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Interpretations:Sensurround

From This Might Be A Wiki

This is the lament of a deformed child. According to him, his deformity came from the vibrations from the movie his mother watched while unknowingly pregnant ("If Mom had known she was expectant, she might've gone to see Jaws / Instead of picking the one where the sound effects came right up through the floor / And I'd be differently formed")

Sensurround is the combination of senses a baby feels, not as distinct entities but as one combination sense. The sight, sound, smells, feelings, tastes, and knowledge are all combined into one "Sensurround". The movie overflooded his senses, and thus became deformed.

I would disagree about the idea that the singer is deformed. If he was, the the lyric would be "I'd be properly formed" instead of "I'd differently formed". It fits right in.-deathgecko
actually, sensurround is a movie term... It was a novely, like 3-D was but it dealt with sound... It consisted of a speaker (woofer) that played such a low tone that it couldn't be heard. But it supposedly could be felt as it vibrated your sternum
Note the line "I still don't know who conceived it" and the "If I could swim under the water" verse play off the "memory from the womb" theme of the song.

As for the Sensurround gimic itself - my brief research shows that there were reports of it cracking ribs and sternums. Sensible to the sternum, indeed. Also, there were only four films released using the effect - Earthquake (1974), Midway (1976), Rollercoaster (1977), and the theatrical release of Battlestar Galactica (1979). The "To shake the world when it should" line evokes an earthquake, though could probably be applied to any of the films. Slightly deeper research shows the closest any of these films' relases dates came to Jaws or Jaws II in the US was Galactica, which came out in May, 1979 three months before Jaws' re-release.

Given the proclivity of the giants to be so creative, and thus not limited to using real words as the rest of us are, I've always thought the lyric was "Sense-able to ear and sternum", meaning one could sense it not only by hearing it, but by feeling it in your chest. -BigJohn

Ditto that -- this was always my interpretation as well. -Veloso

The first definition of Sensible is usually something like "Perceptible by the senses or by the mind" - the word is still used in this way, it's not utterly archaic or anything. From this meaning came the idea of acting with an awareness of what's going on around you, and thence to "acting sensibly", the sense with which we're most familiar. I think TMBG probably just read a lot, and know stuff about words. - Viveka


--- What's the coal mine part about?

---

The lyric on the SEXXY EP is "Sensible to hidden sternum" and not "Sensible to ear and sternum."

~Christina Miller, May 2006

The Steelhead Coal Mine disaster occurred in July of 1975, at the same time that Jaws was first released. The Johns were in their teens for the events discussed in the song, so I don't think it is autobiographical.

Don't forget that a key line in this song is "and the world first spoke to me in SenSurround"- the story about how the narrator's mom went to see a movie where sensurround was being used tells us that it was the first time he heard something outside of his mom's womb. As for the whole "differently formed" part of the song, i don't suspect that the narrator is literally deformed. When decoding Linnell's lyrics, you have to remember to keep an open mind- the "differently formed" part just means that if it weren't for sensurround, his senses would have developed differently. Maybe he's trying to tell us it's a GOOD thing that he was exposed to something sensible to ear and sturnum at such an early age. When I think of this song, I think of a boy who developed an ear for music because his senses were triggered while he was still in the womb. His strong senses could be a Linnell metaphor for the way he views the world differently-more beautifully- because he uses all of his senses to view it. This appreciation of the world on a level that only the narrator can understand would definitely set the bright tone that the song reflects. The song's about the beauty of life, and how something as unnatural as a cheesy 70s movie theater effect could make something as big as life seem so wonderful- at least that's what I've always thought. Anyone care to comment? -Mike

This is a song about babies and the mythical baby mind, like No Answer. TMBG can never go wrong with songs about babies. More songs about babies! More songs about babies! Songs about children they are really good at too. More songs about children and babies, TMBG!

Please get help! --Nehushtan 17:50, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

I've convinced myself that the final verse concerns the narrator's anticipation of 'being born'. As mentioned previously, "If I could swim under the water/Without having to breathe" refers to being in the womb. To me, following "the trail to the ocean floor" indicates navigating through the birth canal and out into the world. The final line, of course, reveals what awaits him: "I think I know what there'd be/Down there waiting for me/SenSurround". --Salt-Man Z 17:16, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

I agree, but i thinkl its more l8ike a babay only being able to recognize sensurround, and thinking that that is how the whole world is, like, the world itself is sensurround

Before I read the wiki, I thought the line was "And I'd be differently flawed."

Either way, I don't think the narrator is saying he's a worse person for his pre-birth experience, or even a better person. Just different. From an early age, something mundane influenced him in a unique way.

(If his mother had seen Jaws, would he be scared of violins?)

I really like this song, and I think I've come to realise why.

It's about awakening to your inner geekiness.

Sort of like The Statue Got Me High, the narrator sees something that deeply changes him inside. The image of him being in his mother's womb and the line "And the world first spoke to me in sensurround" could be taken to mean he wasn't complete as a person and his life lacked meaning until he saw the movie and felt the sound.

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