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Vintage tee, brand new phone
High heels on cobblestones
When you are young, they assume you know nothing
Sequin smile, black lipstick
Sensual politics
When you are young, they assume you know nothing
But I knew you
Dancing in your Levi's
Drunk under a streetlight, I
I knew you
Hand under my sweatshirt
Baby, kiss it better, I
And when I felt like I was an old cardigan under someone's bed
You put me on and said I was your favorite
A friend to all is a friend to none
Chase two girls, lose the one
When you are young, they assume you know nothing
But I knew you
Playing hide-and-seek and
Giving me your weekends
I, I knew you
Your heartbeat on the High Line
Once in twenty lifetimes, I
And when I felt like I was an old cardigan under someone's bed
You put me on and said I was your favorite
To kiss in cars and downtown bars
Was all we needed
You drew stars around my scars
But now I'm bleeding
'Cause I knew you
Stepping on the last train
Marked me like a bloodstain, I
I knew you
Tried to change the ending
Peter losing Wendy
I, I knew you
Leaving like a father
Running like water, I
And when you are young, they assume you know nothing
But I knew you'd linger like a tattoo kiss
I knew you'd haunt all of my what-ifs
The smell of smoke would hang around this long
'Cause I knew everything when I was young
I knew I'd curse you for the longest time
Chasing shadows in the grocery line
I knew you'd miss me once the thrill expired
And you'd be standing in my front porch light
And I knew you'd come back to me
You'd come back to me
And you'd come back to me
And you'd come back
And when I felt like I was an old cardigan under someone's bed
You put me on and said I was your favorite
About this song
Betty looking back: cardigan under the bed, still called favorite—preference stored in fabric. “When you are young, they assume you know nothing” flips adult condescension. Chase two girls, lose the one; porch light on—“I knew you’d come back”—locked to betty. Teenage Love Triangle is her announced fiction frame, not a gossip dossier.
Key terms & images
- Cardigan under the bed
- A kept, needed garment hidden in plain furniture. “Favorite” ranks the object emotionally, not as outfit trivia.
- “They assume you know nothing”
- Youth misread as ignorance; the line insists you saw everything—you just weren’t allowed the mic.
- Porch light / come back
- Porch light = someone left the door ajar. Matches betty’s bike-to-apologize route: two sides of one paper.
FAQ & readings
- Where does cardigan sit in the triangle?
- Betty looking back at James: sweater, porch light, “I knew you’d come back.” August is the summer other; Inez is the gossip who told—fiction roles, not a real-name ledger.
- Why call it a Teenage Love Triangle?
- She framed cardigan / august / betty as three angles on one teen love story. Listen as POV switches, not as a scavenger hunt through real calendars.
Discuss "cardigan"
Share what this song means to you, or the lyric line that hits hardest.
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