Missed the Metaphor in “My Boots” by Lights

I’m going to have to admit that “My Boots” by Lights has been a guilty pleasure for a year and a half.

It’s way more pop-y than I usually prefer, and Lights (AKA Valerie Poxleitner) is a little more post-scene than I’m usually into for a musician. But I have to admit, she is cute even if she’s not blonde, probably mostly because I can never say no to a cute girl with tattoos and a captain hat.

Anyway, my super dykey side that also completely overlooks metaphors in art is the reason this song became a huge guilty pleasure for me.

I don’t even remember how I first heard this song, but I do remember that some of the lyrics seemed really lesbianic (“When I’m in the summer I forget how much I love her when she’s in the groove. Oh it’s a love hate romance ’cause I could watch her dance if I got my boots”), which definitely led to a second listen.

I was soooo sure that it was all about Lights being into some girl who dances very sensually and inspires her to look hot and sexy to impress her (“Something in the way she comes gliding makes me need to fix up the hair. She gets me to come out of hiding and find something decent to wear”).

But then…

Reality set in…

And I had to come to terms with the fact that the song is actually an extended metaphor of Lights’s love of the winter time…

Besides, the line “When she comes you’ll ask her to stay” seemed a little TOO double entendre to really be what I thought it was about…

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