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Apparently the song itself was controversial and forbidden. Katniss had not sung the song since 10 years prior.

The meaning of the poem itself may be quite confusing, but Katniss explains it well. Here is an excerpt, from page 125, of Katniss explaining what it truly means:

Being older, I began to understand the lyrics. At the beginning, it sounds like a guy is trying to get his girlfriend to secretly meet up with him at midnight. But it’s an odd place for a tryst, a hanging tree, where a man was hanged for murder. The murderer’s lover must have had something to do with the killing, or maybe they were just going to punish her anyway, because his corpse called out for her to flee. That’s weird obviously, the talking-corpse bit.

This song has echoes of the song Strange Fruit (made most famous by Billie Holiday), and other folk/murder ballads like, O' Death.

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To “toot” was 90’s Southern slang for snorting cocaine. Many users of cocaine often brag about their experiences with the foreign drug as if what they’re are doing is of very high importance, when really they are just being reckless.

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He knows he’s doing well because he has now has an expensive-ass [Rolex](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolex] brand watch. A common way to tell if a Rolex is real or not is to hear if it is ticking. If not, you got yourself a genuine Rolex just like Chip!

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Chip is saying how he went from the art (making grime music, which is quick rap, 140 beats per minute, originated in London) to making chart music.

He could also be saying that he believes rap music is art. That he has made music for himself and his true fans (his art), but also for the radio and charts.

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A little more clever wordplay by our man Big Boi!

Here, Daddy Fat Saxx references a very famous game usually played at children’s parties known as ‘Pin The Tail on the Donkey’. The point of the game is to pin a paper or plastic ‘tail’ to a picture of a donkey on the wall. He uses the word ‘Tail’ as a slang term for a woman’s ass to say that he goes in and stays inside her, pinning her to the bed.

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Another reference about youth rushing into relationships. This time, Kacey elaborates on how many of these young adults think that their first good relationship is going to be “the one”. They swear up and down about how they’re going to be together forever and never divorce or cheat, unlike their parents before them.

In an interview with Radio.com, Kacey talks about how people of various backgrounds relate to this song in particular.

I’ve realized it’s not a small-town thing — it’s a life thing. We follow in our parents’ footsteps because that’s what we feel like we should do until we can figure out our own thing.

(Kacey with her mother Karen, who also happens to be an artist: a painter)

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While explaining the moral of the song, Kacey hinted at a potential double meaning of “[settling] in this town”. While “settling down” is the act of reaching a quieter, steadier portion of life, particularly in adulthood, “settling for something” is to make a compromise and accept something even when it isn’t exactly what you want. Kacey explained:

I feel like when you’re scared to leave what you know or are comfortable with, people tend to settle and stay in their comfort zone. Later, that leads to resentment and just regret. Never settle, I guess that would be my main message. Just know that there’s more beyond what you’re comfortable with and what you’ve been shown.

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Mary Kay is a cosmetics brand which sells its products using multi-level marketing (MLM), a controversial sales strategy which relies on independent contractors selling Mary Kay products to family and friends in the hopes of earning commission money. MLM schemes often recruit salespeople from vulnerable communities, and Mary Kay in particular markets its “Independent Beauty Consultant” roles as empowering opportunities for housewives and single mothers to build a lucrative career and become financially independent.

Kacey’s portrayal of a mother being “hooked on Mary Kay” references some of the criticisms directed at MLM schemes. For one, MLM participants almost always lose money from their sales ventures. Furthermore, the pursuit of profits can be addictive, sometimes being compared to gambling, and the aggressive sales tactics required are known to damage interpersonal relationships. The addictive nature of selling Mary Kay products is best represented through the incentivizing rewards, such as the pink Cadillacs, that are gifted to the best-performing saleswomen.

Helen McVoy, a prominent Mary Kay saleswoman, with the pink Cadillac she won from the company. Photograph adapted from The San Diego Union-Tribune.

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This line inspired the title of her album.

While on The Dr. Don Show with Rachael and Grunwald, Musgraves said this was one of her favorite lyrics on the album. In addition, she said that she wanted an album title that wasn’t one-dimensional; she wanted it to represent an abstract idea that would make people think.

Later in the interview, she explains the line itself in her own words:

[I]t kind of just means we’re all kind of in this together. We’re all hurt the same way. We all feel the same way, although we’re all different.

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Kacey grew up in a “tiny, little, Bible Belt town in a conservative area”“, where it was expected for you to be in church every Sunday morning. If she didn’t, she’d not only face the wrath of the community but also the wrath of God.

This is also touched on “Follow Your Arrow:”

If you don’t go to church, you’ll go to Hell
If you’re the first one on the front row, you’re a self-righteous son of a…
Can’t win for losin', you’ll just disappoint ‘em

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