"Tolerate It" (stylized as "tolerate it") is the fifth track from American singer and songwriter Taylor Swift's ninth studio album, evermore, released on December 11, 2020, through Republic Records.
Background[]
Track five is known to always 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.
| “ | "When you watch a film or read a book and there's a character you identify with, you most of the time identify with them because they're targetting someting in you that feels like you've been there. That's why we relate to characters, and so 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 to impress him, but he's just tolerating her the whole time." There was a part of me that was, you know, relating to that because at some point in my life I felt that way. So I ended up writing the song tolerate it." | ” |
Trivia[]
- Taylor chose this song as track 5 because of the lyrics, how it's visual, and conveys a specific kind of hurt.[2]
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 listеn, I polish plates until they gleam and glistеn
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
Live performances[]
From March 17, 2023 to March 9, 2024, "Tolerate It" was performed as the last song of the evermore section of the Eras Tour. Starting on May 9, 2024, it was removed from the setlist.
References[]
- ↑ Taylor Swift: folklore, evermore and Songwriting | Apple Music Awards 2020 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQacWbsLbS4
- ↑ YouTube Q&A - willow premiere - Taylor Swift
| evermore | ||
|---|---|---|
| "willow" • "champagne problems" • "gold rush" • "'tis the damn season" • "tolerate it" • "no body, no crime" • "happiness" • "dorothea" • "coney island" • "ivy" • "cowboy like me" • "long story short" • "marjorie" • "closure" • "evermore" | ||
|