Song Meaning
The narrator is emphatically declaring their freedom from a past relationship, immediately establishing a tone of bitter finality. The opening lines, "Not around now / I'm rid of you," paint a picture of someone who has actively severed ties and feels a sense of relief, albeit one tinged with lingering resentment. This isn't a gentle parting; it's a forceful expulsion, underscored by the blunt assessment, "Can't be trusted / Can't be true."
The core of the emotional landscape is a persistent, unyielding anger. The repetition of "I'm still angry" acts as a defiant anthem, a refusal to move past the hurt. This anger isn't simple; it's complicated by a sense of imbalance, captured in the paradoxical "Much too little / Or much too much." It suggests a feeling of never being enough or always being too much for the other person, a dynamic that fuels the ongoing bitterness.
The lyrics reveal a specific source of this frustration: misplaced blame and unmet expectations. The narrator pushes back against being held responsible for the other person's shortcomings, stating, "You blamed me / For what you couldn't do." This points to a dynamic where the narrator was made to feel inadequate or at fault for the other's failures, a deeply corrosive experience.
This dynamic is further illuminated by the accusation, "Why did you bother / To tease me / When you knew you / Couldn't please me." This highlights a painful pattern of manipulation or false hope, where the other person engaged in actions that were ultimately unsatisfying and hurtful. The narrator's enduring anger is a direct response to this perceived betrayal and the emotional toll it took, making the repeated declaration of anger a powerful statement of self-preservation and unresolved pain.