"Garden Song" was produced by Bridgers herself alongside Tony Berg and Ethan Gruska. The song features "a wave of shimmery synths" and "delicate, crushing vocals", with its lyrics depicting "a scene from a fairytale, one that includes a house resting on a hill with thousands of roses (and probably a few ghosts)". Bridgers stated that the song was about "manifesting things the more you think about stuff" as well as "[her] own growth". It has also been described as "steeped in melancholy" as Bridgers "unravels past memories that anticipated growing up.
Garden Song
Phoebe Bridgers Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
In your house up on the hill
And when your skinhead neighbor goes missing
I'll plant a garden in the yard, then
They're gluing roses on a flatbed
You should see it
I mean thousands
I grew up here 'til it all went up in flames
I don't know when you got taller
See our reflection in the water
Off a bridge at the Huntington
I hopped the fence when I was seventeen
Then I knew what I wanted
And when I grow up
I'm gonna look up from my phone and see my life
And it's gonna be just like
My recurring dream
I'm at the movies
I don't remember what I'm seeing
The screen turns into a tidal wave
Then it's a dorm room
Like a hedge maze
And when I find you, you touch my leg
And I insist
But I wake up before we do it
I don't know how but I'm taller
It must be something in the water
Everything's growing in our garden
You don't have to know that it's haunted
The doctor put her hands over my liver
She told me my resentment's getting smaller
No, I'm not afraid of hard work
I get everything I want
I have everything I wanted
The opening lines of Phoebe Bridgers's song Garden Song introduce a dream-like space where the singer imagines living in an idyllic house on a hill. The lyrics hint at a kind of displacement or longing, which is further amplified by her desire to create a garden in the yard, replacing the troubling neighbor who has vanished. The juxtaposition of this stark image with the creation of a garden creates an interesting contrast between death and new growth, which are both intertwined within the song. It is unclear whether the garden is meant to represent new possibilities for the singer or as a way of commemorating the neighbor's absence, but its presence underscores the sense of hope that is established throughout the song.
The next verse moves away from the specific image of the garden and begins to reflect more abstractly on the passage of time, growth, and change. The image of the reflection in the water highlights the theme of self-reflection, which runs throughout the song. The singer reflects on how she knew what she wanted at the age of 17 and speaks of a recurring dream in which she finds herself unable to connect with reality. The dream-like quality of the lyrics creates a sense of instability, but it is juxtaposed by the certainty that the singer feels about her future. The final lines of the song are triumphant and affirming: the singer asserts that she has everything she wants and is not afraid of hard work.
Line by Line Meaning
Someday, I'm gonna live
In the future, I'll live
In your house up on the hill
In the house on the hill that belongs to you
And when your skinhead neighbor goes missing
If your skinhead neighbor goes missing
I'll plant a garden in the yard, then
I'll plant a garden in the yard if that happens
They're gluing roses on a flatbed
They're sticking roses onto a flatbed truck
You should see it
It's something you should see
I mean thousands
There are many roses being stuck onto the flatbed
I grew up here 'til it all went up in flames
I spent my childhood here until everything burned down
Except the notches in the door frame
Except for the marks on the door frame
I don't know when you got taller
I'm not sure when you grew taller
See our reflection in the water
We can see our reflection in the water
Off a bridge at the Huntington
From a bridge at the Huntington
I hopped the fence when I was seventeen
I jumped over the fence when I was seventeen years old
Then I knew what I wanted
Then I realized what I wanted
And when I grow up
In the future when I'm older
I'm gonna look up from my phone and see my life
I will put my phone down and take a look at my life
And it's gonna be just like
It will be similar to
My recurring dream
My dream that happens frequently
I'm at the movies
I'm at a movie theater
I don't remember what I'm seeing
I can't recall what movie I'm watching
The screen turns into a tidal wave
The movie screen changes into a tidal wave
Then it's a dorm room
The scene changes to a dorm room
Like a hedge maze
It's like a maze made of hedges
And when I find you, you touch my leg
When I find you, you touch my leg
And I insist
I feel compelled
But I wake up before we do it
But I wake up before anything happens
I don't know how but I'm taller
I don't know how, but I've grown taller
It must be something in the water
It's probably due to something in the water
Everything's growing in our garden
Everything is flourishing in our garden
You don't have to know that it's haunted
You don't need to know that it's haunted
The doctor put her hands over my liver
The doctor placed her hands on my liver
She told me my resentment's getting smaller
She informed me that my resentment is diminishing
No, I'm not afraid of hard work
No, I'm not scared of working hard
I get everything I want
I obtain everything I desire
I have everything I wanted
I possess everything I wished for
Lyrics Ā© Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: Christian Lee Hutson, Marshall Vore, Phoebe Bridgers
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@hannahthroop4209
Lyrics:
Someday, I'm gonna live
In your house up on the hill
And when your skinhead neighbor goes missing
I'll plant a garden in the yard, then
They're gluing in roses on a flatbed
You should see it
I mean thousands
I grew up here till it all went up in flames
Except the notches and the door frames
I don't know when you got taller
See your reflection in the water
Off the bridge at the Huntington
I hopped the fence when I was seventeen
Then I knew
What I wanted
And when I grow up
I'm gonna look up from my phone and see my life
And it's gonna be just like
My recurring dream
I'm at the movies
I don't remember what I'm seeing
The screen turns in to a tidal wave
Then it's a dorm room
Like a hedge maze
And when I find you, you touch my leg
And I insist
But I wake up before we do it
I don't know how but I'm taller
It must be something in the water
Everything's growing in our garden
You don't have to know that it's haunted
The doctor put her hands over my liver
And she told me my resentments getting smaller
No I'm not afraid of hard work
And I did everything I want
I have everything I wanted
@LAX927
Translation:
Iāve had a revelation
I realize now youāre not a bad person
Itās just that some people like you are
Youāve actually done a good job for yourself
Weāll use the evil
To fuel the beauty
We create for ourselves
I have a vision where
I take the ugliness of the strategies
you used to become useful
And I make them beautiful
Cause see thereās nothing left of my dadās version
That he created for my mom
Except the sentimental details
No one can dissolve
Iāve realized youāre kind of beautiful
I see you everywhere now
The places that scare and excite me
All look like you
Iām being passive about life
I think underneath it all Iām waiting
For the monotony of life
To be interrupted in some way
That would allow me to break my routine
And find a way
to be close to you
So yeah youāre pretty special
But I have value too
Itās something that surprised me
something I had to figure out
I fantasize about our lives together
And the garden Iāve sown
with the seeds you won me
Itās a beautiful thing
Iāll spare you the pain of knowing
The ways Iām still suffering
Even in our Eden
Thereās a higher ideal out there
A better version of me
sheās helped me see
Thereās no one out there whoās to blame for suffering
In fact the one I thought was the culprit
Was the one Iāve been missing
Weāre both beautiful
The evil doesnāt define us
You donāt owe me any more
Than I owe you
And Iām ready to do my part
@thejesuschrist
Heck yes!!!
@tylerjafelice
I'M SO BLUUUEEEE ALL THE TIIIIIIMMEEE
@Miamiborne1969
So, when you are you coming back?
@lautittv
jesus christ im so blue all the time
@user-jn8cs1lt8m
Jesus Christ, Iām so blue all the time, and thatās just how I feel
@jeddonaldson7526
Oh hey I forgot that you were subbed to this channel
@jcknagel
I may be wrong in my interpretation, but I think this is her most hopeful song. She sounds like sheās looking back on trauma but also looking to the present with all of the good things in her life. Beautiful song
@subwoofer7302
Yeah I had around the same interpretation
@ceroolean
Itās a cover
@marcustulliuscicero237
@@ceroolean Nope