Kyoto (Spotify Singles) Lyrics
Day off in Kyoto
Got bored at the temple
Looked around at the 7-Eleven
The band took the speed train
Went to the arcade
I wanted to go, but I didn't
You called me from a payphone
They still got payphones
It cost a dollar a minute
To tell me you're getting sober
And you wrote me a letter
But I don't have to read it
[Chorus: Phoebe Bridgers, with Jackson Browne]
I'm gonna kill you
If you don't beat me to it
Dreaming through Tokyo skies
I wanted to see the world
Then I flew over the ocean
And I changеd my mind
[Verse 2: Phoebe Bridgers]
Sunset's been a freak show
On the weekеnd, so
I've been driving out to the suburbs
To park at the Goodwill
And stare at the chemtrails
With my little brother
He said you called on his birthday
You were off by like ten days
You get a few points for tryin'
Remember getting the truck fixed
When you let us drive it
Twenty-five felt like flying
I don't forgive you
But please don't hold me to it
Born under Scorpio skies
I wanted to see the world
Through your eyes, until it happened
Then I changed my mind
[Outro: Phoebe Bridgers & Jackson Browne]
Guess I lied
I'm a liar
Who lies
I'm a liar
About
“Kyoto” is an uptempo indie rock song that takes a glimpse into Bridgers’ inner musings during her time spent on tour in Japan.
With a little help from Bright Eyes’ Nathaniel Walcott on the horns, the song’s instrumentation sounds almost like joyful fanfare, despite some of the song’s lyrics of personal resentment. In an April 2020 press release, Bridgers describes “Kyoto” in her own words:
This song is about impostor syndrome. About being in Japan for the first time, somewhere I’ve always wanted to go, and playing my music to people who want to hear it, feeling like I’m living someone else’s life. […] I dissociate when bad things happen to me, but also when good things happen. It can feel like I’m performing what I think I’m supposed to be like. I wrote this one as a ballad first, but at that point I was so sick of recording slow songs, it turned into this.
In a May 2020 interview with The New Yorker, Bridgers reveals that the song also addresses the complex relationship she had with her father:
I feel so much fucking empathy and so much fucking anger toward him […] It’ll always be day to day: Are we talking, are we not talking? What’s the vibe?
In the midst of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, Bridgers stated she hoped to film the music video for “Kyoto” in Japan, but instead, filmed in front of a green screen. During the strict social-distancing policies held during the pandemic, Bridgers amusingly performed the song live from her bathtub on the late night show Jimmy Kimmel Live! in April 2020.
“Kyoto” is the second single to be released off her sophomore album Punisher.
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
