What Does Raye’s Song ‘Ice Cream Man’ Mean & The Full Lyrics
16 April 2024, 17:26
With Raye’s performance at Coachella 2024, new fans are discovering her heartbreaking song ‘Ice Cream Man’ for the first time and they want to know the lyrics and what the song is about.
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Raye lit up the stage at Coachella 2024 and her skyrocketing success has seen an influx of new fans exploring her music discography.
One of the songs she performed at the music festival that seemed to have struck a chord with her listeners was of course, ‘Ice Cream Man’, one of the most heartbreakingly personal songs the artist has released.
‘Ice Cream Man’ was dropped in 2023 alongside 14 other songs in her album ‘My 21st Century Blues’, an album Raye fought very hard to release as it included the good, the bad and the downright ugly experiences she lived through being a part of the music industry.
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You can hear the pain and strength in Raye’s voice when you listen to ‘Ice Cream Man’, but what are the lyrics to the song and what does the song actually mean? Here’s what we know.
What is the meaning behind Raye’s song ‘Ice Cream Man’?
Raye’s song ‘Ice Cream Man’, highlights the male predatory behaviour she’s experienced throughout her life, focussing on her experience as a young woman in the music industry. I
n the first verse of the song, Raye sings about a music producer who sexually assaulted her. ‘The lyrics read /But when I got there, should've heard what he was saying / Tryna touch me, tryna f*** me, I'm not playing.’
‘I should've left that place as soon as I walked in it / How God damn dare you do that to me, really?’
Speaking to Rolling Stone, Raye revealed just how much of an emotional release this song was for her, "As a woman in and out of this industry, I’ve been through a lot of nasty, traumatic things that I bottled up, didn’t talk about, buried."
"There’s still a lot of healing that needs to take place there. For me the power really is [that] this is my way of getting to scream through the flipping microphone: ‘You know who you are and you know what you done'."
The chorus to the song comes in with the lines, ‘Til I felt his ice-cold hands / And how I pay the price now, damn,’ and acts as the glue between the stories she weaves in the song.
Despite being horrifying, her experience with the music producer was not the first time Raye experienced assault at the hands of a man.
When she sings about ‘his ice-cold hands’ it’s not just his she’s singing about, it feels symbolic of all the men who have taken liberties that were not theirs to take with women and their bodies.
‘Ice Cream Man’ was first performed on tour in 2018 but upon recording the song for her album in 2022, Raye revised some lyrics to include more of her story.
In the second verse, she sings, ‘I was seven, was 21, was 17 and was 11 / If I was ruthless they'd be in a penitentiary,’ exposing male behaviour she’s experienced her whole life.
But Raye doesn’t want ‘Ice Cream Man’ to be seen as just a sad song, it’s far more multifaceted than that.
Speaking to Apple Music, the musician said, "There are so many layers of what's taken and what's affected and changed after trauma and sexual violence.”
“So much is stolen. You battle so many minefields of, 'Is this my fault? Did I put myself in the wrong position? Am I blowing something out of proportion?' It just becomes this ugly thing that I'm having to deal with for the rest of my life because of someone else's stupid, disgusting actions.”
“And I think that, at the very least, this is me proclaiming what I am and that these things shouldn't be allowed to define what we become. It's as much for me as whoever might be listening who needs to hear it."
Raye’s strength in taking her narrative and making sure she’s in control of it comes through in the lyrics, especially in the chorus as she belts, ‘I’m a very f***ing brave, strong woman. And I’ll be damned if I let a man ruin how I walk, how I talk, how I do it.’
Raye Opens Up About Being Vulnerable On Stage
What are the lyrics to RAYE’s ‘Ice Cream Man’?
[Verse 1]
So, this producer hit me up on the DM
He told me, "Hey, I really like what you are doing"
He told me, "Come 'round to the studio, let's cook it"
He told me, "Come to catch a vibe and make some music"
But when I got there, should've heard what he was saying
Tryna touch me, tryna fuck me, I'm not playing
I should have left that place as soon as I walked in it
How goddamn dare you do that to me, really?
[Pre-Chorus]
Coming like the ice cream man
Till I felt his ice-cold hands
And how I pay the pricе now, damn
Goddamn, no, what the? Goddamn
Everything you did, it left mе in a ruin
And no, I didn't say a word, I guess that proves it
I'm a woman, oh yes
[Chorus]
'Cause I'm a woman
I'm a very fucking brave, strong woman
And I'll be damned if I let a man ruin
How I walk, how I talk, how I do it
Man, I've been broken for a moment
I've been through it, no
It's even harder to be brave alone
I was a girl, now I'm grown, I'm a woman
A very fucking strong woman
[Verse 2]
And I was seven
Was twenty-one, was seventeen and was eleven
It took a while to understand what my consent means
If I was ruthless, they'd be in the penitentiary
But all the stress of being honest wouldn't help me
I pushed it down, but it was livin' in me rent-free
And then I fell into some things that were unhealthy
A place where no one heard me asking them to help me (Help me, help me)
[Pre-Chorus]
Coming like the ice cream man
Till I felt his ice-cold hands
And how I pay the price now, damn
Goddamn
Everything you did, it left me in a ruin
And no, I didn't say a word, I guess that proves it
I'm a woman
[Chorus]
'Cause I'm a woman
I'm a very fucking brave, strong woman
And I'll be damned if I let a man ruin
How I walk, how I talk, how I do it
Man, I've been broken for a moment
I've been through it, no
It's even harder to be brave alone
I was a girl, now I'm grown, I'm a woman
A very fucking strong woman, mmm
I'm a very fucking brave, strong woman, yeah[Bridge]
I wish I could say how I feel, how I felt
And explain why I'm silently blaming myself
'Cause I put on these faces, pretending I'm fine
Then I go to the bathroom and I press rewind in my head
Always going round and round in my head
Your fingerprints stuck a stain on my skin
You made me frame myself for your sin
You pathetic, dead excuse of a man
[Outro]
Ooh, ooh
I'm a brave, strong woman
Oh, yeah, yeah, oh, oh, oh
And I'll be damned if I let a man ruin, oh
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