tolerate it
Written By Taylor Swift & Aaron Dessner
Produced By Aaron Dessner
About
From Genius, the ultimate source of music knowledge
Track 5 on "evermore".
"tolerate it" is track 5, of Taylor Swift's 9th album, evermore. Track 5's are always known to be reserved for her most vulnerable song on each album. This song is about the continuous struggle of wanting love from someone who isn't even paying attention to anything you do for them.
During her interview for Apple Music Awards 2020, Taylor stated that she wrote "tolerate it" based on a book she was reading entitled Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, and how she had felt like the narrator at some point in her life:
When I was reading Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier and I was thinking, 'Wow, her husband just tolerates her. She's doing all these things and she's trying so hard and she's trying to impress him, and he's just tolerating her the whole time. There was a part of me that was relating to that, because at some point in my life, I felt that way.
Lyrics
[Verse 1]
I sit and watch you reading with your head low
I wake and watch you breathing with your eyes closed
I sit and watch you
I notice everything you do or don't do
You're so much older and wiser, and I
[Chorus]
I wait by the door like I'm just a kid
Use my best colors for your portrait
Lay the table with the fancy shit
And watch you tolerate it
If it's all in my head, tell me now
Tell me I've got it wrong somehow
I know my love should be celebrated
But you tolerate it
[Verse 2]
I greet you with a battle hero's welcome
I take your indiscretions all in good fun
I sit and listen, I polish plates until they gleam and glisten
You're so much older and wiser and I
[Chorus]
I wait by the door like I'm just a kid
Use my best colors for your portrait
Lay the table with the fancy shit
And watch you tolerate it
If it's all in my head, tell me now
Tell me I've got it wrong somehow
I know my love should be celebrated
But you tolerate it
[Bridge]
While you were out building other worlds, where was I?
Where's that man who'd throw blankets over my barbed wire?
I made you my temple, my mural, my sky
Now I'm begging for footnotes in the story of your life
Drawing hearts in the byline
Always taking up too much space or time
You assume I'm fine, but what would you do if I
[Chorus]
Break free and leave us in ruins
Took this dagger in me and removed it
Gain the weight of you, then lose it
Believe me, I could do it
If it's all in my head, tell me now
Tell me I've got it wrong somehow
I know my love should be celebrated
But you tolerate it
[Outro]
I sit and watch you