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  1. Tracks
  2. MARINA
  3. The Family Jewels
  4. Rootless

TRACK

MARINA

Rootless

Release date: 15th February 2010

From The Family Jewels
Spotify
More on MARINA

About This Track

Marina built 'Rootless' around the experience of constant childhood relocation. The song traces the emotional toll of never settling, of belonging nowhere; she moves through a series of vivid, displaced metaphors, a cloud, a snail without a shell, a stray cat, each one capturing a different facet of rootlessness. The lyrics accumulate a sense of drift and severance, the repeated refrain "I'm rootless, I'm rootless" functioning less as confession than as statement of fact. The song was written by Marina alongside Liam Howe and Pascal Gabriel, who also produced it. What emerges is a portrait of someone caught between the desire for connection and the inability to form it; the pre-chorus reaches for "something, somebody that reminded them of me", a longing that the chorus immediately undercuts. By the final verse, that displacement has calcified into resignation: a lowercase existence, a kingdom without a king, "no sense of belonging". There is no resolution here, only the dragging of roots through snow.

"Rootless" is a track by MARINA, from the album The Family Jewels, released 15th February 2010. Full lyrics are available below. Dork has published 10 articles about MARINA.

About the Artist

MARINA

MARINA

Lyrics

Rootless

[Verse 1]

I'm a cloud drifting by

Dripping tears from the sky

I'm a snail without a shell

Leper with a golden bell

I've got nowhere to go

I'm a stray cat on the roam

Choking on a chicken bone

For a home-sweet, no sweet home

[Pre-Chorus]

For a root, for a leaf, for a branch, for a tree

For something, somebody that reminded them of me

[Chorus]

Running with my roots pulled up

Caught me cold so they could cut

What there was left of love

I'm rootless, I'm rootless

[Verse 2]

Working fingers to the bone

Building castles out of snow

I'm a nomad walking on

Humming to the same old song

Lowercase society

Tied to no community

A kingdom without a king

With no sense of belonging

[Pre-Chorus]

For a root, for a leaf, for a branch, for a tree

For something, somebody that reminded them of me

[Chorus]

Running with my roots pulled up

Caught me cold so they could cut

What there was left of love

I'm rootless, I'm rootless

[Bridge]

Running with my roots pulled up

So they could cut me free of love

[Chorus]

Running with my roots pulled up

Caught me cold so they could cut

What there was left of love

I'm rootless, I'm rootless

[Outro]

Dragging my roots through the snow

No home-sweet and no sweet home

I've got nowhere to go

I'm rootless, I'm rootless

Lyrics provided by LRCLIB

View full lyrics page →

Track details

From The Family Jewels

2010
Listen
Album
The Family Jewels
The Family Jewels
MARINA
15th July 2009
Release year
2010
  1. —Mowgli's Road
  2. —Girls
  3. —Numb
  4. —Are You Satisfied?
    3:19
  5. —Oh No!
    3:00
  6. —Are You Satisfied?
  7. —Hermit the Frog
  8. —The Outsider
  9. —Guilty
  10. —Rootless
  11. —Seventeen
  12. —Hermit the Frog
    3:34

More from MARINA

Albums & EPs

PRINCESS OF POWER (DELUXE)
PRINCESS OF POWER (DELUXE)
2025
PRINCESS OF POWER
PRINCESS OF POWER
2025
CUPID'S GIRL - Single
CUPID'S GIRL - Single
2025
Electra Heart (Platinum Blonde Edition)
Electra Heart (Platinum Blonde Edition)
2022
Ancient Dreams In A Modern Land (Deluxe Edition)
Ancient Dreams In A Modern Land (Deluxe Edition)
2022
Ancient Dreams In A Modern Land
Ancient Dreams In A Modern Land
2021

Explore

More tracks by MARINA

  1. BUTTERFLYPRINCESS OF POWER (DELUXE)
    4:26
  2. BUTTERFLYPRINCESS OF POWER
    4:26
  3. EVERYBODY KNOWS I’M SADPRINCESS OF POWER (DELUXE)
    4:07
  4. EVERYBODY KNOWS I'M SAD (REMIX)PRINCESS OF POWER (DELUXE)
    4:08
  5. HELLO KITTYPRINCESS OF POWER
    3:30
  6. How to Be a Heartbreaker (Dada Life Instrumental Remix)
  7. HOW TO SAY GOODBYEPRINCESS OF POWER (DELUXE)
    3:44
  8. I <3 YOUPRINCESS OF POWER
    3:36
  9. I <3 YOU (Live at The Tonight Show)
  10. INCHES + RULERS

Showing 10 of 20

If you like MARINA

Marina & the Diamonds

Allie X

Allie X

Melanie Martinez

Melanie Martinez

Ava Max

Ava Max

Tove Lo

Tove Lo

Sky Ferreira

Sky Ferreira

Credits

Production & Engineering

Writer
Ash Howes, MARINA, Pascal Gabriel
Producer
Liam Howe, Pascal Gabriel
Engineer
Pascal Gabriel
Vocals
MARINA
Mastering Engineer
Guy Davie
Mixing Engineer
MARINA, Pascal Gabriel
Programmer
Liam Howe, Pascal Gabriel
READ MORE ABOUT MARINAREAD MORE ABOUT MARINAREAD MORE ABOUT MARINAREAD MORE ABOUT MARINA
READ MORE ABOUT MARINAREAD MORE ABOUT MARINAREAD MORE ABOUT MARINAREAD MORE ABOUT MARINA
MARINA returns with her new single 'Butterfly'
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MARINA returns with her new single 'Butterfly'

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21 Feb 2025 • 5:09 pm
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Marina Diamandis has confirmed a UK and US book tour for her debut poetry collection, Eat The World

The tour will begin on 21st October in Manchester, UK.

18 Sept 2024 • 2:05 pm
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Marina confirms her sixth album on the way for 2025

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15 Jul 2024 • 9:10 pm
MARINA has hit back at the Brazilian government after they ordered Lollapalooza Brazil to ban "political demonstrations"
News

MARINA has hit back at the Brazilian government after they ordered Lollapalooza Brazil to ban "political demonstrations"

Last weekend, MARINA was amongst the musicians who criticised president Jair Bolsonaro during their Lollapalooza performances in São Paulo.

31 Mar 2022 • 6:27 am
Marina - Ancient Dreams In A Modern Land
Reviews

Marina - Ancient Dreams In A Modern Land

‘Ancient Dreams In A Modern Land’ sees Marina return to her old self.

9 Jun 2021 • 3:06 pm
Marina - Love + Fear
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Marina is blossoming into the perfect present-day pop icon.

25 Apr 2019 • 8:07 pm