Post Malone's "Lemon Tree": Life Gave Me Lemons, So I'm Burning Down the Damn Tree
Everyone knows that saying, "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade..." Postie's not buying it.
On the heels of writing about Post Malone's Reputation and why I think it's about, not just depression, but suicidality and his relationship with his fans, I think it's pretty apt to be discussing Lemon Tree.
Quickly read through the lyrics yourself first, to see if anything stands out, and formulate a few opinions on what you think the meaning may be behind the song.
I think it's pretty clear, but I'll spell out whatever I've observed.
"Lemon Tree" by Post Malone Song Lyrics
[Verse 1]
Couldn't fall asleep all night
I tried with all my might
I thought I knew what you want
It isn't all that nice
But I guess it will suffice
It's hard to know what you want
[Pre-Chorus]
Could you be?
A little less sour, we're rottin' by the hour
And my heart's rotten too
In every film I watch, I'm on the side of the bad guy
So turn around and show me that I'm better
[Chorus]
Some people got an apple, some people got a tangerine
Look around and all I see is people happy with what they're given
Life is pretty sweet, I'm told
I guess I'm just shit outta luck, growing a lemon tree
I'm gonna burn it down, and grow me somethin' bettеr
Hey-ah, hey-ah
[Verse 2]
Blood on my hands, I'm on the fеnce, I double down
A swing and a miss, a kick in the ribs, in trouble now
Came from the dirt, back in the ground, when I die
But I'ma survive, I got my ways
Oh, oh
[Pre-Chorus]
Could you be?
A little less sour, we're rottin' by the hour
And my heart's rotten too
In every film I watch, I'm on the side of the bad guy
So turn around and show me that I'm better
[Chorus]
Some people got an apple, some people got a tangerine
(Some people got a tangerine, na, na, na)
Look around and all I see is people happy with what they're given
Life is pretty sweet, I'm told (I'm told)
I guess I'm shit outta luck, growin' a lemon tree
(Growin' a lemon tree)
I'm gonna burn it down and grow me somethin' better
Hey-ah, hey-ah
[Outro]
(And grow me somethin' better)
(And grow me somethin' better)
(And grow me somethin' better)
"Lemon Tree" by Post Malone Song Lyrics
Post Malone's made it quite clear he struggles with depression, and Lemon Tree definitely feels like it fits the bill as being a step into how his mind feels around his struggle with his mental states.
It's pretty obvious from the title - the reference to a sour fruit - that we're not likely to be discussing a light, happy topic here.
Throughout this song, he makes so many allusions to the theme of fruit, farms, growing fruit, and lemons, you'd think it was heavy-handed if you saw them all laid out (which I will, why not): sour, rotting, rotten, better (sounds like bitter), apple, tangerine, sweet, grow, growing, dirt, ground, fence.
It's pretty masterful in terms of visual imagery, and painting a picture that couldn't be clearer without even adding the slow, country-esque sound to the mix.
But let's dive in to take a closer look at these lyrics to see what we can uncover.
Starting with verse 1:
Couldn't fall asleep all night
I tried with all my might
I thought I knew what you want
It isn't all that nice
But I guess it will suffice
It's hard to know what you want
The first verse actually sounds and reads to me a little like it feels to desperately try to fall asleep, but be pre-occupied with thoughts that circle, repeating over and over in your head in different ways, but bringing you back to the same point.
In this case, it feels like the thoughts are about what somebody in his life wants, or maybe even what we as an audience since that's exactly the conclusion I came to about who Posty's talking to in Reputation.
He's preoccupied, thinking about it before bed, thinking about how he thought he knew, what he believes the person or people in question want isn't super nice, but that he accepts it and decides, it's hard to decide what "you" want.
So there's a level of acceptance here, and understanding that there's a sourness in what's wanted - likely from him - already.
If we assume that he's not talking to an individual in his life, but to his fans/the audience, we can probably also assume he's talking about our expectations of him as a celebrity, influential person, musician, artist, and all the other caps he wears.
As he's trying to fall asleep, he mulls all this over, thinking that he thought he knew what everyone wanted of him, which in his opinion isn't all that nice, but that he accepts it ("it will suffice" - and yet accepts that it's hard to know what the public wants of him.
Could you be?
A little less sour, we're rottin' by the hour
And my heart's rotten too
Here, if he is talking about the public and/or his audience/fan's opinion of him, he's probably using the lines "Could you be? / A little less sour, we're rottin' by the hour" to allude to the idea that the world is going to shit - and essentially asking that same world if it could be a little less shitty.
He does seem to note that he's been influenced by the bad there is in the world, the rottenness as he describes it - "And my heart's rotten too."
For some reason this song gives me major country vibes, so when he sings the next couple lines:
In every film I watch, I'm on the side of the bad guy
So turn around and show me that I'm better
I can't help but imagine a cowboy movie where there's a shoot off.
He's the bad guy, since when he watches films (again, I'm imaging a cowboy film here), and he's essentially taunting his opponent, telling them to turn around and shoot, that he'll shoot faster - "show me that I'm better" here alluding to being better at the shoot off.
Of course I also see it a different way, where he's saying he's on the side of the bad guy, but he wants whomever he's talking to, to turn around and show him he's better than that, to show him he's worth more, redeemable, to save him, which is a recurring theme for Post Malone.
Maybe the connection with the shoot off, if you combine these two ideas, also alludes to death, since in a shoot off, if the other person wins, he dies. So maybe there's some sort of allusion to redemption or peace being found in death, against a worthy opponent. Not quite sure.
In the chorus, we get into the slowly, thoughtfully, laid out nitty gritty of his feelings toward his lot in life, which is symbolized as a lemon.
Some people got an apple, some people got a tangerine
Look around and all I see is people happy with what they're given
Life is pretty sweet, I'm told
I guess I'm just shit outta luck, growing a lemon tree
I'm gonna burn it down, and grow me somethin' bettеr
Hey-ah, hey-ah
Other people get sweeter fruits, sweeter lots in life, although not everyone has the sweetest, it varies (some get apples, some get tangerines), but he definitely has the most sour - the lemon, which he can only grow a lemon tree with.
He feels like the people around him are all happy with the fruit they've got, their lot in life. People tell him life is sweet, life is good, but it seems he feels - not that he can't see the sweetness - but that it's been given to others, but it's not his lot in life. His lot is sour.
His response to this? Definitely not to take the lemons life hands you to make lemonade.
Nope - he used his lemon, his lot in life, to grow a lemon tree, but he's over the sourness of lemons and wants to burn the lemon tree down to grow something better.
He wants to reject what he has, everything he's been given in his life, because he feels it's crap - start over with a new fruit, something better.
The irony I find in this statement is that when he says "better" it sounds like "bitter" - which is not only exactly what he is about his lot in life, but also the sourness of a lemon is often also part and parcel with a little bit of bitter taste as well.
The word "better" is also a repeated word from the first verse. So we have:
In every film I watch, I'm on the side of the bad guy
So turn around and show me that I'm better
I guess I'm just shit outta luck, growing a lemon tree
I'm gonna burn it down, and grow me somethin' bettеr
The connection here? I can't seem to riddle it out perfectly, but it is absolutely a close connection.
The best I can do in terms of interpretation - he might feel as though his being on the side of the bad guys in the films, maybe even alluding to "being a bad guy" himself, is closely tied to his lot in life - the sour fruit, the lemon he was given - and that if he had been given sweeter fruit, better fruit to start off with, he himself would have been better.
But we get to burning down the lemon tree - and it's an incredibly destructive image, one that's meant to represent his lot in life.
He wants to destroy the tree - maybe wants to burn his life to the ground in some sort of way, to be able to start over from scratch.
You're never going to get sweet fruit out of a lemon tree, so this makes sense. And the image of burning things to the ground and starting again is of course a lot like the phoenix rising.
Maybe he doesn't think he at his core is the bad guy, but that the only way he can not be the bad guy is to total his life, start over in some way or another, but with a different fruit.
So he can grow something sweet instead of continuing to reap the sour lemons from the tree he planted with what he was given in life to start with.
In the second verse, which contains the remainder of the unique lyrics in this song, he seems to allude to the Bible verse that's commonly referred to as "dust to dust" (Genesis 3:19) - "By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return."
Blood on my hands, I'm on the fеnce, I double down
A swing and a miss, a kick in the ribs, in trouble now
Came from the dirt, back in the ground, when I die
But I'ma survive, I got my ways
Oh, oh
He talks about a struggle in the first two lines of the song, which sounds a lot like the Bible verse itself when it mentions that by the sweat of your brow - or by towing the field, by hard work, hard labour, that's the only means we can feed ourselves.
Posty's lyrics are a lot more visceral and violent, and allude to a struggle where he seems to have started on the fence, but when he doubled down and fought, it backfired and he was kicked in the ribs.
Then that latter part of the verse, which sounds like another way of saying "I am dust and to dust I will return" ends with a seemingly optimistic line "But I'ma survive, I got my ways" - almost to say, I've got fight in me yet, it's not over. I'm down, not dead.
A really fascinating song in terms of lyrics and I must say one of my favourites in terms of sound on the album.
It definitely reads something like a parable, explaining his views on his sour lot in life, but with enough rebellion in it that it doesn't give downtrodden vibes by any means.
After all, he's gonna survive, he already explained he's got his ways to, and he's not accepting the lemon tree.
His plan - to burn it down to grow something better - hell, it's a pretty logical conclusion to come to if you want to yield fruits that are sweet, not sour.
