it around
Every night, just to watch it glow
Every night, baby, that's where I go
[Refrain]
Sorry, I don't want your touch
It's not that I don't want you
Sorry, I can't take your touch
[Bridge]
There's a hole that you fill
You fill, you fill
[Chorus]
But it's just that I fell in love with a war
And nobody told me it ended
And it left a pearl in my head
And I roll it around
Every night, just to watch it glow
Every night, baby, that's where I go
Just to watch it glow
You're growing tired of me
You love me so hard and I still can't sleep
You're growing tired of me
And all the things I don't talk about
Sorry, I don't want your touch
It's not that I don't want you
Sorry, I can't take your touch
It's just that I fell in love with a war
And nobody told me it ended
And it left a pearl in my head
And I roll it around
Every night, just to watch it glow
Every night, baby, that's where I go
Sorry, I don't want your touch
It's not that I don't want you
Sorry, I can't take your touch
There's a hole that you fill
You fill, you fill
But it's just that I fell in love with a war
And nobody told me it ended
And it left a pearl in my head
And I roll it around
Every night, just to watch it glow
Every night, baby, that's where I go
Just to watch it glow
Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.
I absolutely adore this song and have for years and i'd love to share my take on Mitski's genius lyrics.
This song is about the effect of an abusive and turbulent relationship and the odd sense of longing one can experience after the end of the relationship. The first verse tackles insecurity, these thoughts I believe to be a combination of two things, the insecurity coming straight from the soul and the indoctrination one can experience in an abusive relationship. The repeated refrain indicates to me that touch has a double meaning, touch in the sexual context, and touch in the physically violent context. Her repeatedly saying that she still wants the subject of the song but can not bare any more of the mistreatment.
Pearls are said to represent wisdom and calmness, for mitski to say the relationship left a pearl in her hands, she could be referring to the painstaking realizations of the abuse she could have suffered from the subject of this song. Pearls are also symbols of personal growth and learning which i think ties into this point fairly well.
The bridge in this song is short yet effective only saying "There's a hole that you fill, you fill, you fill". This line again I believe has a double meaning, in the context of this being a romantic relationship a quite literal hole referring to sex. Also however I believe it to be a metaphorical hole, a hole in one's identity, after a while of mistreatment one can come to rely on this mistreatment as a constant, and being without could feel like there is a hole in your soul.
The final few lines of the song talk about admiring this pearl, treating it as a very precious object, this is the only piece left of the relationship left, the wisdom that has come from this relationship and the self-growth.
Hope of anyone actually sees this you enjoyed my take :)