Sour Times Lyrics

Lyric discussion by whybother? 

Cover art for Sour Times lyrics by Portishead

It's about infidelity. She's in love and having an affair with a married man or, possibly, she is married to an unfaithful man that she loves beyond reason. I think the lyrics hold up better w/ the former but both work.

The song in a nutshell from that point of view: You pretend that this infidelity doesn't hurt me and that I don't know you're unfaithful. I maintain the illusion that I don't know. I despise myself for this but I love you beyond all reason and I know you love me. Although I tell myself this but the bitterness of reality hurts me a great deal. I pretend that you don't know this hurts me. If I wait long enough the circumstances will change so I am patient because I love you.