Mutual Core Lyrics

[Verse 1]
I shuffle around the tectonic plates in my chest
You know I gave it all
Try to match our continents

To change seasonal shift
To form a mutual core


[Verse 2]
As fast as your fingernail grows
The Atlantic ridge drifts

To counteract distance
You know I gave it all
Can you hear the effort
Of the magnetic strife?

Shuffling of columns
To form a mutual core

[Chorus 1]
This eruption undoes stagnation
You didn't know that I had it in me
Withheld your love, an unspent capsule
I didn't know you had it in you
You hid the key to our continuity
I didn't know you had it in you
This eruption undoes stagnation
You didn't know, you didn't know
[Verse 3]
What you resist persists
Nuance makes heat
To counteract distance
I know you gave it all

Offered me harmony
If things were done your way
My Eurasian plate subsumed
Forming a mutual core


[Chorus 2]
This eruption undoes stagnation
You didn't know that I had it in me
Withheld your love, an unspent capsule
I didn't know you had it in you
This eruption undoes stagnation
You didn't know I had it in me
This eruption undoes stagnation
You didn't know, you didn't know

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About

Genius Annotation

In “Mutual Core,” recorded by Björk for her seventh album Biophilia, the earth’s geology is a metaphor for human relationships. Eruptions and earthquakes, the building of continents, the formation of mountain ranges and oceanic trenches: all are powerful signs of the earth’s structure and mechanics.

Represented musically by the violent interruption of block rocking beats, video director Andrew Thomas Huang here depicts the push and pull of tectonic plates with anthropomorphized rocks, lava and sand encircling Björk in dance, their psychedelic innards resembling the frayed strands of a Fritz Haeg rug.

Q&A

Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning

What did Björk say about "Mutual Core"?
Genius Answer

Eruptions and earthquakes, the building of continents, the formation of mountain ranges and oceanic trenches, all are powerful geological signs of earth’s underlying structure and mechanics. In Mutual Core earth’s geology is transformed into a metaphor for human relationships. Opposing forces of compression and release, central to continent building and to human feelings, are expressed sonically, and in the app, by the contrast between the shifting of chords in the verse and uplifting chorus. The contrast can also be seen in the contrasting visual patterns of the animation, and is evoked by Björk’s working title for this track, ’organ plaid’, which describes an interwoven musical fabric. While the song’s themes are universal, the lyrics indicate a specific, autobiographically significant geographical region : the boundary of the north american and eurasian tectonic plates, on which sits Björk’s birthplace —Iceland.

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