<aside> 💡 Chely Wright released the album “Lifted off the Ground” on April 30, 2010 at the same time as releasing her memoir “Like Me: Confessions of a Heartland Country Singer”. On May 5th, 2010, she came out publicly as a lesbian. The song “Like Me” was seen as one of the more overtly queer songs on the record, with lyrics like “And who's gonna end up holdin' your hand A beautiful woman or a tall, handsome man?” The song’s title is also the same title as the aforementioned memoir, so Chely places significance on this song in multiple instances. ‣
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Without your glasses you just plain can't see
Your favorite color for the most part is green
You're close to your grandma on your mother's side
You can count up on one hand the times you have lied
You won't eat a tomato on a double-dog dare
You don't think you're a beauty but you do like your hair
Your complex and tricky, yet someways you're not
You're up some, you're down some
You're cold and you're hot
And who's gonna end up holdin' your hand-
A beautiful woman or a tall, handsome man?
There's no doubt they'll love you, but it's yet to be seen:
Will anyone ever know you like me?
Will anyone ever know you like me?
You like plantin' flowers, that's heaven to you
Crack open a beer when you're planting through
You'll paint all your toenails if you have time,
while listening to Willie, Dylan and Pride
And who's gonna end up holdin' your hand-
A beautiful woman or a tall, handsome man?
There's no doubt they'll love you, but it's yet to be seen:
Will anyone ever know you like me?
You'd rather make-out then make love all night
You like if your bath is too hot
Your closet is cluttered with dress pants and Levis that you wish you'd never bought
And who's gonna end up holdin' your hand-
A beautiful woman or a tall, handsome man?
There's no doubt they'll love you, but it's yet to be seen:
Will anyone ever know you like me?
Will anyone ever know you like me?
Taylor has mentioned lying multiple times across her career, and it could be her insinuating that she is not being honest about her life or sexuality, like the speaker is describing the muse of this song. Explore Taylor’s lying theme further here: Dishonesty/Lies/Not True/Liar/Deceive/Cheat/Bait and Switch/Lying/Duplicitous
Holding hands is an activity couples do mostly in public, so this chorus alludes to asking the muse who she is going to “go out in public” with. Taylor uses this theme in a similar way across her discography: Hand/Take My Hand/Dropped Your Hand/Touched my Hand/Holding Hands
Taylor in Wildest Dreams: “He’s so tall and handsome as hell” and also describes her lover as handsome and tall in Delicate: “Handsome you’re a mansion with a view” (a mansion can only have a view if it’s a tall building). In Superman, she combines both of the adjectives Chely uses in this song: “Tall, dark and beautiful” Tall/High Above
This line has a double meaning:
Taylor has referenced flowers and gardening as one of her themes that links with her queerness. Some examples are: “when the flowers that we’d grown together died of thirst” from Clean and “we can plant a memory garden” from The Great War Garden
Taylor paints her toenails in one of her first music videos, released before this song came out. She also had a similar shot of her painted nails at the start of the Lavender Haze music video
Taylor has referenced a closet multiple times in her art. Explore the theme here: Closet/Wardrobe
Taylor references Levis in her song Cardigan: I knew you dancin in your Levi’s drunk under a streetlight