The song 'Fortnight' by Taylor Swift and Post Malone tells a story about strong feelings, complicated relationships, and secret wishes. It talks about love, betrayal, and wanting someone who doesn't feel the same. The word 'fortnight' shows short-lived happiness and guilty pleasures, leading to sadness. It shows how messy relationships can be and the results of hiding emotions. “I was supposed to be sent away / But they forgot to come and get me,” she kickstarts the song in the first verse with lines suggesting an admission to a hospital for people with mental illnesses. She goes in the verse admitting her lover is the reason why she is like this. In the chorus, she sings about their time in love and reflects on how he has now settled with someone else. “I took the miracle move-on drug, the effects were temporary / And I love you, it’s ruining my life,” on the second verse she details her struggles to forget about him and the negative effects of her failure. “Thought of callin’ ya, but you won’t pick up / ‘Nother fortnight lost in America,” Post Malone sings in the outro.
Daddy was a soldier he taught me about freedom
Peace and all the great things that we take
Advantage of
Once I fed the homeless, I'll never forget
I look upon their faces as I treated them with
Respect
And
[Chorus]
This is my Vietnam
I'm at war
Life keeps on dropping bombs
And I keep score
Momma was a lunatic, she liked to push my buttons
She said I wasn't good enough, but I guess I
Wasn't trying
Never like school that much, they tried to teach
Me better
But I just wasn't hearing it because I thought I
Was already pretty clever
And
[Chorus: x2]
What do you expect from me?
What am I not giving you?
What could I do for you to make me OK in your eyes?
[Chorus: x2]
This is my Vietnam
This is my Vietnam
Peace and all the great things that we take
Advantage of
Once I fed the homeless, I'll never forget
I look upon their faces as I treated them with
Respect
And
[Chorus]
This is my Vietnam
I'm at war
Life keeps on dropping bombs
And I keep score
Momma was a lunatic, she liked to push my buttons
She said I wasn't good enough, but I guess I
Wasn't trying
Never like school that much, they tried to teach
Me better
But I just wasn't hearing it because I thought I
Was already pretty clever
And
[Chorus: x2]
What do you expect from me?
What am I not giving you?
What could I do for you to make me OK in your eyes?
[Chorus: x2]
This is my Vietnam
This is my Vietnam
Lyrics submitted by WinterzEnd
My Vietnam Lyrics as written by Linda Perry Alecia Moore
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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More Featured Meanings
Fortnight
Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Blue
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
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.
I agree with Kimface that it's mainly aimed at her mom. The song is asking what she needs to do to make her mom happy, as her mom never makes her feel like she's good enough.
(I'm going to assume the song is auto-biographical)
'This is my Vietnam I'm at war Life keeps on dropping bombs And I keep score'
Pink feels like she's at war with her mom. Life keeps on 'dropping bombs' on her... and she has to try to calmly deal with it... to just keep score. (Although this score has now added up to her realising her mom is a lunatic, and writing a song about it to fight back)
'Mama was a lunatic She liked to push my buttons She said I wasn't good enough But I guess I wasn't trying'
The reason for the constant fighting with her mom is that her mom always tried to annoy her, and make her angry. Nothing pink did was ever good enough for her mom, and Pink always put this down to not trying hard enough.
'Never liked school that much They tried to teach me better But I just wasn't hearing it Because I thought I was already pretty clever'
The thing her mom would have nagged most about would be school- which Pink didn't try hard at because she didn't like it. School could see she was having problems, but she wasn't having any of it because she didn't think she needed their help.
'What do you expect from me? What am I not giving you? What could I do for you To make me okay in your eyes? '
She's asking what she needs to do to be accepted in her crazy mother's eyes.
Now back to the beginning..
'Daddy was a soldier He taught me about freedom Peace and all the great things That we take advantage of'
Her father isn't around much... he's a soldier. But one of the things he taught her was freedom. Something she doesn't have with her mom, as nothing she ever does is good enough for her mom.. she's always trying to be ok in her mom's eyes, and so doesn't feel free to just be. Another thing he taught her was peace... again, she doesn't have this with her mom, as she's always 'at war' with her. We take advantage of these great things- until we know what it's like to be without it. Her dad knows what it's like to be without it, because he's a soldier. She knows what it's like to be without it, because of her mother. But her mother takes advantage of it.
'Once I fed the homeless I'll never forget The look upon their faces as I Treated them with respect'
Because she's learnt about peace and freedom and respect through her father, and the importance of having them through not having them, she's able to show it to the homeless.. she'll never forget the look on their faces... because, like her, they've never been treated with respect before either.