Like a Tattoo Lyrics
He told me sweet lies of sweet loves
Heavy with the burden of the truth
And he spoke of his dreams
Broken by the burden
Broken by the burden of his youth
[Verse 2]
"Fourteen years," he said
"I couldn't look into the sun
She saw him laying at the end of my gun"
Hungry for life
And thirsty for the distant river
[Verse 3]
I remember his hands
And the way the mountains looked
The light shot diamonds from his eyes
Hungry for life
And thirsty for the distant river
[Verse 4]
Like the scar of age
Written all over my face
The war is still raging inside of me
I still feel the chill
As I reveal my shame to you
About
The final night of Sade’s 1993 Love Deluxe World Tour, Sade explained to her audience that “Like A Tattoo” was a true story based on the accounts of a stranger Sade met years ago on an evening at a New York City bar:
A long time ago, I met a man in a bar in New York. He told me his story. This is his song. It’s about war and what he had to go through.
The song’s grave tone reflects his guilt and shame over committing a war crime. Over the course of the song, we learn that he shot and killed a man who had his hands up in surrender—an act that may have also been witnessed by a significant woman in the victim’s life. But despite the soldier’s egregious act, the intensity of his regret is only possible because of the empathy present in his heart; his love for humanity.
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
Sade elaborated on her experiences with the aforementioned in a 1992 interview:
That song is about a man who has been in Vietnam, but it’s not really about Vietnam. It’s about war and killing somebody. I met a guy in a bar in New York years ago. It was an Irish bar on 14th Street. The song was my interpretation of what he told me. I tried to write it before, but it didn’t quite work out.
- 2.Feel No Pain
- 4.Like a Tattoo
- 5.Kiss of Life
- 7.Pearls
- 9.Mermaid