bury a friend by Billie Eilish Lyrics Meaning – Delving into the Darkness of the Mind
Lyrics
What do you want from me? Why don’t you run from me?
What are you wondering? What do you know?
Why aren’t you scared of me? Why do you care for me?
When we all fall asleep, where do we go?
Come here
Say it, spit it out, what is it exactly
You’re payin’? Is the amount cleanin’ you out, am I satisfactory?
Today, I’m thinkin’ about the things that are deadly
The way I’m drinkin’ you down
Like I wanna drown, like I wanna end me
Step on the glass, staple your tongue (ahh)
Bury a friend, try to wake up (ah-ahh)
Cannibal class, killing the son (ahh)
Bury a friend, I wanna end me
I wanna end me
I wanna, I wanna, I wanna end me
I wanna, I wanna, I wanna
What do you want from me? Why don’t you run from me?
What are you wondering? What do you know?
Why aren’t you scared of me? Why do you care for me?
When we all fall asleep, where do we go?
Listen
Keep you in the dark, what had you expected?
Me to make you my art and make you a star
And get you connected?
I’ll meet you in the park, I’ll be calm and collected
But we knew right from the start that you’d fall apart
‘Cause I’m too expensive
It’s probably somethin’ that shouldn’t be said out loud
Honestly, I thought that I would be dead by now (wow)
Calling security, keepin’ my head held down
Bury the hatchet or bury your friend right now
The debt I owe, gotta sell my soul
‘Cause I can’t say no, no, I can’t say no
Then my limbs all froze and my eyes won’t close
And I can’t say no, I can’t say no
Careful
Step on the glass, staple your tongue (ahh)
Bury a friend, try to wake up (ah-ahh)
Cannibal class, killing the son (ahh)
Bury a friend, I wanna end me
I wanna end me
I wanna, I wanna, I wanna end me
I wanna, I wanna, I wanna
What do you want from me? Why don’t you run from me?
What are you wondering? What do you know?
Why aren’t you scared of me? Why do you care for me?
When we all fall asleep, where do we go?
Billie Eilish’s ‘bury a friend’ is a track that seeps into the pores of our darkest thoughts, a haunting rendition of an introspective journey that unfolds like an exploration into the crevices of the mind. Its somber tones and chilling lyrics intertwine to form a visceral musical experience that defies the conventional boundaries of pop music—prompting listeners to face their own inner demons.
The young artist’s ability to encapsulate profound emotional truth within her songwriting has positioned her at the vanguard of her generation’s musical prodigies. ‘bury a friend’ stands as a testament to her raw and unbridled talent to dissect and display the complexities of human suffering with unnerving precision.
The Siren Call to Self-Reflection
Eilish’s ‘bury a friend’ commences with a siren call, a beckoning into the abyss of her psyche. The lyrics prod at the listener, resonating through questions that are at once accusatory and pleading. They denote an inner conflict—a mind grappling with the attention it receives, despite its darkest inclinations.
The track’s relentless questioning heralds a conversation between two selves: the observed and the observer. The eagerness to comprehend ‘What do you want from me?’ reverberates as a plea for understanding one’s true nature. It is this dichotomy, this introspective interplay, that fuels the heart of ‘bury a friend’.
Dance of the Macabre – The Remorseless Lyrics
The gruesome imagery — ‘step on the glass, staple your tongue’ — ushers in a grotesque dance with death and self-destruction. Each line oozes with the morbidity of a soul in torment, seeking to escape an internal captivity.
‘Cannibal class, killing the son’ could metaphorically suggest the self-devouring nature of fame or personal demons consuming one’s innocence. In her lyrical prowess, Eilish crafts a narrative that reverberates deeply with the terror of losing oneself in the pursuit of satiating the world’s appetite for one’s art or essence.
An Odyssey Through the Shadow of Stardom
‘bury a friend’ provokes a narrative of fame’s double-edged sword. The artist illuminates the dark side of the limelight, a place where the promise of immortality through art becomes a nightmarish paradox. ‘Me to make you my art and make you a star’ reflects the sinister deal made often at the expense of personal peace.
The song subtly critiques the machine of celebrity, marking the performance of the self as both inescapable and destructively defining. Eilish’s acknowledgment ‘I’m too expensive’ is an ironic bow to the commercialization of personal trauma and the insatiable public consumption of her narrative.
The Hidden Meaning: Trading Souls with Shadows
At its cryptic center, ‘bury a friend’ delves into the Faustian bargain of the soul. ‘The debt I owe, gotta sell my soul’ captures the essence of a spirit ensnared by its own choices, echoing across the ages of myth and literature.
The hidden meaning suggests an entanglement with expectations — both internal and external — revealing a chilling struggle for autonomy against the force of one’s own desires and doubts. The track’s brooding depths become a simulacrum for the soul’s journey through the modern-day inferno of identity and existence.
A Labyrinth of Memorable Lines: Lyrical Echoes that Haunt
‘Keep you in the dark, what had you expected?’ stands out as a stark confession and a rhetorical musing. It is a phantasmic line that encapsulates the heart of ‘bury a friend’—to be known, yet unknown at the same time, shrouded in an intimate darkness.
Eilish’s indictment, ‘Honestly, I thought that I would be dead by now’, stirs a raw and unsettling connection with the listener. It’s an admission of vulnerability that refuses to shy away from the artist’s close dance with mortality and the shadows that linger behind fame’s luminous facade.
