Interpretations:I Can't Hide From My Mind

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Doubt and duality

Seems to be a song about doubt and duality, a familiar Flansy theme, and in that it could be a twin to Apollo 18's My Evil Twin. Musically it is very much in the vein of Another First Kiss (mink car version), with Flans using his pretty pretty voice. Flans bows out of the Spine on a high, even if the song is about a low. (Mr Tuck) 06:55, July 10, 2004

Must be a song just for me then! --My Evil Twin's Twin 12:55, August 21, 2004

Interpretation 2

The first verse is quite humorous (especially as performed in 2003's Gigantic), with Flansburgh staging a "police standoff" with his own brain. But in the second verse and bridge, the song goes somewhere rather dark; by revisiting and expanding upon this song, he has turned what could've been a cheeky exercise in smarty-pants wordplay into something very melancholy and vulnerable. I think this is his best song on the album and possibly one of his best songs ever - an elegant, classy album-closer on a par with his own "Road Movie To Berlin" (Flood), as well as Linnell's "Kiss Me, Son of God" (Lincoln) and "End of the Tour" (John Henry). --GR 01:54, September 5, 2004

Interpretation 3

This song is actually about me and the time I went crazy. It was like my brain was finally coming to bear on the one part that didn't really make sense. I'm All Logical now, All Over. --HearingAid 01:26, March 27, 2007

Interpretation 4

I can't help but relate him saying "I can't hide from my mind" somewhat to when someone says "I'm losing my mind." In this case, he would be saying that as much as he tries to lose his mind and hide away from it, he feels like he can't. Perhaps he's overconfident about his sanity? He isn't able to lose his mind, even though it feels like he's trying to all the time. I'm not completely sure why he'd be saying "and you know why" after he says he can't hide from his mind each time. It sort of seems like he is pretty sure he knows why he wouldn't be able to lose it, but isn't able to come up with exact reasons, so just sort of dismisses any doubts by telling himself (and perhaps even anyone else) that they should know, and it should probably be apparent why he can't hide from his mind. It happens to lend itself better to song, though, too, of course.. rather than giving a long-winded explanation.. but it feels like it works.

It does sound like he is able to hide from his mind, at which point, he surrounds the building, knows his mind is in there, and is telling it to come out like in a police standoff. I'm neither convinced that it ever comes out, nor that he ever goes in after it.

Also makes sense with the part where he's running against the traffic to find where he lost it. Also assuming that he's sticking with personifying it.. having it calling out to him from the buildings. I think he knows it's in one of the buildings, but he doesn't know which one. This could also be why he'd be so unsure when he starts yelling at random buildings, telling his mind that he just -knows- that it's in there, when it likely may not be at all adding much more unlikeliness to it coming out.

He also know that his mind is basically him, more or less, so he's trying to tell himself that he needs to come out with both his hands up. No doubt that this adds more to his frustration when it just feels like he isn't listening to himself.

Having bars in his eyes, in this case, could be references to feeling trapped in an asylum. The way he sort of talks to himself makes the kissing part a little hard for me to interpret in this manner. I think it's quite possible that kisses could make him or those he kisses cry, but keeping in theme with him mostly talking about/with himself, I'm inclined to think he's telling himself that kisses do this to him. Same with the smiles. I can't help but wonder if he means others' smiles turned out misleading or if his own smiles were misleading to the fact that he wasn't as well as he thought he was, though the latter makes more sense to me for the same reasons as the kisses. Memory's being a lie seems like it could be directly referencing the fact that he thought he couldn't hide from his mind, when he was able to in the end.

That's all I have. I feel I should thank someone at work for making me inadvertently think of this way of interpreting the song. She said she was losing her mind, and all I could think of was jokingly asking her how she managed to lose it.. "I can't hide from mind." —Preceding unsigned comment added by Vulond (talk • contribs) 18:47, January 31, 2010

Interpretation 5

I feel like the phrase "I can't hide from my mind" can be translated to "I can't stop thinking." The narrator is thinking over a broken relationship ("Running against the traffic to find where I lost you"), and can't stop thinking of his mistakes. What he's thinking of is revealed in a later verse. The first verse, (The "I've got my house surrounded...") is revisited once we know the subject matter. In that verse, the narrator is willing himself to stop his mind from racing. The "bars" referenced are the prison of his own mind; perhaps it could be thought that his thoughts keep him locked from any other thoughts. The remnants of the relationship are the "smiles turn out misleading," the false memories, and their intimate time together, that both know will end ("Kisses make you cry"). Pretty basic, really. --Lemita 04:35, 26 August 2010 (UTC)

I'd like to simplify it even further by saying: this song is about not being able to avoid thinking. No matter what you do, you'll never be able to stop thinking; even by trying not to think, you're thinking about trying not to think (there's some wicked recursion for you). Flansburgh couches the concept in clever lyrics that include a vaguely romantic metaphor, but this is what he's really getting at. --MisterMe (talk) 15:34, 6 March 2014 (EST)

Also, the song is NOT about being a creep. Seriously. --The Mayor of Cowtown (talk) 10:39, 23 November 2023 (EST)