Interpretations:Part Of You Wants To Believe Me

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Possibly satarizing the "cryptic" lyrics of TMBG

What you hear is what it means, and what it means is up to you. Perhaps it's profound, perhaps it's balderdash. AnaNgInASpaceSuit (talk) 18:30, 11 October 2021 (EDT)

I like this interpretation. The tiny voices are us - we keep discussing and objecting each other's interpretations of these songs but ultimately it leads nowhere. Meanwhile somewhere else, something else is nodding its head and just enjoying the song for what it is. Giants Boi (talk) 13:20, 12 November 2021 (EST)

Someone trying not to be understood

I think this song is saying the person wants to be misunderstood, like in the line:

What I said was the thing that I meant

I think this confirms it.

My first thoughts from the name of this song suggested it would be another Linnell song about a Jerky Boyfriend, I was sort of right

Oh my gosh, I just realized that the lyrics are similar to unrelated thing!

"I wasn't joking and I meant the thing I said" 

is like

What I said was the thing that I meant

--jimmyZenShinsThreeHundred11 (talk)

Having to lie to a suspicious parent

The lyrics seem to suggesting having to lie to a parent or some other important figure who tends to be angry at the narrator partly because of meds, and partly because the narrator needs to hide a part of their identity that the parent doesn't approve of. The narrator was retelling an experience or event that they had, but is being forced to change aspects of the story, out of fear. That fear could stem from anything, from a relationship they're not quite ready to go public about, or being forced to hide a gay or trans identity. (It's important to note that the narrator is an unreliable one, and is suspicious of the parent)

In this specific instance, the narrator misspeaks about an experience, raising suspicions in the disapproving adult (something totally making no sense). They are immediately reminded of why they must lie, as the parent is still in the dark about the truth, and that they cannot really say what's happened (tiny voices devoid of air). These thoughts, of course, are only known to the narrator, and not to the parent. The narrator then correct themselves (correctly misstating what they actually wish they could say), allowing the parent to make 'sense' of the event. 'Something else' recognizes the immediate issue (the noise) and makes up a lie that would make sense for the parent.

The narrator suspects that the parent knows they are hiding something, but isn't quite sure of what. and that the parent could be wrong (only part of the parent wants to believe). Encrypted notes could be 'evidence' the parent 'found' is using to figure out the truth (though they are probably making some big leaps in logic). This evidence might not even be a part of either person's lives- the books the 'evidence' is found within are unread (not used by the narrator, or even parent). In other words, the 'evidence' is pulled out of thin air and contains no real truth.

TL;DR narrator is paranoid about having to hide personal information from a parent or other important figure. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 104.58.112.242 (talk) 23:56, October 13, 2021

Miscommunication

I'm not sure if this interpretation fits the whole song, but I at least wanted to point out some parts that I think could be talking about miscommunication! In general, I feel like the song could be about where two people are trying to understand each other, but things often get lost in translation or they both sort of have different ways of perceiving what the other is saying. They still try to make sense of what the other is saying, and maybe some things connect and maybe some things don't.

I think that the title of the song maybe doesn't connect as well with this interpretation, because belief doesn't necessarily relate to understanding or misunderstanding - when talking about "part of you wants to believe me". When I initially listened to the song, actually, I think I took it - both this and the next line, "but part of you isn't yet totally off of your meds" in reference to confusion in general. Part of you wants to believe the person your talking to in what they're saying, or follow along with what you're saying - but 'part of you isn't yet totally off of your meds', either meaning that the person could be making sense and you're not understanding them OR maybe you shouldn't be believing them, and your meds are making your more susceptible to believing what they're saying. I know, that's confusing to read - but again, I'm talking about confusion here and misunderstanding, or gaps in one person's understanding of another person.

Another lyric that stuck out to me that I really loved the visual of (as Linnell is with his sometimes super visual lyrics) was the line of "Index fingers raised in objection, making circles that lead nowhere". I don't know if this was as obvious a visual for other people as it was for me - but I thought of this motion as, y'know - when someone raises their finger in objection - but then the person circles their finger, almost in a kind of indecisive, "hmmmmm....." kind of way as if the original objection or idea is not as clear to them anymore, or they're withdrawing from their original assertiveness on a matter. This lends to the idea of two people communicating again and an awkward stop in understanding again, where one person was about to make an objection but even then kind of doesn't understand what they were about to say, or if what they were about to say would make sense/be the right thing to say.

I'll make reference to one more lyric because this is getting kinda lengthy now - I always ramble when I type haha. the lyric "somewhere else, something else, hears the noise and nods its head" made me think of some sort of distant part in the back of your brain, or some indistinguishable - maybe even trivial thing or part of yourself sort of perks up inside you in agreement with what someone else is saying. But the "somewhere, something"-ness of this thing- the faraway-ness of it, sort of feels like this agreeableness is more absentminded. This is like the times all of us have had when we're listening to someone and, again, trying to follow along - nodding kind of absentmindedly because you're just barely following along and trying to seem like you understand.

Anyways, hope some of this made sense, maybe you guys are partially trying to believe my interpretation but it's really, totally making no sense.

-Inconspicuous_Traveler

People have seen tiny voices trapped in a hothouse

they finally trapped the elves from Helicopters Of Elves, in hothouses, which are without windows and devoid of air, they cannot escape, out from the hothouses --⇂⇂↋ suᴉɥsuǝZ ʎɯɯᴉᒋ (talk) 07:18, 17 November 2021 (EST)

Schizophrenia or maybe some other form of mental illness

This may be a stupid interpretation, but the first 2 lines is what makes me believe this is what the sing is about.

Part of you wants to believe me, But part of you isn't yet totally off of your meds

and then later on in the song

Tiny voices trapped in a hothouse

Maybe the singer is describing voices in their head.

Some encrypted notes are discovered

This probably sounds dumb but it reminds me of the "Beautiful Mind" movie.

Desperately latching onto a promise of excitement/mystery

Here's my personal interpretation: the listener (the "you" of the song) has been told some far-fetched tale by the narrator, something that makes the world seem more exciting and interesting, and even though they really want to believe it, the rational part of their mind - the part that "isn't yet totally off of [their] meds" - has to admit that it's "totally making no sense".

 Maybe I didn't correctly misstate all the things
 That I thought I said I never said
 Maybe the wires got uncrossed and instead
 What I said was the thing that I meant

The narrator is being cryptic and confusing on purpose - possibly to help the listener maintain the fantasy they're building in their mind, possibly to deceive the listener for some reason, or maybe just for fun.

 Some encrypted notes are discovered
 Between pages of unread books
 When unscrambled, all that they say is
 "Em dash framed by quotation marks"

The listener (I assume) has somehow "discovered" that there's a secret message in some random unremarkable books. But when they try to decipher it, all they get is a random jumble of punctuation - there was never any actual message.

Alternatively: there is a secret message, and it's literally "—". The message is that the message is blank.

 Somewhere else, something else
 Hears the noise and nods its head
 From immense distances

I think this part serves as a bit of an ironic twist: unbeknownst to the listener, there actually is some mysterious entity watching them from far away and nodding with approval - just the kind of intrigue this person so desires.

EmanresU (talk) 22:27, 22 November 2022 (EST)