Days like this, I don't know what to do with myself
All day and all night
I wander the halls along the walls
And under my breath I say to myself
"I need fuel to take flight"
[Chorus]
And there's too much going on
But it's calm under the waves
In the blue of my oblivion
Under the waves
In the blue of my oblivion
[Verse 2]
Is that why they call me a sullen girl, sullen girl
They don't know I used to sail the deep and tranquil sea
But he washed me 'shore
And he took my pearl
And left an empty shell of me
[Chorus]
And there's too much going on
But it's calm under the waves
In the blue of my oblivion
Under the waves
In the blue of my oblivion
Under the waves
In the blue of my oblivion
It's calm under the waves
In the blue of my oblivion
About
Fiona talked about the tragic backstory of this song in an interview to CMJ New Music Magazine:
“Sullen Girl is… complicated for me. It’s about a lot of things. It’s about when I was doing the album and everything was happening all at once and I just felt like ‘Oh my God, what’s going on here?’ The second verse is a… I went through a really hard time when I was a very, very cold person. I didn’t like to be near people. When I was 12, I was raped by a stranger and that’s what this song is basically about, because I felt like everybody in my life thought there was something wrong with me and it was just my wondering ‘was that what changed me?’ […] That was an experience that made me a lot stronger. It taught me a lot about who I am and life. Things happen and you go through pain. It doesn’t have to be such a big deal. It’s like ‘yeah, I was raped.’ It’s over, though. And I learned from it. It’s sad, but good thing come out of it, too.”
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
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