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Genius
  • 6/18/2025
Lucy Dacus stopped by Genius to break down her song “Ankles.” The track was produced by Blake Mills and the multi talented artist herself, and appears on her latest album 'Forever Is a Feeling.' On today’s episode of Verified, the multi-talented singer-songwriter walks us through the inspiration behind the song, how she blends different sound, the pain of an unattainable relationship, and more.

Category

🎵
Music
Transcript
00:00So what inspired this song?
00:02I feel like I'm already blushing.
00:06So you know when you are into someone and you probably shouldn't be,
00:12and so you just have to kind of use your imagination and not cross the boundaries that be?
00:19That is what's going on here.
00:30When I first wrote the song, I wrote it kind of sad because I was frustrated and it wasn't a good feeling.
00:37But then listening back, I was like, this is fun. This shouldn't be dour.
00:41And so I had this idea of blending baroque, bright strings with marching band drums,
00:50which are really different but have the same sort of playfulness.
00:54So that's kind of the bedrock of the whole song is those two vibes.
00:58It's a very like sprinkly, twinkly guitar part.
01:28Let's think it through.
01:30I guess in the first verse, it's sort of laying out the rules of the game.
01:34Like we're not going to touch and so what's the closest that we can get?
01:38You know, how do we get a rise out of each other otherwise?
01:58I guess if you're trying your best to be polite and not do too much,
02:04you're going to get there in an explosive way.
02:07Giving commands that can't actually be followed through with like,
02:10pull my hair and bite me.
02:13Things like that.
02:15Pull me by the ankles to the edge of the bed and take me like you do in your dreams.
02:25I'm not going to stop you.
02:27I'm not going to stop you this time, baby.
02:32Well, it's really explicit.
02:34It's kind of like this command to like, show me that you mean it, like mean what you say.
02:40And then being like, I'm not going to stop you this time.
02:42It's about how like time and time again, you have to say no.
02:47Since it's sort of antithetical to the first part,
02:50because it's saying like, we're not going to touch.
02:52But then in the chorus, it says like, I'm not going to say no.
02:55So there's this ambiguous, will we, won't we type message going on.
03:10The first half of the chorus is obviously very physical.
03:23And then the second half is like sweet.
03:26So you start on this footing that's like, whoa, like on the brink of too much.
03:30And then pull it back to what you would think is tame, but is actually like,
03:35I think an even deeper intimacy, you know, like staying until the next morning
03:39and having these like quotidian points of connection and maybe like a daily routine.
03:44So it's not just about like wanting this one time payoff.
03:47It's like, maybe I even want like a life with you or I want you in the quiet moments as well,
03:53which to me is like maybe even a little more painful than just wanting somebody like carnally.
03:59The first couple lines of this is like all these figures that are chaotic and destructive, but also playful.
04:22Like the three ancient fates are like from Greek mythology.
04:25And they had these scissors that they would use to cut the threads of people's lives.
04:31And they kind of decided like when people would die.
04:34The idea of one of the fates kind of like being like, eh?
04:37And then, you know, the scissor imagery is kind of tongue in cheek.
04:42Just setting up this other person as like this force that could break your life,
04:47but in kind of, I'm not touching you type way.
04:51How lucky are we to have so much to lose?
04:58Now don't move when I tell you what to do.
05:09How lucky are we to have so much to lose?
05:11That is one of my favorite lyrics in the song.
05:14The reason that you're being careful is because you care about things.
05:17And so you don't want to just carelessly burn through whatever this energy is.
05:23And that's why you have these restrictions in the first place.
05:28Is that you want to move in a way that is respectful and right.
05:33And doesn't like make your world come crashing down.
05:37At least for me, when I have like really big feelings, I fear them a little bit.
05:40Cause I'm like, this is going to ruin everything.
05:43But yeah, and then the snap back to like, no, don't move when I tell you what to do.
05:46Is like back to the initial rules of the game.
05:48It's a little bit Dommie in a way.
05:52And I think needed to get back there before the next chorus.
05:56That's such a sweet sentiment.
05:57Like, oh, we're so lucky.
05:58And then you have to get back to like, okay, but we were up to something.
06:04I love the music video.
06:05Shout out Havana Rose Lou for coming in and being the security guard.
06:09It was just like a dream to go around Paris and like this cupcake of a dress.
06:13And there was this cute little girl that like walked by.
06:16Cause a lot of the people in the video are actually people that were just on the street.
06:20And this little girl said in French, you look like my dolls.
06:25Which is so cute.

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