"Thumbs" lyrics

"Thumbs"

You hung up the phone
And I asked you what was wrong
Your dad has come to town
He'd like to meet
I said "You don't have to see him"
But for whatever reason you can't tell him no

So we meet him at a bar
You were holding my hand hard
He ordered rum and coke
I can't drink either anymore
He hadn't seen you since the fifth grade
Now you're nineteen and you're five-eight
He said "Honey, you sure look great
Do you get the checks I send on your birthday?"

I would kill him
If you let me
I would kill him
Quick and easy
Your nails are digging
Into my knee
I don't know
How you keep smiling

I love your eyes
And he has them
But you have his
'Cause he was first
I imagine my thumbs on the irises
Pressing in until they burst

I clear my throat
And say we ought to get home
He offers us a ride
I reply "No, that's alright"
When we leave
You feel him watching
So we walk a mile in the wrong direction

I would kill him
If you let me
I would kill him
Quick and easy
Your nails are digging
Into my knee
I don't know
How you keep smiling
I don't know
How you keep smiling
I don't know
How you keep smiling

I wanna take your face between my hands and say
"You two are connected by a pure coincidence
Bound to him by blood, but baby, it's all relative
You've been in his fist ever since you were a kid
But you don't owe him shit even if he said you did
You don't owe him shit even if he said you did"


Thanks to Phoebe for adding these lyrics.
Writer(s): Lucy Dacus
This song was written in autumn of 2018 and became so loved by fans that it even got its own Twitter account operated by fans. While performing the song live, Lucy Dacus every time asked fans not to record the song and they didn't.
Lucy Dacus told Pitchfork about "Thumbs", "It tells the story of a day I had with a friend during our freshman year of college, a significant day, but not one that I had thought of for years. I started playing it live a month or so later during the Boygenius tour after Phoebe and Julien encouraged me to. I knew I wanted a long time to get used to playing it since it made me feel shaky, so I ended sets with it for about half the shows I played in 2019."
One hundred randomly selected fans received VHS tapes of this single at the end of February 2021. The single was released on the 9th of March 2021.
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