#folklore trilogy

I have no idea why I've never seen anyone else say this when there's so much evidence. I'll start with willow, which to me is so clearly from the perspective of august in a scenario where James gets back with her instead.

"Wherever you stray I follow. I'm begging for you to take my hand, wreck my plans" sounds exactly like "cancel plans just in case you'd call and say 'meet me behind the mall'" in august

"Head on the pillow, I could feel you sneaking in", "Wait for the signal and I'll meet you after dark" willow details a secret relationship, just like the relationship in august.

"Like you were a trophy or a champion ring, there was one prize I'd cheat to win" August and James were literally cheating (no shade to August, of course)

"I never would've known from the look on your face, lost in your current like a priceless... wine" The correct rhyme would have been face, and I've always noticed how jarring the word 'wine' is in the song. I think this is intentional, to reference the line "august sipped away like a bottle of wine" that's repeated in the song august. That same line also emphasizes the uncertainty and confusion of the relationship in august.

"You know that my train could take you home, anywhere else is hollow" In the song cardigan, Betty sings about James "stepping on the last train", a.k.a. choosing August over her, and in this song, the narrator's relationship with her muse is also compared to a train taking their muse away.

"Life was a willow and it bent right to your wind, they count me out time and time again... but I come back stronger than a 90s trend" No-one except August took this relationship seriously initially, with James calling it a "summer thing", and Betty saying she knew it wouldn't last. Despite this, the song shows that James did get back together with August eventually.

As for this is me trying, the song is obviously from James' perspective while on their way to apologize to Betty, with the bridge from Betty's perspective:

"It's hard to be at a party when I feel like an open wound" This line (in the bridge) is from Betty's perspective, and James goes to Betty's PARTY to apologize. Betty also compared her pain to an open wound in cardigan, "you drew stars around my scars, but now I'm bleeding", "marked me like a bloodstain"

"I didn't know if you'd care if I came back, I have a lot of regrets about that" The speaker in the first verse is someone returning to someone they left, with a lot of regrets, just like in Betty

"Maybe I don't know quite what to say, but I'm here in your doorway, and I just wanted you to know that this is me trying" We know James apologizes at Betty's door, "I'm here on your doorstep" and is confused about how to save the relationship, "I don't know anything, but I know I miss you".

"Fell behind all my classmates and I ended up here" Though I do feel that this second verse could be from the perspective of a third person (August? Inez? Who knows), it does establish a school setting, quite possibly a high school setting.

"It's hard to be anywhere these days when all I want is you" Also from the bridge (a.k.a. Betty's perspective), and we know that Betty wanted James back, and took them back, because she was in so much pain over James leaving.

Betty: in the garden would you trust me if I told you it was just a summer thing?

August: so much for summer love and saying "us"

-

August: remember when I pulled up and said, "get in the car", and then canceled my plans just in case you'd call?

Betty: she said "James, get in, let's drive", those days turned into nights

-

Cardigan: chase two girls, lose the one

August: you weren't mine to lose, no

-

Betty: kissin' in my car again, stopped at a streetlight

Cardigan: but I knew you dancin' in your Levi's, drunk under a streetlight // to kiss in cars and downtown bars was all we needed

August: wanting was enough, for me, it was enough

-

Betty: but I know I miss you

Cardigan: I knew you'd miss me once the thrill expired

-

Betty: will you love me? will you kiss me on the porch in front of all your stupid friends?

Cardigan: and you'd be standin' in my front porch light, and I knew you'd come back to me

-

Cardigan: and when I felt like I was an old cardigan under someone's bed, you put me on and said I was your favorite

Betty: standing in your cardigan

-

Betty: I’m only 17, I don’t know anything

Cardigan: when you are young they assume you know nothing // but I knew everything when I was young

Made this for folklore’s birthday :DD