"This song is about being on tour and hating tour, and then being home and hating home. I just always want to be where I'm not, which I think is pretty not special of a thought, but it is true. With boygenius, we took a red-eye to play a late-night TV show, which sounds glamorous, but really it was hurrying up and then waiting in a fucking backstage for like hours and being really nervous and talking to strangers. I remember being like, 'This is amazing and horrible at the same time. I'm with my friends, but we're all miserable. We feel so lucky and so spoiled and also shitty for complaining about how tired we are.' I miss the life I complained about, which I think a lot of people are feeling. I hope the parties are good when this shit [the pandemic] is over. I hope people have a newfound appreciation for human connection and stuff. I definitely will for tour." ― Phoebe Bridgers[1]
"Kyoto" is a song by Phoebe Bridgers. It was released through Dead Oceans on April 9, 2020, as the second single from her second studio album, Punisher.
Background[]
"This song is about impostor syndrome. About being in Japan for the first time, somewhere I’ve always wanted to go, and playing my music to people who want to hear it, feeling like I’m living someone else’s life. I dissociate when bad things happen to me, but also when good things happen. It can feel like I’m performing what I think I’m supposed to be like. I wrote this one as a ballad first, but at that point I was so sick of recording slow songs, it turned into this."
The song is named for the city in Japan; Bridgers wrote the song on her first trip to the country in February 2019.[2] She had hoped to film her "Kyoto" video in Japan in March 2020, but was forced to alter her plans due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, she made the visual with a green screen in Los Angeles.[3]
Lyrics[]
[Verse 1]
Day off in Kyoto
Got bored at the temple
Looked around at the 7-Eleven
The band took the speed train
Went to the arcade
I wanted to go, but I didn't
You called me from a payphone
They still got payphones
It cost a dollar a minute
To tell me you're getting sober
And you wrote me a letter
But I don't have to read it
[Chorus]
I'm gonna kill you
If you don't beat me to it
Dreaming through Tokyo skies
I wanted to see the world
Then I flew over the ocean
And I changed my mind (Woo)
[Verse 2]
Sunset's been a freak show
On the weekend, so
I've been driving out to the suburbs
To park at the Goodwill
And stare at the chemtrails
With my little brother
He said you called on his birthday
You were off by, like, ten days
But you get a few points for tryin'
Remember getting the truck fixed
When you let us drive it
Twenty-five felt like flying
[Chorus]
I don't forgive you
But please don't hold me to it
Born under Scorpio skies
I wanted to see the world
Through your eyes until it happened
Then I changed my mind
[Outro]
Guess I lied
I'm a liar
Who lies
'Cause I'm a liar
Audio[]
Live performances[]
The song was included in the setlist for the Reunion Tour.
Other versions[]
Released: November 20, 2020
Released: March 9, 2021
Released: August 19, 2021
Released: August 19, 2021
Released: August 19, 2021
References[]
- ↑ "Punisher by Phoebe Bridgers on Apple Music". Apple Music.
- ↑ Martoccio, Angie (April 9, 2020). "Phoebe Bridgers Announces New Album, Drops ‘Kyoto’". The Rolling Stone.
- ↑ Strauss, Matthew (April 9, 2020). "Phoebe Bridgers Announces New Album Punisher, Shares New Song “Kyoto”: Listen". Pitchfork.
| Punisher |
|---|
| "DVD Menu" • "Garden Song" • "Kyoto" • "Punisher" • "Halloween" • "Chinese Satellite" • "Moon Song" • "Savior Complex" • "ICU" • "Graceland Too" • "I Know the End" |