Whip-Smart

Liz Phair

I'm gonna tell my son to grow up pretty as the grass is green
And whip-smart as the English Channel's wide
And I'm gonna tell my son to keep his money in his mattress
And his watch on any hand between his thighs
And I'm gonna lock my son up in a tower
Till I write my whole life story on the back of his big brown eyes

When they do the double dutch, that's them dancing [Repeat: x4]

I'm gonna tell my son to join a circus so that death is cheap
And games are just another way of life
And I'm gonna tell my son to be a prophet of mistakes
Because for every truth there are half a million lies
And I'm gonna lock my son up in a tower
Till he learns to let his hair down far enough to climb outside

When they do the double dutch, that's them dancing [Repeat: x4]


Lyrics submitted by iKickDogs

Whip-Smart Lyrics as written by Phair Mclaren

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Peermusic Publishing

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Whip-Smart song meanings
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7 Comments

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  • 0
    General CommentI'm surpassed no one commented on this song. I like the second verse the best! I wish may parents were this cool. How she wants her son to let his hair down and will tell him all the things she did wrong in her life but also expects him to make mistakes. It's like she is warning him about all the hardships of life in one song.
    rapunzelEEDon January 09, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Commenti think liz said the thing about the hair because it has a lot to do with rupunzel, which is a very sexual story and she wants her son to have sex a lot.
    yo mamma!on May 09, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Commentewwww yo mamma what the fuck no................................i like repunzelEED's coemment better haha. i think its about her waiting to watch her song grow up or something
    sunglasseson February 04, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General CommentI was just kidding. ha! But this is how I want to raise my son!!
    yo mamma!on February 24, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General CommentTo me, it seems to be about a jaded woman who doesn't want her son to approach life with rose-colored glasses.
    7daysatseaon March 09, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General CommentI think 7daysatsea has it right.
    This can't be a woman who is too caring, because of the line "And I'm gonna tell my son to join a circus so that death is cheap and games are just another way of life."
    She is already foreseeing her son's death as cheap and saying that life is game.
    Perhaps the conception of the son was not pleasant, the idea of a child is not comforting.
    paradisewidowson January 31, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General CommentLiz once said that this song was about deception. It's actually a feminist song that uses the idea of Rapunzel. She said, "I'm sort of switching it around and locking up a boy in the castle instead of a girl. It's sort of like saying you should go through some of the experiences... like if I had a son, I would raise him to understand what it is like to be a girl. (...) I use a lot of fancy images just trying to say that if men knew what it was like to be a woman, the world would be a better place."
    NeonFlowon August 02, 2011   Link

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