Analysis: ‘Wendy’ by Maisie Peters | Storytelling in Songs #1
published on September 23, 2024
It took me a while to figure out what my first song analysis would be. Choosing ‘Wendy’ by Maisie Peters just feels right.
To precede this I want to say that in my head I analyze the lyrics of songs all the time. I also spend a surprising amount of time watching reactions on YouTube and listening to podcasts that analyze the production of songs or how songs came to be, and though I love production elements as well I am often more focused on the lyrics when I listen to songs. I’m the kind of person that knows the lyrics to pretty much every song after the second listen. They’re like poems to me and once I connect or recognize lyrics, I don’t usually forget them easily. And I’ve always had the overwhelming urge to share my thoughts and get others thoughts on songs I like and the lyrics especially, and as you can probably imagine people are not always as enthusiastic about it as I am. But now that I have this blog, I finally have a place for all the information and energy to go! Exciting! Thank you for being here, please stay if you like this type of content and please, tell me your thoughts in the comments!
‘Wendy’ is the ninth track off of Maisie Peters’ second studio album, which is called ‘The Good Witch’. It was released on 23 June 2023, and was one of my most highly anticipated albums of this year because I love Maisie’s songwriting. And this album, god I love, love, love the whole thing, but this track is probably my personal favorite (It might share that place with ‘History of Man’. That one is gonna have to be my next analysis because it’s just so damn good as well.). ‘Wendy’ just clicked right away, and that’s not always the case. Sometimes a song grows on you, and the more you find out and figure out and listen to it, the more you understand and like it. With this song it wasn’t like that at all for me personally. From the moment I heard it, it just got me, it got me good. It clicked, pierced me to the bone. I remember hearing it for the first time and just knowing in my heart that this was gonna be a forever-favorite, never-gonna-get-sick-of-it sorta song, and there aren’t many of those. I was not wrong about it so far, every time I hear this song, I feel it. Can’t tell you how many times I’ve put on a dramatic enactment of me singing this while listening to it HAHA.
‘Wendy’ is magical and mystical AND it’s a metaphor song. I love songwriting based around strong metaphors. What I call ‘metaphor songs‘, are songs based around the idea of comparing something (a situation or object or person or idea or whatever) to something else, suggesting a likeness and creating an analogy or comparison between them. In this particular song, it’s a relatedness of the situation, she’s inserting herself into the role of the character Wendy in ‘Peter pan’ *spoiler*, but we’ll get to that.
I love Maisie’s approach to other already written stories with this album. The way she talks about and refers to greek mythology and childhood stories from the female perspective is just so real, and sooo good. Freaking genius. She’s amazing at what she does. Love you, Maisie <3
Here’s what Maisie said about the album and she obviously sums it up better than I ever could:
This is my heart and soul, my blood on the page, the collection of stories that I’ve managed to capture in the past year. A true chronicle of my life in recent history. […] It ducks and weaves between the real and surreal, and centers my own universe, of which I am of course the keeper of the keys and the holder of the cards – the good witch, if you will. It goes from light to dark in the flip of a switch and I hope takes you on a journey where by the end you feel like you’ve gotten lost in someone else’s planet for a bit.
Maisie Peters
In my opinion she has very much so accomplished this.
Let’s take a deep dive into the song ‘Wendy’. I recommend listening to the song while reading this, so go ahead, put it on. You can put it on repeat or, like me, listen to the part that I’m talking about and then pause it, whatever you prefer but do give it a listen, it’s so worth it. If you’ve never heard of it before, you’re welcome.
It was produced by Joe Rubel, and it starts off with sparkly guitar and twinkling sounds that I cannot pinpoint and am obsessed with. The whole atmosphere it creates is simply magical.
You’re rolling like a stone
Verse One
You’re laughing like a kid
You’re calling like the future
Then you’re closed up like a fist
Lotsa similes to start with, very on topic with the whole comparison thing. A simile is a similar thing (haha, get it?) to a metaphor, but the wording is different. While a metaphor basically says ‘thing a is thing b’ (e.g. he was sunshine, I was midnight rain), a simile uses the words like or as to compare (e.g. his smile was bright as sunshine).
These first few lines are quite a mysterious way to start off a song. ‘Rolling like a stone’, first of all always reminds me of The Rolling Stones haha, but what I think she’s saying with that line is that the person she’s addressing doesn’t stick with things. They don’t commit, they are not stable and dependable but constantly on the move, constantly rolling. ‘Laughing like a kid’ is more positive and quite self-explanatory. It paints the picture of something she likes about the person she’s with. It could also be interpreted as the first hint at him being compared to Peter Pan, who of course is a kid and always stays a kid. The last two lines are a quite genius way of saying that they sometimes look like someone that the narrator could imagine a future with, a future that they might plan out and dream about together in one minute but then in the next the partner is closed off and distant and neglects her and their relationship. Again, not dependable, not committing. The fist could also be a hint at anger issue and bottled up emotions.
This first verse is her observing this person that could be her future if she chose them. It introducing all the major themes in four lines.
Lost my page when you kissed me
Pre-Chorus
Now I remember the whole book
She almost loses her way ’cause
She followed him after one look
Now this is where the metaphor is properly introduced into the narrative of the song. ‘Peter Pan’ is a book of course, and it’s the book that she remembers here as will be confirmed later. And her losing her page because of a kiss is compared to Wendy losing her way after a look, being swept off her feet and away to the magical world of Neverland. She’s comparing the situation and how this person makes her feel to the way Wendy and Peter’s relationship goes. She’s reflecting on how it all started out and how easy it would be for her to get carried away with this, get wrapped up in this person and follow them anywhere, like Wendy did with Peter. But it already seems a bit melancholy and mournful, like she doesn’t want to be like Wendy, she doesn’t want to loose her way and loose herself in this relationships.
I’m assuming you know the story of Peter Pan, but if you don’t, this would be a good point to google a short plot synopsis.
I usually take this pre-chorus very metaphorically, but with the way it’s worded it could also be interpreted more literally. She’s painting the picture of a moment where she was actually reading the book ‘Peter Pan’ and this person distracted her with a kiss, but then she remembers the story and sees the similarities.
Either way, reminds me a bit of Taylor Swift’s lyric in ‘cardigan’ where she says ‘Tried to change the ending, Peter losing Wendy’.
Maisie sings the pre-chorus with so much emotion as well, sadness and wanting and theeeen, the big explosion into the twinkling chorus!! The production underlines the lyrics so well.
You could take me to Neverland, baby
Chorus One
We could live off of magic and maybes
But I know the girl that you want and it scares me
Behind every lost boy, there’s always a Wendy
The way she wraps up the whole relationship in these four lines is just *chef’s kiss*. Everything she’s said so far is summarized here in saying that their relationships might be magical but it’s also an illusion and full of uncertainties. That he captures her in the moment, and it’s wonderful, but there is no future, it’s only the present, it’s fleeting. I love the line that I made bold because it’s so wistful and it expresses perfectly what the relationship is all about. Apparently Maisie really likes that lyric as well because it was on the tarot cards that she used to promote the album.
And the wording of the last line, playing on the fact that the kids that stay with Peter Pan in Neverland are called ‘Lost Boys’, but she’s also saying that he is actually lost and. You get it, right? It’s SO good. And so bittersweet. Growing up and leaving people behind as you get older and change and evolve because they might have been right for the moment but people change and so do situations. She can’t be the girl that he wants because it wouldn’t be true to herself. The girl that he wants isn’t her. They don’t want the same thing and that is why it’s not going to work out.
She’s observing their relationship and realizing that through rose-tinted glasses it seems like a dream, but she can’t live in it forever because once she takes them off there is all this evidence that she’s debating right now. She see what the other person has to offer, she’s exploring what their future would look like. She acknowledges that she could choose the magic but that the maybes scare her, that it feels like the dream world that she escapes to with this person could turn out to be a trap she can’t get out of anymore, that she’ll notice too late and be stuck in something that doesn’t feel safe and isn’t what they made it out to be. Which is exactly how the story of ‘Peter Pan’ goes.
Love all the twinkling in the production as well. And the drums coming in afterwards.
And you’re pretty like a girl
‘Til you’re vicious like a man (vicious like a man, vicious like a-)
Yeah, you give up like a ghost
Leaving halfway through the band (band, band)Then you’re evasive on the phone
Verse Two
‘Til you’re sorry on the floor
So, I’m throwing you a bone
‘Cause you want me and you’re sure
If I’m not careful, I’ll wake up and we’ll be married
And I’ll still flinch at the sound of a door
I’m a big fan of the background vocals, or add-on vocals, or whatever they are called, with that effect on them that does make them sound a bit vicious. We’re back to a verse and back to the similes as well.He sounds unpredictable and immature, like he’s not very good at dealing with, managing or expressing his emotions.
The comparison to what the reputations, or rather expectations almost, are of ‘girls’ and ‘men’, or maybe stereotypes is the better word choice here actually, once again suggests that the person she’s with has intense mood swings from being sweet and kind and gentle to getting aggressive, mean, cruel and violent. This illustrates anger issues and struggles to cope with emotions once again. Then, their non-commitment is pointed out again as well, the mention of ‘ghost’ brings them ghosting her to mind, and connects to them being ‘elusive on the phone’. And they are leaving half-way through the concert (which could be her concert since she’s a singer if we’re assuming that the narrator is Maisie) but either way it emphasizes the listlessness of her partner. And though it has been portrayed quite extensively so far that his actions are non-committal and evasive, they verbally affirm the opposite, which she wants to believe but she knows deep down that if she keeps on trying to see the best in them it won’t end up well for her. Their past behavior has shown her that she can’t trust their words because their actions are so unpredictable and she’ll never feel secure in the relationship be, be that because of their anger issues or because of never being sure whether they will stay or not, as the flinching at the door suggests.
This whole verse really illustrates all the reasons that they are quite a toxic person to be with. And since the verse is longer this time there’s no pre-chorus, but the last two lines build very nicely back into the chorus.
You could take me to Neverland, baby
We could live off of magic and maybes
But I know the girl that you want and it scares me
Behind every lost boy, there’s always a WendySo I’ll lock the window and turn on the AC
Chorus Two
You’ll throw your rocks, and you’ll scream that you hate me
But it gets old being forever 20
And what about my wings? What about Wendy?
And we have an added-on chorus (which is what I call a prolonged chorus)!! The second part of this chorus is a direct consequence of what has been the consensus of verse two.
Locking the window is a direct reference to ‘Peter Pan’ as well, since Peter always comes to Wendy’s window to pick her up and fly to Neverland.
The symbolism of her locking the window, together with the past tense of these lines, indicates that she debating in her head what would be the logical way of action, which is shutting them out of their live. She’s predicting that her partner wouldn’t react well to that.
In Neverland you don’t get older, that’s what she’s playing at with the second to last line.
And of course, she’s introducing the main thought here: What about me? What about what I want and feel and need? And relating it to Wendy’s character, and even like how the story is called ‘Peter Pan’, it’s not called ‘Peter and Wendy’ or ‘Neverland’ or whatever. Wendy is a side character in that way, and she’s saying what if she doesn’t want that for herself, what if she doesn’t want to follow this boy blindly and lose herself along the way. And actually, the character Wendy comes to the same conclusion eventually and decides to leave Neverland and Peter behind and return to her own life.
Take the hand and go with him
Bridge
Be the clock that he watches
Wait until he gets bored and
Wanders back to the forest
Lose the world that you live in
Pretend that it’s what you wanted
It’s a life I could have, I know
The bridge is full of references to ‘Peter Pan’. Absolutely phenomenal writing is what this is right here, ladies and gentlemen. A+, 100%, golden star, pass ‘go’ and collect $200. Maisie went all out for this one and I appreciate it. Love this bridge. And the outro for that matter.
But yeah, she’s once again, more deeply, exploring what her option of staying with this person that she’s comparing to Peter would be like. The clock is a reference to this clock to the left.
And she is once again summing up, how deep down she knows the facade would fall eventually and it would be too late by then. How her partner would get bored of her (like a child, like Peter) and how she would then be trapped in a life, in a world, that she kind of accidentally was lead to choose and now can’t get out of and pretends to still want. This concept really reminds me of ‘Tolerate it’ by Taylor Swift, especially of the following lyrics:
While you were out building other worlds, where was I? / Where’s the man who’d throw blankets over my barbed wire? / I made you my temple, my mural, my sky / now I’m begging for footnotes in the story of your life / drawing hearts in the byline / always taking up too much space or time / you assume I’m fine / … / I know my love should be celebrated / but you tolerate it
Tolerate It, Taylor Swift
See what I mean? Because what I think Maisie is doing with this bridge, is using the metaphor of ‘Peter Pan’ to say that if she chose this person, she would give up her world, her life, and herself and put this person on a pedestal and they might try to do the same thing in the beginning but eventually it would turn into her always waiting for them at home and doing everything for them, living her life for them, while they would be out doing other stuff and living a life without her because they got bored of her. And she would feel stuck in this situation because maybe they already got married like she said earlier and depending on when and where this plays out a woman would be very much so trapped in a marital contract, maybe they had kids, maybe she feels trapped by the expectations of society or of her family and surroundings.
And, of course, the concept of this whole song, the way the relationship is described, reminds me of ‘History of Man’ by Maisie Peters. I’ll have to analyze that song as well, but if you listen to it or look at the lyrics, you’ll know what I mean. Actually, let me put a part of it in here:
I’ve seen it, in the poems, in the sands / I’ve pleaded, with the powers and their plans / I tried to rewrite it but I can’t / It’s the history (history), the history of man / I stay up, you’re sleeping like a lamb / I beg you and you don’t understand / I hold on, I try to hold your hand / I save you a seat, and then you say you wanna stand / So you’ll lose me, the best you’ll ever have / It’s the history, the history of man
History of Man, Maisie Peters
It seems a bit like she’s farther in the processing process (haha) in this song, than she is in ‘Wendy’. Actually, I was gonna say earlier that especially towards the end of the song ‘Wendy’ it’s like she’s trying to rewrite ‘Peter Pan’, calling the story ‘Wendy’ and making her the main character of her own story. There’s lots of parallels between History of Man and Wendy, simply narrative-wise. And of course both songs are written brilliantly.
You could take me to Neverland, baby
We could live off of magic and maybes
I could love you and wait ’til you’re ready
But what about my wings? What about Wendy?So, I’ll lock the window and turn on the AC
You’ll throw your rocks, and you’ll scream that you hate me
But it gets old being forever 20
And what about my wings? What about Wendy?(What about Wendy?)
Chorus and Outro
(What about Wendy?)
(What about Wendy?)
(What about We-en-dy-y-y?)
Love a good lyric change in the chorus towards the end of a song to show the progression of the story. And the production calming down before it builds back up. And how it ends on the same question being repeated again and again, with this effect on the vocals and the stuttering in the end and the echo, how it all just keeps repeating in her head over and over as she’s trying to make a choice. Sums up the whole point of what she’s saying in this song perfectly. Great outro. Phenomenal song. If you don’t agree, go argue with the wall. If you do, welcome <3 Please comment and tell me your thoughts and interpretations!!