"Rosaline" is a song about (you guessed it) Rosaline, a character from Shakespeare’s "Romeo and Juliet". Rosaline is the girl Romeo is in love with at the beginning of the play and promptly forgets about after meeting Juliet. She never appears on stage and is treated (both by Romeo and by Shakespeare himself) as replaceable and forgettable. But, unlike Romeo and Juliet, she doesn’t die at the end of the play. So, I decided to write a song to Rosaline and ask her a few questions. Looking over the lyrics it’s pretty obvious that they’re really questions to myself. "Rosaline" is a song about some of my deepest fears: not being good enough, being unlovable, being alone, and being forgotten but listening to it makes me so freaking happy. It's my guitarist Zoser's favorite song off the album.
lyrics
Lyrics:
Rosaline, what is it like to be all alone on a Sunday afternoon
When you ordered tea for two?
Rosaline, what is it like to be by yourself
When he puts you on the shelf? (oh woah)
And the crow caws and scares away the birds of paradise.
And Rosaline’s eyes are fire and her smile is ice.
So Rosaline why
Don’t you just fly away?
Rosaline, what is it like to never be enough (You'll never be enough)
And when you call him on his bluff
He runs away? (You made him run away you made him run, run)
Rosaline, what is it like to be easily replaced
By a prettier face, cause that’s all you are? (You think you're pretty, oh what a pity, baby)
And the crow caws and scares away the birds of paradise.
And Rosaline’s eyes are fire, her smile is ice.
So Rosaline why
Don’t you just fly away?
And he said “the all-seeing sun
never saw her match since the world begun”
But she was the maiden moon
And he was gone too soon
When he left for the sun.
So Rosaline, what is it like to have survived
When all the rest of them have died? (woah oh)
And the crow caws and scares away the birds of paradise.
And Rosaline’s eyes are fire and her smile is ice.
So Rosaline why
Don’t you just fly away?
credits
from Songs to the Monster Under My Bed,
released May 1, 2021
Mirabai Kukathas (she/they) - lyrics, melody, vocals
Zoser Dunbar (he/him) - electric guitar (recording)
Grafton Downs (he/him) - bass
Olivia Green (she/her) - drums
Matt "Sabyu" Sablan (he/him) - guitar (arrangment), production
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