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Interpretations:Till My Head Falls Off

From This Might Be A Wiki

This song is a series of stories where people lose their train of thought and getting annoyed by it. One man is counting and someone else keeps bothering him so he must start over. The second is a person trying to figure out a complicated problem (Such as Einstein figuring out e=mc2) and someone else is talking and bothering them so they can't reach the solution. The third story is about someone giving a speech, but have lost their notecards, thus annoyed by this fact. This song is about annoyances that can make your head fall off.

Till My Head Falls Off is just about a guy with Obessive Compulsive Disorder. 'Nough said. (Look up OCD and you'll see his symptoms fit pretty well)



Till My Head Falls Off is a song about a very persistant person with high hopes. In the song, the person is always deep in thought causing him to not, "know where [he] put his notes." His Neurotic little obsessions like, counting and keeping track of advil, complement his personal fantasies, "clearing my throught and gripping the lectrine, i smile and face my audience, clearing his throught and smiling with his hands on the bathroom sink." The singer is very independant and requests "more respect for someone more forgetful/decrepid than yourself."


~Michael Curtin

The only item missing from the above interpretation is that the narrator is also a senior citizen - specifically one that refuses to be silenced or dismissed. All the behavior suggested in the lyrics seems to point to a cranky, forgetful miser-ish kind of character. Note: the word "forgetful" in the first bridge is often replaced with the word "decrepit" when played live. It's an old man, for sure, and the only way that idea is really disserviced is by the fact that Linnell has such a youthful voice. - Charlie Coniglio

Well, according to what I hear, he doesn't seem so "senior citizen" as "getting older." To me, the speaker sounds more over-the-hill (say, 49), but refusing to accept that he is aging and that his mind is going somewhat. He seems like he's trying to prepare an image that might impress an old friend or an admirer he hasn't met recently. A scenario that has occured to me is that he could be participating in a convention honoring his past achievements, or giving a graduation speech to a large graduating class at a college, explaining his last moment of primping and inventory-checking in the bathroom.

~Smilton

The song is about suicide, which I know, is a little odd for a band l tmbg, however they manage to wrap their playful and charming wit and tune around the delicate subject that it's hard to tell what they are refering to if you are only passivley listening.

"There were eighty-seven Advil in the bottle now there's thirty left I ate fourty-seven so what happened to the other ten? Why do you suspiciously change the subject and break my concentration As I dump the bottle out and I count the Advil up again?"

He's trying to kill himself with advil and has a sneaking suspicioun someone is trying to sabotage his morbid plan.

"Don't interrupt me as I struggle to complete this thought Have some respect for someone more forgetful than yourself

And I'm not done And I won't be till my head falls off"

He wont stop until hes dead.

"Hitting every pocket on my shirt, pants and overcoat And I'm hitting them again but I don't know where I put my notes"


Referenceing a suicide note that he seemed to misplace.

"Clearing my throat, and gripping the lectern I smile and face my audience Clearing his throat and smiling with his hands on the bathroom sink"

Looking at himself in the bathroom mirror.

"And when I lean my head against the frosted shower stall I see a broken figure silhouetted on the wall"

Another reference to a bathroom, which again shows that this whole song likely takes place within one."

-Michael Edward Willenzik III

I feel that this song is just about a nervous guy getting ready to give a speech


"There were eighty-seven Advil in the bottle now there's thirty left
I ate forty-seven so what happened to the other ten?
Why do you suspiciously change the subject and break my concentration
As I dump the bottle out and I count the Advil up again?
Don't interrupt me as I struggle to complete this thought
Have some respect for someone more forgetful than yourself"

This guy is obviously stressed out because of an upcoming speech he has to do. He is using a lot of advil to numb the pain of getting up in front of a crowd. Also, he admits that he is forgetful during this stressful time, so maybe it's possible that he doesn't really know how many advil there were originally, and its just paranoia setting in.

"And I'm not done
And I won't be till my head falls off"

basically he is saying, to whomever he is laying his fears on, that "I won't let you stop me from giving this speech," but in reality it is he who is trying to prevent himself from giving the speech by letting his own inhibitions set in.

"Hitting every pocket on my shirt, pants and overcoat
And I'm hitting them again but I don't know where I put my notes
Clearing my throat, and gripping the lectern I smile and face my audience
Clearing his throat and smiling with his hands on the bathroom sink

He is practicing his speech in front of the mirror, pretending his sink is the lectern that he will have when he actually has to give his speech. the first thing he notices is that he has forgotten his notes, this goes back to the idea that his own fears are trying to prevent him from giving the speech.

"And when I lean my head against the frosted shower stall
I see stuff through the glass that I don't recognize at all""

He looks into the mirror and sees how unfamiliar his own face is looking back at him.

"I'm not done talking yet
I'm not done talking yet"

The fear comes back and tries to tell him that he must finish the speech to beat all the conspirators trying to stop him.

"And when I lean my head against the frosted shower stall
I see a broken figure silhouetted on the wall"

Finally, he looks into the mirror and sees what all this paranoia has done to him.

"And I'm not done
And I won't be till my head falls off
Though it may not be a long way off
I won't be done until my head falls off

either his fear completely consumes him, or, a lighter idea, he sees that his own fear was irrational and that the powers that be would have to kill him now to stop him from delivering the speech, and though his fears may come back inevitably killing him, he will still give his speech.

-[Calvin McMillan]

I just heard this song the other day and I love it already. =)

My theory: It's from the narration point of a very (perhaps with OCD as somebody had said earlier), very nervous person. This is displayed in his counting, he trying to find the notes he has for a public speaking affair frantically, and how he thinks he sees things in the bathroom that aren't there. Also (I'm listening to this now, I just noticed this) the fast paced tempo... you know how when people are nervous they talk fast or are shaking? Yeah, that might symbolize that, but probably now. Ok, I'm done. ^^ --Lemita 10:26, 25 Jun 2006 (MDT)

I think it's about a "Odd Couple" type living situation. His roomate uses his stuff but never tells him. When the guy is counting up his Advil his roomate interupts him so he doesn't know he used the Advil. The guy has to give a speech but because his roomate is messy he grabbed the wrong jacket. So he is in the bathroom of the speech place stressing that he grabbed the wrong jacket. Up on stage he pats himself doing the thing most people do when they forget the speech. Back at home, he is in his own bathroom and being mad he leans his head against the shower stall he sees someone he doesn't know because his roomate invited that person in. He also yells at his roomate a lot, but it is useless hence "I won't be done until my head falls off" Meaning he'll keep yelling until his head falls off.

I've always thought, as per the Johns' description of an old-timer refusing to yeild the floor, that this song might have some sub-textual significance relating to their position at the time. John Henry supposedly lost them quite a few fans (I say supposedly because I was not a fan at that time, and because I'm sure they've gained far more fans since than they lost), who accused them of being washed-up and cow-towing to the alternative music of the moment. I see this as an answer song to those complaints, in which Linell is telling us that, though they may be getting old for rock stars, They Might Be Giants are going nowhere. This, of course, is not to belie the textual meaning of the song, which most people agree is told from the POV of an OCd afflicted soul.

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