Pull This Blanket Off
The Raconteurs Lyrics

The Raconteurs’ song “Pull This Blanket Off” explores the theme of authenticity and the search for truth. The opening lines, “Pull this blanket off of me/Maybe it’ll help me see/The things I believe to be true,” suggest a tiredness with not being able to discern what’s real from what’s not. The blankets may symbolize the layers of falsities that cloak people from the truth. The singer is hoping that by shedding these layers, he will be able to see things more clearly.

The next lines, “I’m paying for what should be free/But I don’t buy what they’re telling me/ And I wanna believe in you,” point to the idea that society has forced him to pay for things that he feels should be inherent rights. There is a sense of disillusionment with the world and a longing for someone or something to believe in.

The two following stanzas (“It’s hard to stick to your guns/When everybody’s having fun/Makes me wanna run I don’t know what to do/Not everything is what it seems/Maybe these boys don’t have dreams/I can’t blame ‘em some dreams are worse than the truth”) further amplify the sense of existential frustration. It’s difficult to stay true to oneself when everyone seems to be enjoying the false reality that has been constructed around them. The lines “Not everything is what it seems” and “Maybe these boys don’t have dreams” also suggest that even the people who seem to be living the perfect lives may not necessarily be happy or fulfilled.