The Man with the Axe
Lorde Lyrics

If I had to break it down
If I had to summarize it

I'd say it's the way you love to dance
Your love for dancing is what I find attractive

Moving the furniture when my back is turned
Rearranging the furniture secretly

A flick of the lights and the world falls away
When you turn off the lights, everything disappears

And your office job, and your silver hair
Even though you have a job and your hair is silver, it's the dance that matters

But our shapes in the dark are the reason I've stayed for all these years
The way we dance in the dark has kept me in this relationship

I thought I was a genius
I used to think I was very smart

But now I'm twenty two
But now I'm just twenty-two years old

And it's starting to feel like all I know how to do is
It's starting to seem like the only thing I'm capable of doing is

Put on a suit and take it away
Putting on a suit and performing

With my fistful of tunes that it's painful to play
Even though playing music is painful, it's what I have to do

Fingernail worlds, like favorite seashells
Faint memories that are like treasured objects

They fill up my nights and then they float away
They occupy my evenings but then disappear

I've got hundreds of gowns, I've got paintings in frames
I have many clothes and paintings

And a throat that fills with panic every festival day
I get anxious every time there's a festival

Dutifully falling apart for the princess of Norway
Doing what's expected of me even though it's causing me to fall apart

But you with your doll's lashes, your infinite T-shirts
You, with your long eyelashes and endless supply of T-shirts

I should've known when your favorite record
I should have realized when your favorite album

Was the same as my father's, you'd take me down
That you would have an overwhelming influence on me

I guess I'll always be this way
I suppose I'll always be like this

Swallowed up by the words and halfway to space
Getting engulfed in my thoughts and feeling a bit detached

But there by the fire, you offered your hand
But when we were sitting by the fire, you offered me your hand

And as I took it, I loved you, the boy with the plan
And when I held your hand, I fell in love with you - the guy who knows what he wants

You felled me clean as a pine
You cut me down cleanly like a pine tree

The man with the axe
You, with the tool that helped you sever our connection

And the light in his eyes
And the look in your eyes

We've been through so many hard times
We've gone through many challenges

I'm writing a love song
I'm composing a tribute to our love

For you, baby
For you, my dear