The Swiss singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Anna Murphy is mainl… Read Full Bio ↴The Swiss singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Anna Murphy is mainly known as the hurdy-gurdist of the metal band Eluveitie, as well as a multitude of side projects.
Throughout late 2011 and 2012 she has been working on her first solo effort, where she finds her own sound in an eclectic fusion of indie, rock and pop music. Two demo tracks have been released online for public listening and an album will follow in 2013.

Pale
Anna Murphy Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

The bags under your eyes
remind me of the sleepless night
I thought about the way you are
About your crooked teeth
And dry-cracked lips I watched when you talk
All of it makes me smile
Makes me say...

You're so handsome to me...

You're so pale!

I'm afraid of you – afraid of me
Oh, this has got to be
You're so pale!

The cold blue of your piercing eyes
it heats me up and my insides
I'm so scared, but still I dare
to come real close into your place
to look at you and scan your face
your so handsome and...

Pale!
You're so pale!

I'm afraid of you – afraid of me

Oh, this has got to be
You're so pale!

Overall Meaning

The song "Pale" by Anna Murphy is a hauntingly beautiful ballad that tells a story about complex emotions and feelings of fear and attraction. The song is a deep expression of the singer's perspective towards someone they find attractive, yet are also afraid of. The singer describes the bags under the person's eyes that remind them of a sleepless night and then goes on to describe their crooked teeth and dry-cracked lips. The singer concludes that all of these physical aspects of the person make them smile and feel an undeniable attraction towards them. The chorus of the song repeats the phrase "You're so pale" multiple times, which creates an eerie, almost ghostly tone to the song.

The song's bridge talks about the cold blue of the person's piercing eyes, which heats the singer up from the inside. Despite being scared, the singer still dares to come close to this person's face and examine their features. The song ends with the final repetition of the chorus, emphasizing the theme of fear and attraction that the song is based around.

Overall, "Pale" is a beautifully written and performed ballad that explores complex emotions and feelings. The song perfectly captures the singer's dilemma of being simultaneously drawn to and terrified of someone, ultimately leading to an ambiguous ending.

Line by Line Meaning

The bags under your eyes
The dark circles under your eyes capture my attention

remind me of the sleepless night
It makes me think of the night you spent awake

I thought about the way you are
I pondered on how you behave

About your crooked teeth
I noticed your misaligned teeth

And dry-cracked lips I watched when you talk
I observed how parched and chapped your lips are when you speak

All of it makes me smile
All these imperfections bring joy to me

Makes me say...
It prompts me to declare...

You're so handsome to me...
I find you really attractive despite your flaws

You're so pale!
You have a ghostly complexion

I'm afraid of you – afraid of me
I'm scared of myself and also petrified of you

Oh, this has got to be
This feeling is so intense