Posted by If they told us one year back about a possible collaboration between Björk and Rosalía, we would have never believed it. Yet, Oral is here, released in November 2023, and it’s particularly fascinating: a track with poetic lyrics, an exciting story, a meaning that can be interpreted in many ways, and a mission followed by the two artists. Let’s discover everything in this article.
You will find the official video and the complete lyrics for Oral at the end of this article.
Oral: the song lyrics and their meaning
Oral is a poetic song about the thin line separating imagination and reality: in the lyrics, Björk and Rosalía sing about her wishes, thinking about the man they love, wanting to touch his hair and kiss his mouth. But, as the lines say:
Just because the mind can make up whatever it wants
Doesn’t mean that it’ll never come true
Therefore, the song becomes a melancholic reflection on how imagination and reality sometimes never meet. It’s like an epic battle where each opponent wants its own will to reign. And a battle is the one we see in the official video, where Rosalía and Björk fight like in a classic Mortal Kombat scene. Meanwhile, the music tries to find a compromise in a desperate attempt to reconcile the dream and the real.
Let me introduce one to the other
The dream and the real, get them acquainted
The song was originally written by Björk in the late 90s, but never got released. In 2023, the Icelandic singer decided to rework the song with the help of Rosalía and producer Sega Bodega. The result is fascinating, and it was released with an important message clearly stated at the beginning of the official video: all funds raised with this song will be used to support the legal battles against open pen fish farming in Iceland. The protest is led by the AEGIS non-profit organization. You can find out more about it on Björk’s official website.
Oral can be considered a song about impossible love, which can become the real meaning of its lyrics: your mind wants to touch and kiss him, but as the song states in the end, “there’s a line there, I can’t cross it.” There is always a line, and it’s interesting that this is the song Björk dedicated to Iceland’s battle to preserve Iceland’s marine ecosystem.
Read other popular song lyrics and their meaning on Auralcrave
The official video and the complete lyrics
Your mouth floats above my bed at night
My own private moon
Just because the mind can make up whatever it wants
Doesn’t mean that it’ll never come true
Won’t ever happen (Just because she can)
Please, could I change that?
Is that the right thing to do?
Oh, I just don’t know
I just don’t know
Is that the right thing to do?
Oh, I just don’t know
I just don’t know
Let me introduce one to the other
The dream and the real, get them acquainted
Just because she can
Introduce
Just because she can
A mouth to a mouth
Is that the right thing to do?
Oh, I just don’t know
I just don’t know
Is that the right thing to do?
Oh, I j-just don’t know
I just don’t know
Can I just sneak up from behind
To the back of his head?
Then I lift up his hair
And nibble ever so lightly
That’s where her hair starts
Just because she can
Now please, can I kiss him
Just because she can?
Yo quiero besarle
Just because she can
Come on, please, can I kiss him?
Just because she can
I just don’t know, oh
Just because she can (Can)
There’s a line there, I can’t cross it (Ooh)
Just because she can
There’s a line there, I can’t cross it (Come)
Just because she can
There’s a line there, I can’t cross it
Just because she can (Oh, it must come)
There’s a line there, I can’t cross it
There’s a line there, I can’t cross it (Just)
There’s a line there, I can’t cross it
There’s a line there, I can’t cross it
There’s a line there, I can’t cross it
There’s a line there, I can’t cross it
