Excuses by AP Dhillon Explained

You’re the one who gave me false hopes
When someone else breaks your heart, you’ll know

The song starts off with AP addressing the girl who broke his heart. He tells her that all her words were empty promises. And that she’ll realise how much it hurt him when someone else does to her what she did to him.

Vocabulary:
• Laare (लारे) – promises (usually fake) ↩︎

Carrying on with my broken heart
What even is the point
Grazed cattle for 12 years
I even left my home behind
This stanza is an ode to Punjabi folk story of Heer and Ranjha by Waris Shah. Ranjha grazed cattle for Heer’s father for years because he wanted to be close to her. Heer was eventually married off to another man and so, heartbroken, Ranjha joined a group of ascetics. Takht Hazara is the name of the village that Ranjha originally belonged to. “Leaving Takht Hazara” is often used as an allegory for leaving everything behind.
Vocabulary:
• Saambhi (सांभी): To take care of (akin to सम्भालना in Hindi)
• Muttiyar (मुट्टियार): A young lass ↩︎

I kept thinking of you with each breath
When someone does to you, what you did to me, you’ll know
Fairly self-explanatory. I like how AP tends to evoke the same imagery through different metaphors. ↩︎

You’d ask me to get the moon and stars for you
When you see me in those stars now and think of me, you’ll know
Gurinder Gill steps in now with a great little metaphor. Talking about “building roads to the moon” and “bringing the stars down”, he says that he did or was ready to do the impossible for her. Yet she broke his heart. So he ends with what sounds like a curse - that when you realise your folly and you miss me, you’ll look at the stars and think of me, that’s when you’ll know how you hurt me.
Vocabulary:
• Chann (चन्न): Moon
• Hethan (हेठां): Below, down
• Laahde (लाह दे): Bring something down ↩︎

You did not appreciate the things I did for you
I built a palace in my heart for you
These lines are entirely metaphorical. AP sings that he built a palace for the girl in his heart. He decorated that palace with pearls he plucked from fragrant flowers. That is, he did some real romantic stuff for the girl. ↩︎

Oh how you’ve left me
When someone else leaves you, you’ll know
Again, same idea, new metaphor.
Vocabulary:
• Alharhe (अलह्ड़े): Girl (usually a lover) ↩︎

I am lost in the ways of love
I bore people’s taunts with a smile
You kicked and stomped over my heart
When someone does it to your emotions, you’ll know
And to bring it home, we have two more metaphors for the same idea. The first two lines seem like an ode to Ranjha again. He became an ascetic and people mocked him for giving up his life, all for Heer’s love. But he continued undeterred. ↩︎