Louis Tomlinson: Defenseless Meaning

Defenseless Lyrics

I come runnin' to you like a moth into a flame
You tell me, "Take it?easy,"?but it's easier?to say
Wish I didn't need so?much of you
I hate to say, but I do
We're sleepin' on our problems like we'll solve them in our dreams
We wake up early...

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   #1 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

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   Jun 23rd 2021 !⃝

   It is about Harry and Louis’s relationship. I think they broke up and Louis is realizing that he actually needs/still loves Harry. While Harry seems to be over Louis/doesn’t feel the same about him anymore. And they’re in an argument.
   
   Narrator: Louis
   Addressee (“You”): Harry
   
   ~verse 1~
   
   “I come runnin' to you like a moth into a flame” ~~I wasn’t quite sure what he meant by ‘a moth into a flame’... then I looked it up: “The phrase ‘like a moth to the flame’ means to be irresistibly attracted to someone or something.” I mean what can I say... he comes running to Harry because he’s irresistibly attracted to him...~~
   
   “You tell me ‘take it easy’ but it’s easier to say / Wish I didn't need so much of you / I hate to say, but I do”
   ~~Harry wants Louis to chill out and take a break from him, but Louis can’t—because he’s so ‘irresistibly attracted to him’. It’s easier for Louis to think about how much he needs Harry and needs to get him back than it is for him to ‘take it easy’. But he doesn’t want to admit that.~~
   
   ”We're sleepin' on our problems like we'll solve them in our dreams / We wake up early morning and they're still under the sheets” ~~it’s a metaphor. Them “sleeping on their problems” is them ignoring their problems—almost ‘sleeping them off’. But the problems are “still under the sheets”—still haunting them day after day, building up on each other and making things worse.~~
   Rather than talking about their problems, him and Harry are ignoring them, and allowing them build up—causing Louis to feel defenseless because he can’t do anything about it.
   
   “I'm lost in my head, I'm spinnin' again
   Tryna find what to say to you” ~~all he can think about is trying to figure out what he can say to Harry without making the situation worse.~~
   
   ~pre chorus~
   
   “Been up all night / All night runnin' all my lines / But it’s only the truth” ~~he’s analyzing all the possible situations that could happen next time he encounters Harry; trying to see if he could avoid saying the truth [that he really misses him]. But he realizes that he can’t and that he can only end up saying the truth.
   
   “Been up all night / Not sure how to say this right / Got so much to lose” ~~he’s not quite sure how to say, that without Harry, he’s got nothing—which is why he keeps running to him.~~
   
   ~chorus~
   
   “Never been so defenceless (x2) / You just keep on buildin' up your fences / But I've never been so defenceless” ~~Harry is ‘building up his fences’—he’s shutting Louis out. And Louis feels so unprotected like that.~~
   Defenceless vs. defenseless: “As adjectives the difference between defenseless and defenceless is that defenseless is lacking any form of defense; vulnerable; open to attack, while defenceless is without defence; undefended.” Thus, the reason Louis feels defenceless is because he feels unprotected when he doesn’t have Harry to run to when he needs him.
   
   ~verse 2~
   
   “No, you don’t have to keep on being strong for me and you / Acting like you feel no pain, you know, I know you do” ~~Harry may be going on about life acting like he doesn’t love or care about Louis anymore, but Louis knows that deep down Harry still feels pain and longs for Louis—even in the midst of their arguments.~~
   
   “And I can't get inside when you're lost in your pride / But you don't have a thing to prove” ~~Louis isn’t able to make Harry realize that he still loves Louis, nor can he tell Harry that he still loves him; because he’s so lost in his pride [of not needing Louis]. But he doesn’t have anything to prove because Louis knows that Harry still feels the same way he does.~~
   
   ~bridge~
   
   “I hope that I'm not asking too much / Just wanna be loved by you (Don't you be so defensive)” ~~Louis just wants to be loved by Harry again and hopes it’s not too much to ask from him.~~
   
   “And I'm too tired to be tough / Just wanna be loved by you” ~~Louis has to be tough when Harry is not with him. He’s too tired of playing tough and just wants to be loved by Harry again~~
   
   Sorry that was so much to read—I hope you understand it better though! Lou is such a good songwriter and has loads of coded stuff, along with Harry ;). Both of their songs (especially Louis’s) scream Larry.
   But I forgot, they’re all about Eleanor. *screams in Larry* It obviously isn’t real... ObViOuSlY.
   
   Anyways, Have a good day :-)
2. anonymous

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   Oct 22nd 2023 !⃝

   This song is about someone who is starting to become less hardened and more vulnerable in life and sees how everyone else still puts on a shell but they don't want to anymore they want to be genuinely loved for who they are
3. anonymous

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   May 29th 2023 !⃝

   May I suggest that any artwork's interpretation no longer belongs to the artist upon release to the public. Part of the motivation for an artist is to produce a work that invites questions and discussion around an idea (which in this case appears to be "vulnerability").
   Those investigations can either be in the form of a silent conversation between the observer and the artist through the work, or it can be between the observers themselves (as this platform offers).
   I, therefore, would like to talk about vulnerability itself (rather than about whatever possible personal story Louis might have behind it).
   There are many reasons for why a person builds fences. I want to express one particular interpretation here. It is not that that person doesn't care. It's more like an avoidance of the pain that proximity inevidently incurs.
   That person can be someone who cares deeply, but who also has multiple warranted reasons for not engaging at a certain time and public place.
   For those of you who are feeling vulnerable, please know that you are probably in the thoughts of those of us with the highest fences, more than you will ever know.
4. anonymous

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   Aug 31st 2022 !⃝

   This is going to be short, but I just want to say that when I first heard this song I instantly thought of If I Could Fly.
   I mean, there is a lyric in If I Could Fly which is, "Right now I'm completely defenseless." which to me sounds a lot like "Never been so defenceless."
   Let me remind you that if I Could Fly was written by Harry, and now Louis has a song called Defenceless...
   But Larry is not real, oBvIoUsLy.

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