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Sam Smith’s London Coliseum residency is coming to BBC One•

Ashe has announced her new album ‘The Girl Of Your Dreams’•

Arthur Hill is going ‘Arthway Round the World’ on his biggest tour yet•

sombr has lined up a massive European and UK arena tour•

Yeah Yeah Yeahs have turned their Royal Albert Hall show into a live album•

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Hayley Williams is extending her huge tour with new UK and European shows•

Miley has announced her new album ‘Bass Persuades’ and two huge Hollywood Bowl shows•

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Keo are heading to O2 Academy Brixton next March•

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Lights – Pretend (2009) | Track profile | Dork

Tracks
Lights
The Listening
Pretend

TRACK

Pretend

Release date: 21st September 2009

From The Listening

Track 6

3:23

Spotify Apple Music More on Lights

About This Track

'Pretend' by Lights is a pop track from the album 'The Listening', released in 2009. Its lyrics find a speaker acting like a child to regain the feeling of being young, then turning that fantasy into a kind of captivity. With lines about being watched and people quick to talk, it frames innocence as something being worn down, leading to a wish to start over again, outside the weight of the world. One recurring note is the strain between wanting to regress and the sense that the body and the gaze of others will not let go.

"Pretend" is a track by Lights, from the album The Listening, released 21st September 2009. The track is 3:23 long. It's filed under Pop. Full lyrics are available below. Dork has published 1 article about Lights.

About the Artist

Lights

Lights

Lyrics

Pretend

Once in a while I act like a child, to feel like a kid again.
It gets like a prison in the body I'm living in.
'Cause everyone's watching and quick to start talking,
I'm losing my innocence.
Wish I were a little girl without the weight of the world.

It would be nice to start over again,
Before we were men.
I'd give, I'd bend, let's play pretend.

Remember the times we had soda for wine,
And we got by on gratitude.
The worst they could do to you was check your attitude.
Yeah, when fights were for fun, we had water in guns,
And a place we could call our own.
How we lost hold of home, I guess I'll never know.

It would be nice to start over again,
Before we were men.
I'd give, I'd bend, let's play pretend.

And when it's the end,
Our lives will make sense.
We'll love, we'll bend, let's play pretend.

It's not going to be long, before we're all gone,
With nothing to show for them.
Stop taking lives, come on, let's all grow up again.

It would be nice to start over again,
Before we were men
I'd give, I'd bend, let's play pretend.

And when it's the end,
Our lives will make sense.
We'll love, we'll bend, let's play pretend.

Lyrics provided by LRCLIB

View full lyrics page →

Track details

From The Listening

3:232009

Listen

Album

22nd September 2009

Track number

6

Release year

2009

1Saviour
3:29
2Drive My Soul
3:21
3River
3:04
4The Listening
3:35

More from Lights

Albums & EPs

A6EXTENDED

dEd

PEP

Skin&Earth Acoustic

Skin&Earth Acoustic

Skin&Earth

Explore

More tracks by Lights

Right Through You ('Mile End Kicks' - Music Inspired by the Motion Picture)

DAY TWOA6EXTENDED

DAMAGEA6EXTENDED

ANGELINAA6EXTENDED

PIRANHAA6EXTENDED

INTROA6EXTENDED

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE DOORA6EXTENDED

SURFACE TENSIONA6EXTENDED

YOU'RE KILLING MEA6EXTENDED

ALIVE AGAINA6EXTENDED

COME GET YOUR GIRLA6EXTENDED

CLINGYA6EXTENDED

EDUCATIONA6EXTENDED

DRINKS ON THE COASTA6EXTENDED

FINAL ROUNDA6EXTENDED

GHOST GIRL ON FIRSTA6EXTENDED

LEARNING TO LET GOA6EXTENDED

LOVE IS A GAMEA6EXTENDED

THE CITY IS FALLINGA6EXTENDED

TAKE IT EASYA6EXTENDED

THIS TIME TMRWA6EXTENDED

WHITE PAPER PALM TREESA6EXTENDED

DRINKS ON THE COASTA6

SURFACE TENSIONA6

WHITE PAPER PALM TREESA6

GHOST GIRL ON FIRSTA6

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE DOORA6

YOU'RE KILLING MEA6

WHITE PAPER PALM TREES / SURFACE TENSION

DAMAGE (Felix Cartal Remix)

Love Me (string version recorded live at The Warehouse studio)

Feel Less (string version recorded live at The Warehouse studio)

Empress of the Damned

Someone to Forget

Sparky (dEd version)dEd

In My Head (dEd version)dEd

Grip (dEd version)dEd

Salt and Vinegar (dEd version)dEd

View all tracks by Lights →

Grip (dEd version)dEd
3:43
In My Head (dEd version)dEd
4:20
Right Through You ('Mile End Kicks' - Music Inspired by the Motion Picture)
2:59
Salt and Vinegar (dEd version)dEd
4:10
Sparky (dEd version)dEd
4:43
ALIVE AGAINA6EXTENDED
3:42
ALIVE AGAINA6
3:42
ANGELINAA6EXTENDED
2:54
CLINGYA6EXTENDED
3:25
CLINGYA6
3:25

Showing 10 of 50

If you like Lights

PVRIS

PVRIS

Say Lou Lou

Say Lou Lou

CHVRCHES

CHVRCHES

Purity Ring

Purity Ring

Fickle Friends

Fickle Friends

Luna Shadows

Luna Shadows

6Pretend

3:23

7The Last Thing On Your Mind

13Pretend (Reprise)

14Saviour (Adam Young Remix)

Credits

Production & Engineering

Writer: Lights
Producer: Lights, Thomas “Tawgs” Salter
Mastering Engineer: João Carvalho

READ MORE ABOUT LIGHTS

READ MORE ABOUT LIGHTS

READ MORE ABOUT LIGHTS

READ MORE ABOUT LIGHTS

READ MORE ABOUT LIGHTS

READ MORE ABOUT LIGHTS

READ MORE ABOUT LIGHTS

READ MORE ABOUT LIGHTS

Lights shares new single 'Alive Again' ahead of sixth studio album

Lights shares new single 'Alive Again' ahead of sixth studio album

The haunting new wave-inspired track comes ahead of new full-length 'A6'.

8 Feb 2025 • 1:10 pm

Lights: "Creativity is not formulated by genre; it's formulated by fucking mood swings"

Lights: "Creativity is not formulated by genre; it's formulated by fucking mood swings"

One of music’s most ambitious artists, Lights has spun her ever-expanding world of music, comics and stories into her stripped-back full-length, ‘Skin&Earth Acoustic’.

18 Jul 2019 • 9:29 am

Lights: "I'm able to open up this whole new side of me"

Lights: "I'm able to open up this whole new side of me"

"A young woman is in a post-apocalyptic world where the last bastion of humanity lives. It's an oasis in the middle of a wasteland, and there's an insan...

26 Sept 2017 • 12:57 pm