So here I am on a late Sunday morning, eating oatmeal, checking my phone… with a song stuck in my head.

Yeah, you know where this is going.

Today’s song analysis is going to be a lesser-known song, but still a good one, at least I think, called Hearts and Daggers by Foxes. Give a quick listen if you’ve never heard it before (which is probably the case), and then read on!

So… let’s just jump right into the lyrics, shall we?

You want the fruit that hits the ground
You like the taste in your mouth
Bitter-sweet, broken down
Leaves you feeling wanted

Completely a metaphor for wanting power and controlling others… you want to pick up people who’ve fallen down; you like to take advantage of them; it leaves you feeling wanted.

I was born in the wild
Let me loose, I’m hunting
Nature was like a shark
Send the seeds out in the world

I started out free in the world; I tried to gain my own power, but then everyone else took me down (like a shark). Now, send out fresh, new ‘seeds’ to start it all over again.

I see a home behind your eyes
I sleep forever waiting for it
These open skies where I belong
You put a roof over me

I have hope that you have a home for me, but I’m waiting around and doing nothing until you let me into it; I should be free to do whatever I want, but I can’t because you keep me sheltered from it.

Hope I don’t wake up before you let the light in
I hope I never see what goes on while I’m sleeping

Both of these statements are like ways of saying, ‘I don’t wanna know what you do behind my back, because I know it’s bad.’

Hearts and daggers
They seem to go together
Like fire’s burning the rain

Fire burning the rain (like Adele- ‘I set fire to the rain!’) makes no sense, almost like a kind of oxymoron, and so, to Foxes, hearts and daggers shouldn’t make sense together, either… but, for some reason, lately they’ve been going together. 

A drummer beats, a sorry sound
Gives this marching rhythm
Through the dark, alone and loud
This is how we move on

Just setting up a lonely, sad, sorry scene… the one that Foxes has to push to get through.

Pull the stars from the night
Light the way before you
Here’s a heart, here’s a knife
To cut the ropes and sail away

You take the light and happiness from other people to bring light and ‘happiness’ into your own life… and here’s a heart and dagger for you to take while you’re at it… and then you just cut the ties you have to everyone and run away. 

(And then all this again…)

I see a home behind your eyes
I sleep forever waiting for it
These open skies where I belong
You put a roof over me

Hope I don’t wake up before you let the light in
I hope I never see what goes on while I’m sleeping
Hearts and daggers
They seem to go together
Like fire’s burning the rain

Tear up the maps that brought us here
Never go back and never fear

Now I’ve got to forget how I got here and just focus on moving on… I can’t turn back and I can’t be scared of what’s ahead. 

Don’t let the real world take me away
Dreaming forever, forever

Just don’t let me get caught up in other problems; I just want to have peace, like in my dreams. 

Hope I don’t wake up before you let the light in
I hope I never see what goes on while I’m sleeping
Hearts and daggers
They seem to go together
Like fire’s burning the rain
[x2]

And there you have it!

Now, as a whole… what do I think the story behind this is?

Personally, I have a strong feeling this song is about a bad relationship where Foxes’ significant other was too controlling over her. I say that from prior knowledge, though, because a lot of her songs are breakup songs or songs she’s written about one or two ex-boyfriends. So, to me, it makes sense to be another relationship song. I could be wrong, though… and there’s always more than one interpretation of any story you encounter. Especially in poetry and songs, though… because they’re usually actually written to have double meanings. Actually, scratch that… more like quadruple meanings.

I had to think a lot about the meaning behind some of these lyric lines today, so let me know if you came up with something different than I did on anything!

Until next time!

-iKari ♡ (+ 🗡s)