A Burning Hill
Mitski Lyrics

@judyelkadi

this explains so much oh my god

@gabrielborjas7923

Is this for real?

@penis2020_

@@gabrielborjas7923 yep she went to hunter college in manhattan for film and then transferred to like pratt i think. this video was obviously shot in manhattan and lush was released while she was at hunter so i wouldnt be surprised if she filmed this for a project tbh

@gabrielborjas7923

@@penis2020_ that is so cool. I'm amazed at how much you know about her life haha

@krapulanta

definitely won't!!

@HLMProduction003

"I'm tired of wanting more/I think I'm finally worn". Mitski you are a beautiful human being, inside and out

@kaceyobrien7462

makes me cry sm

@bat2564

how u know her insides look like freaky ahh

@swagmaster184

Mitski has the ability to stare into my soul without even looking like she’s trying to

@serdeczniepozdrawiam8588

she probably gave you that soul

@2toastedbagels

@@serdeczniepozdrawiam8588 she probably created us

@mitskilover_jenna

@@2toastedbagels she did create us

@RitardandoTheMailman

fr

@alize0623

I always thought of this as a prequel to Last Words of a Shooting Star

@qpinica

Yes oh my god

@mchaggins3294

i thought of it as a sequel, a nod to the fact that you were in pain but moving on from it. idk im just spitballing

@nilantive

They're in the same key too, I'm convinced

@harleyaurora2280

was crying before i read your comment and am now crying even harder

@alize0623

@@harleyaurora2280 just hear me out. At the end of the show she just takes it all in and says at least she’ll be clean and in Last Words of a Shooting Star she says she’s happy she left her house clean and neat. She’s happy because she finally got an out from the self destructive nature she’s singing about in this song. She’s getting dressed to go to the airport

@ruzakiyay

when she looked at the camera... it was so profound and it felt like she was really there looking back at me. i started bawling my eyes out because i felt so seen and vulnerable... mitski, you are amazing and i sure hope i will get to see you live on stage some day <3

@lemonadecandy7346

She cried at 1:52 😭

@TAB00

I've never felt so much comfort looking through somebody's eyes

@sabrinaithink

@@TAB00 i see u on every mitski video<33

@35mmonrose

I FELT THAT. i started crying too wtf!!!

@dizzielizzy

​@@35mmonrosei love your music <3

@kasnoyoullgetintrouble

I come back to this song often just to contemplate it. I see many people interpret this song as an ode to giving up on or loosing their dreams but, for me, it has been the struggle with anxiety. The struggle of watching myself burn up and sob and breakdown over the smallest things is a feeling so dreadful and twisted it's difficult to put to words. So instead, much like the song, I get up. I put on my clothes. And I learn to love the littler things because thats all I can possibly hold onto at the moment. It is frustrating, but it's a struggle I feel everyday and I thank Mitski for inadvertently putting it into a song.

@TAB00

THIS OH MY GOD YOU PUT IT ALL INTO WORDS THANK YOU

@leah-yf8pp

it’s so hard

@kirstinhall4035

This comment is exactly what I couldn’t put into words. Thank you.

@jacobhoward7146

I agree so much but to piggy back/extend to myself it is about what the anxiety brings and how it affects you life. Not even just anxiety but also mental health being destructive. Like I am trying my hardest to live but the things that I think I should do end up being self-destructive and that is where the lines "I am a forest fire, I am the fire and I am the forest and I am the witness watching it" really hit for me. I am the firing burning down my forrest but at the same time I am observing what is happening like a bystander with no control. I ruin my own life but can't seem to change that fact.

@rainynights5132

@@jacobhoward7146 exactly!! and also the "I am a forest fire, I am the fire and I am the forest and I am the witness watching it" feels like its saying that no one else except for me feels and sees what i feel, like its only me stuck in my own fire and thats why the ending says "I can at least be neat, walk out be seen as clean" because others dont seem to be able to notice or care anyways

@comradehermit9320

Being that naked takes so much courage. Mitski is my hero.

@frostyclouded

shes not naked though shes wearing her white button down

@sydneysloth5437

@@frostyclouded they didn’t mean literally

@frostyclouded

@@sydneysloth5437 i was joking

@vp5816

@@frostyclouded thx for making me laugh after crying for hours listening to this on loop.

@nicekittysara3560

@@frostyclouded HELPP I CANT BREATHA

@nicofish543

saddest music video i've ever seen & nothing even happened

@odenpetersen6028

This song feels so short

@LeonNeon30

@@odenpetersen6028 because it is short

@whateverjami

yeah

@femaleserialkiller

you can see the sadness in her eyes when she looks into the camera

@dootdootanna

@@odenpetersen6028 a

@clairelouise2706

Today I will wear my white button-down
I'm tired of wanting more
I think I'm finally worn
For you have a way of promising things
And I've been a forest fire
I am a forest fire
And I am the fire and I am the forest
And I am a witness watching it
I stand in a valley watching it
And you are not there at all

So today I will wear my white button-down
I can at least be neat
Walk out and be seen as clean
And I'll go to work and I'll go to sleep
And I'll love the littler things
I'll love some littler things

@cineural

Thanks!

@frogdude327

💛

@kaceyobrien7462

i thought at the end it said "and all of the littler things, all of some littler things" i could be wrong though

@hami5544

@@kaceyobrien7462 i hear that too, but i think the love one makes more sense

@emilyloxton

thank you- may both sides of your pillow be cold

@avatar7381

It took me being high to get this, but the song is about letting go of your dreams, letting go of your childhood naivety towards adult life, and realizing that for most people its just the same boring routine over and over again, then finally conforming to that simple yet depressing truth yourself. My favorite song of hers I think.

@andrewosegueda2283

Josh Mitchell you don't necessarily have to let go of all of it. At times you can bring it up

@jammminjazz6803

Josh Mitchell it sort of lke the beauty of the mundane

@GLOKGLOKGLOK

It's about having self-destructive tendencies once you find a promising romantic relationship, but if you wanna read it on-the-nose and think you have a clever interpretation, that's fine too

@min-ashin9355

beauty of art, isn't it? people are supposed to take from it what resonated with them. doesn't make them invalid even if they aren't what the artist meant.

i think finding your own meaning is less on-the-nose than discovering what the artist meant, because it isn't nearly as obvious

@JosiahMcCarthy

I thought of it in terms of what she said about wanting to think of herself as San from Princess Mononoke, but actually being more like No-Face from Spirited Away. She's wanted to be bigger than the world, to have a cause that justifies not caring what she leaves in her wake, but all the while it was actually just a destructive habit that was only feeding off of what she could get out of people and disregarded those around who actually cared about her. So she's giving it up.

@jasaray

i am a forest fire
and i am the fire
and i am the forest
and i am the witness watching it

she is the destructive thing, the thing being destroyed and she’s watching herself being destroyed but can’t help herself

which basically means she’s suffering from the pain she created herself, but yet she’s doing nothing to stop it

@seguimiu

mitski is so good omfg

@jaydenprende

OMG THAT MAKES SENSE

@jellyfish1213

My life in a nutshell. LOL

@bombasticsideeye123

Well that hit home

@Mamszczerzedość

Reletable

@nevermnid

I loved the underwater part.

@dwalkmusick

Ophelia!

@spoonvvv

you know it's getting bad again when you start crying to mitski at 3 am

@moonshapedpool

I hope u feel better one day

@spoonvvv

@@moonshapedpool thank you! <3 I'm getting there

@sincerelymaya

me rn

@toby1004

i've always interpreted this song to be about someone realizing how bad things have gotten for them, but not being able to do anything to fix it, so all they can do is watch as things continue to get worse (i usually view it as mental health, but it really could be whatever you want tbh)

@broncored

agreed! I relate to this interpretation and I also relate to the song for different reason!!

@saraira

Idk always thought of as a person's mental health as "the burning hill" and still trying to go with daily tasks like nothing is happening "I'll wear my white button down" but knowing all that's happening in their life. "I'll walk out and be seen as clean". It is a metaphor for thinking that acting normal like their mental health isn't terrible so that people will think they're fine. "I'm tired of wanting more I think I'm finally worn " I think it's a metaphor of $ucide and not wanting to do anything.

@onefishplease

It always starts with a lump in my throat and then tears rolling down my cheeks... Mitski.

@Sleepy-Honey

“I am a forest fire. I am the fire and I am the forest and I am a witness watching it” ….To me this song is about mindlessly watching one’s own life fall apart because of your own actions and just feeling so numb you can’t fix it, despite being entirely to blame

@lunalee9545

honestly looking into mitski's eyes and felt my soul was awakening from a long silent slumber

@Spider-f7y7o

It's because she is god

@zumeow

@@Spider-f7y7o TRUE

@christy6606

i don't like my brown eyes all that much, but im learning to. i'm happy to have the same eye color as mitski. littler things

@meandmadarastwogiantballsa5638

brown eyes are gorgeous.

@WillHarken

Everyone needs to know Mitski

@kaceyobrien7462

many people aren't...mature...enough to appreciate her. i'm glad us all here right now can agree she's amazing though :)

@europeanriver

"i'm tired of wanting more/ i think i'm finally worn" translates differently to me because i'm just another sad, caged in an bad environment, overthinking teenager who just wants to go and escape but school makes me feel so not worth the freedom yet so i just sit and fail learning the things 'i'm supposed to learn' in order to get the things that i want,, plus, "cause you have a way of promising things" the fact that my parents constantly broke a lot of small, not so important, promises as i grew older and older so it's so hard to be here with them when i just want to go away, this is partly a vent and the way i view the lyrics so i'm sorry and i hope you have a great day/ night/ evening whoever and wherever you are!, things'll get better one day if they're not so great right now<33

@touriabahhaj9196

hope ur doing good

@andre-cmyk

i think the abundance of closeups could be visual expression of giving up on big farfetched dreams to look at the small picture and focusing on details of life (loving the littler things)
some shots are so zoomed in you can barely understand whats happening, which is also disorientating; kinda like living the same routine over and over again to the point where you dont know where you are anymore

@JulioMoyaKazmarek

i think this song is actually about surrendering. She realizes that it is not worth it to keep loving someone (even though she loves them so much) if the pain is unbereable. She is the fire burning herself, watches it from afar and realizes that while she is still stuck in this, the person she loves doesn’t actually care about it. The end of the song consists in giving up the greatest feeling she ever felt to be able to keep on going. She’s gonna have to try to be contempt with smaller, littler things. The album being named puberty 2 and this being the last song in it..

just devastatingly sad (and beautiful, in a painful way)

*also think that this is about the same situation she describes in YBAG but that’s just a guess

@happyzombiikitti

This is exactly it.
Learning to let go while in love and being content with loving yourself in little ways.

@pascalrp7664

so much emotional catharsis from so little

@nicholasbruno5723

To be damned, having lose your innocence and realize the truth that your time is limited and every second matters.

@sleepingegg1719

That little bit where she was floating, letting her hand brush the water’s plants, and then she was in the car reaching her hand out the window to a green she couldn’t touch… I think that was to show she’s drowning in both settings. And that’s really powerful

@johnlim6316

I know the “white button down” is mostly interpreted as an almost reluctant maturing, but I’ve always found significance in why she sings of the color white. Like why didn’t she sing blue? Or red? I think of it in two ways: 1) Given that this was released on the same album of “Your Best American Girl,” this could allude to the white predominance in the work force, even in the art work force, or 2) the color white represents a surrender, a sort of “truce” to having to grow up and letting go of what she once called good, being her childhood, her dreams, or maybe even a relationship that we can interpret that she’s singing about. It might be a small detail, but her button down being white feels very intentional and symbolic given how amazingly and meticulously she writes her music.

@Frichilsasta08

She describes it in the next sentence honestly. She wants to literally be seen as "clean" and "neat" despite her inner turmoil regarding life's mundanities, and wants to learn to coexist with life and her self destructive tendencies (she is the fire, and she is the witness watching it). White is generally seen as a color of purity, but also as surrender, you're right on that.

@seraby7151

I think a white shirt is just the most common, work shirt. And yeah she wants to seen as neat and professional. I doubt it has anything to do with race since it doesnt seem implied unlike american girl.

@pucktoad

You wear white shirts traditionally with a suit.

@whatidk2441

the way you interpreted it is so beautiful, honestly.

@thotieprincess7190

to me this song is abt moving on from someone who doesnt reciprocate. "im tired of wanting more i think im finally worn" and "u have a way of promising things" i think encompasses this. and then her referencing how she can "at least be neat" symbolizes her going back to her routine and moving on idk

@ostolero

thanks mitski for my life

@gabrielmorales2366

And I've been a forest fire
I am a forest fire
And I am the fire and I am the forest
And I am a witness watching it

I have listened to this song over and over, even sing it in the shower. Just so lovely.

@dakotahope599

We listen to the same music :)

@ally4152

i love reading through other people’s interpretations of this so here’s mine: to me it resonates the most with me in terms of feeling worn out after spending so much time preoccupied with your appearance for the sake of pleasing others. “i’m tired of wanting more i think i’m finally worn” and “i am the fire and i am the forest and i am a witness watching it i stand in a valley watching it and you’re not there at all” being so exhausted from putting in all that effort only to not receive any attention from the person you’re trying to please, meanwhile watching yourself get burnt out and knowing it’s unhealthy but not being able to stop yourself from focusing on perfecting your appearance. i connect it back to brand new city when she says “if i gave up on being pretty i wouldn’t know how to be alive” and i feel like this song is finally taking a step back and giving into simplicity

@jassy3856

this song (to me at least) feels like the feeling of realization. Realizing your broken, realizing your a monster, realizing your issues and flaws and all the little and big things wrong with you. You are the forest fire, you always were. You are watching yourself burn. It’s like going insane while being perfectly fine.

@craftedbowss

can’t believe mitski burned hills just for this song

@xxkissingrazors

i cant believe mitski created hills

@Someone-fn3ij

i hope today mitski is loving the littler things :')

@chowder5202

I dont find this song to be sad. I hear acceptance.

@underfellz

the scene where she’s floating in the lake and brushing her fingers up against the grass strikes a chord within me idk why

@clairej212

to me, this song perfectly describes being in active addiction. an addiction that started as a way to deal with your depression. the forest fire metaphor hurts so bad.

@anon7245

“I am a forest fire
And I am the fire and I am the forest
And I am a witness watching it”

god that felt like a stab to the side

@marshall4271

i miss mitski like i would miss a parent that had died, or a friend that lost contact. i feel like i know her and she knows me so well, that it is weird thinking that we never even cohexisted in the same place. She doesn't know me, and probably will never, but she knows i am here, and i feel that.

@saturnprinc3sss

i wonder if mitski knows how much she means to me, she’s saved me, she really really has

@allieallieallie596

am cry

@pulchritudinousness

yes

@wee3075

yes

@demiclown

yes

@marissaburdock6550

Yes

@orpheus.

yes

@Papismackmyassss

I sort of interpret this song as being stuck in an endless cycle everyday of self destruction and depression. Everyday feeling the exact same, like being stuck in a loop and even though you try and enjoy the little things, you can’t help but want more for your life.

@bellahadidnt.

im sorry, what does it mean to enjoy the littler things?

@Papismackmyassss

@@bellahadidnt. probably to enjoy the little things in life, everyday things like going outside, having a cup of coffee. That sort of stuff, trying to enjoy the simpler things in life

@bellahadidnt.

@@Papismackmyassss oh ty!

@minhkhanhnguyen4699

the way she sings "and you were not there at all" breaks my heart

@MuhammadMuhammad-o9x

This song literally reaches my soul. I swear.

@justanotherone9648

the last lines
"And ill go to work
And I'll go to sleep
and I'll love the littler things
i'll love some littler things"
it's so beautiful. something I forget.

@azoversch693

I'm listening to this at almost 5am, fighting with myself, in denial about something that can be in the future but isn't likely, and waiting for it isn't fair for anyone involved.
I just wanna see them, be there, and feel like everything is ok.

@35mmonrose

the way i actually burst into tears when it was just her staring into the camera. i felt such a tsunami of emotion radiating from her eyes.

@jernariawright4569

I think of so many things at once when I hear this song. Past relationships, my father, my mother, even myself. I just cry and cry cry when I hear it. I feel so alone. The only thing comforting is my sadness. I'm trying to get better, but often times I feel as if it's pointless, as if I'm just stalling the inevitable.

@Stella4444mwah

I relate this song to my feeling of brokenness and fatherless-ness. Wanting to be better but watching myself self sabotage. Hurting and hurting myself and being ashamed that I cant get out of the cycle. Parenting myself, being the child that needs parenting and wanting to give up on myself. Wishing that the promises that were made to me were kept. Feeling worn out from my cognitive dissonance. This song feels like it sums up all my heart.

@katbrechtel499

It's incredible how much this song means to so many people, and how there are as many different interpretations as there are people.

To me it's such a specific mood. It's looking at your life and expectations and realizing that the things you have been burning for rely on other people, and those others keep failing to show up, keep making promises they aren't able to keep. It's watching yourself burn in hope and unfulfillable need over and over. It's being too big, too much, and being unable to want to stop.

It's the painful process of realizing your expectations and passions are too much for the circumstances of your life, and finally, finally accepting that. It's the moment after the collapse, the fall, when you're still alive, even if you feel smaller, sadder, less. It's the getting back up after, because what else can you do, and it's the building of meaning outside of the furious cycle of hope and disappointment.

@sillydaphne

that is not just a song, that is a poem and it'll be my favorite poem forever

@lauramolnar8039

mitski is my favorite poet.

@hxpeko

in my eyes, this song means accepting everything that has happened to you back then. you accept the fact that many things that has happened to you, that youve been the fire, the forest, and the witness watching it. in all of your life, no one was there to you to guide you throughout, no one was there to help, the one you loved was not there at all. but you accept that all of these has happened already and you choose to move on. even with the guilt of whatever that happened to you, you choose to shadow that guilt and move onto other things in life, like loving other people, doing other things, n all that

@josiahperea5062

This song will always remind me that the world is beautiful and peaceful when you take the time to look for the beautiful and peaceful aspects of this world.

@aridagos

to me, this song is about accepting you're the problem. the white button down represents growth, maturity, responsibility. she's done falling for the lies others tell her; she realises she's the forest, she's the fire burning her, and she is also a witness watching from afar, doing nothing to stop her from hurting herself. and as much as she'd like to blame her lover for her suffering, the truth is he isn't even there. he doesn't care. he can't help her. so, she chooses to display neatness (a concept which has already appeared in last words of a shooting star) by wearing a white button down, "to be seen as clean". fake it 'til you make it. slowly, she'll get better: she'll form a routine, even if a mundane one, and she'll learn to be happy with what she already has. it's my fav album closer by her.

@creativechristinaa

I interpret the song very similarly!!

@beamarieclaire

Watching this MV feels like I'm holding a mirror to myself

@abbymiller

this is my favorite mitski song, a little hidden gem

@sin.07

yesterday, me and my sister went on a trip. Beach, restaurants, beautiful people and again, beach. ive been longing for the sound of the waves my whole life but there's this feeling, so uninviting. there's something strange deep inside me, the deep blue ocean and the laughter i heard.

so today, im wearing my white button-down crumbling and longing. Maybe tomorrow I'll learn how to love some littler earth things. and maybe, love myself a little bit more.

@fellthestar

For me, this song is about realising when to move on. Not just from dreams, but friendships, barren land with nothing left for you to grow. It’s about moving on

@phoebexxlouise

I was not prepared for how profound that was

@Papismackmyassss

Me neither

@littlestoryblog

"im tired of wanting more/i think im finally worn" for me translates to finally being done with standards, finally being done with wanting to better yourself after you've tried so hard to change yourself. you can finally be enough for yourself and love littler things

@_gerb0t

So depressing, but at the same time it uplifts me.

@NickCooper-pq5im

I actually cried listening to this song. My student shared it with me and now Mitski is my favorite thing. Thanks, Martin, for sharing this with me.

@Lara-vo6rp

youre a wonderful human being keep going

@user-mk8zq2ni1w

mitski fact:
she created everything

@quinoa03

I love the way she sings these poems and I love how they make me feel <3
I'm so happy I've discovered her music; maybe one day I could see her live.

@emmao3362

I SCREAMED WHEN I SAW THIS! It's genuinely beautiful, simple, and it gave me tons of emotions. Amazing work as usual.

@pickleboss69

cant believe she invented hills for this song we heart you mitski 🫶

@a1mzie

i wanna hug her so bad
i feel like she needs a hug.. we love you mitski

@thepickle-ish4310

the “what mitski song are you” quiz sent me here, i feel personally attacked.

@lucidunham3968

This song really hitting this Christmas Eve

@gabyfloreaytreal9857

ISTG ITS THE DAY AFTER CHRISTMAS

@alanjosh4335

You can really hear her soul in this song

@kaiherrera9134

I can’t believe Mitski invented hills!!

@cherrychairlegs2493

and fire!

@ezekialbrown293

This really speaks to me, and makes me feel when everything is numb otherwise. Thank you

@Pedro-qc5pz

its interesting to me the fact of how the whole song is talking about fire and theres not even a single frame of fire, love you mitski

@beltrancaceres2777

and i am the foreestt and i am the fireeee and i am a witness that's watching it

@buhblue

to me this song is about feeling the need to let go of your younger self as you get older.. wearing your white button down, like you’re getting ready for work. “tired of wanting more” is when deep down, we want our lives to have more meaning as we lose sight of things. that’s why we end up eventually needing to “love the littler things”

@Sherbledooblerat

im not even sure what this song is about and im still broken down sobbing.

@naharbagdady7321

it's about giving up on your dreams

@cybertomson

I can't begin to explain all that this song means to me. The constant dilemma it rises in me, bc yes it's about closing a chapter and starting over, but also about leaving behind something that might be significant, about giving up to live a quiet life. it's about settling down but what does that mean? living a clean healthy life? or a meaningless one where you've given up on your dreams and hopes? I'll love your work forever, mitski<3

@ilovestrawberries26

This made me cry for hrs, made me realize some things, and im so tired. I love you, Mitski. Thank you for existing.

@emipissinis

Soy el incendio, soy el fuego, soy la persona que lo mira, la que aviva el fuego y la que lo empezó...

@Ana.Ng143

Last night I had a dream where I bought most of mitski’s albums on cd from a dollar store for some reason

@tylerismine

crazy how she invented white button down shirts just for this song

@k4eru20

I like how if ur focusing on the video her stare is long and uncomfortable and makes you feel vulnerable but when you focus on the lyrics you realize it is just showing her while she's being described

@BubBledsBlue

Playing this on 2x speed takes the sadness away and turns into an alien anthem

@Agrarius24

this song is what it feels like to love (or want to love) someone when you have anxiety.

@monkeypenny6422

I love Mitski so so much ❤️

@iamkenpores

And just like this song, that sounds long but actually short once it ends, what's eating you up right now will end all of a sudden and you'll play a different song.

Dont rush the pace of healing..

@pedroarantes

this song feels like self destruction. at least for me, i don’t even know myself if im completely honest. i dont know what i really want, what thoughts are mine and which are intrusive, what i really like. im so easily swayed by an outside opinion on who i should be. i feel fine because i pretended to feel fine. i can’t tell if i ever got over my depression or if i forced it down like a bad pill. sometimes i want to run away from everyone i know but to know who i am. “today i will wear my white buttoned down.”

@yepisuredolikecats

this is like a glass of fresh water in the spring

@DustBowl.-_9

I love everyone’s interpretations of this song so here’s mine… I see this song as wanting someone so bad and not being able to have them/them not even noticing that you want them. So you try to be good/“clean” and have this routine to make your life happy without that person but it’s still not enough. It’s just the desperation and knowing that you need to stop wanting to be with them and trying to avoid those feelings but not even being able to stop no matter how hard you try or what you do.

@sevenawfulcats3260

I've cried to many of mitski's songs(this song too), I associate with "Once More to see You" the most,because that's my life basically.

@van-jk5xj

finding mitski and her beautiful discography is such a blessing:( i adore her so much

@null6457

deserves more recognition

@libertyerichsen3904

One of my favorite mitski songs because I interpret it as being about being so worn down from trying to be perfect and impress people that you just start giving yourself the same routine over and over again still worn out but you’ve stopped trying to make it go away

@sunshineyrainbows13

To me this song is realizing just how alone you are in your mental health struggles when you are surrounded by a family who is just as sick or plain uncaring.

@jxri._579

mitski i’m crying :(

@brnne

I love the littler things

@bekmoore9627

I've watched this 6 times and I just oHO it's so beautiful.