Tom and Jerry

"Tom and Jerry" is about an on-and-off relationship with someone who keeps pulling the narrator back in. The narrator says they can never catch this person and that the back-and-forth will never end. They feel used: the other person wants them only when it suits them, or when someone else is in the picture. The chorus is a conditional promise. If this person ever really shows up, the narrator will run away with them, but the narrator doubts they will, so the promise sounds more like a wish than a plan.

The mood moves from weary resignation to sharper hurt and then to a kind of bittersweet playfulness. The second verse questions why the two of them can't just talk honestly, and the third pushes the person to choose between the narrator and their current partner. The final verse turns into a flirtatious game of hide and seek, which shows how the narrator is both annoyed by and drawn to the cycle. The outro repeats the idea of meeting on the other side, suggesting that the two may only be reunited in some other place or time, or that the relationship is doomed to keep repeating.

The key images are the "badge" and "scar," which suggest that this person is both a source of pride and a permanent wound. The "daggers" thrown at the camera describe a hostile, wounding look. The title itself points to the cartoon chase between Tom and Jerry, a pair who keep chasing and hurting each other but can't separate. The song's central idea is that the narrator knows the pattern is unhealthy and still keeps coming back.