Kacey Musgraves shared her latest album, Deeper Well, on March 15. The record sees Musgraves forge a new path forward in life and love. Among the standouts on the record is “Giver / Taker.” Check out the meaning behind this candid track, below.
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[RELATED: Kacey Musgraves Shares How John Prine Helped Inspire Her New Song “Cardinal”]
Behind the Meaning
Musgraves has no shortage of lovelorn songs. Her album, Star-Crossed, is more or less a 15-song ode to the idea. She continues in that vein on “Giver / Taker.” The acoustic track sees Musgraves in the thick of relationship issues.
Sundown and I’m lonely in this house
It’s feeling one-dimensional to me
We’ve been tryin’ hard to figure out
Give and take and how to be
But don’t you see?
This song is deeply palpable. The listener can picture Musgraves weighed down by the feeling of loneliness and the hopelessness of fixing her current situation. The simple arrangement of the song gives it even more of a diary entry feel. The lyrics seem like a musing straight from Musgraves’ heart.
I would give you everything that you wanted
And I would never ask for any of it back
And if I could take only as much as I needed
I would take everything you had
The chorus adds even more color to Musgraves’ situation. Even though she’s pledged to give everything to her partner, she’s not receiving anything back. Nodding to the same themes as “Deeper Well,” her source of love has run dry. If I could take only as much as I needed / I would take everything you had.
Don’t wanna sharе, I want it all all of the time
Tell me right now you feel the same and that you’re mine
The bridge keys the listener into the source of Musgraves’ unsettling position within her relationship. Don’t wanna sharе, I want it all all of the time, she sings. Musgraves sums up the feeling of not being able to ask for the things that you need in a relationship succinctly with this track. It’ll be an assuage to anyone going through a similar situation.
(Photo by Erika Goldring/Getty Images for Americana Music Association)
