The song lyrics were written by the band Van Halen, as they were asked to write a song for the 1979 movie "Over the Edge" starring Matt Dillon. The movie (and the lyrics, although more obliquely) are about bored, rebellious youth with nothing better to do than get into trouble. If you see the movie, these lyrics will make more sense. It's a great movie if you grew up in the 70s/80s you'll definitely remember some of these characters from your own life. Fun fact, after writing the song, Van Halen decided not to let the movie use it.
Your brain is an ever-changing kaleidoscope of moods and colours
We walk to the park, but it's melting in the dark
All of a sudden your mood changes and your face looks like a cake
Left out in the rain
Is your name MacArthur Parker?
Or is it Reba?
[Chorus:]
Detour through your mind, supersaver to your mind
We seem to float by yesterday's child
The new you, the land time forgot and a horse with no name
And all of a sudden we realize that we are no more
A key pops out of your nose, we open the door
As we go further into the gloom we chance upon a large orange room
From ear to ear, from the here and now
Who am I? Where am I going? How much will it cost?
I hear another galaxy spinning around
A flash of blinding light and we're in an elegantly appointed doctor's office
It seems that doctor Aron Butterfly wants to dip us in plaster
$16,000! and all he wanted to do was dip us in plaster!
We say to the doctor, "No, please, no!"
And then we get the doctor's bill, what a shock!
[Chorus]
Who am I? Where have I been? Where am I going? Do I need any luggage?
I need to leave my past behind.
We walk to the park, but it's melting in the dark
All of a sudden your mood changes and your face looks like a cake
Left out in the rain
Is your name MacArthur Parker?
Or is it Reba?
[Chorus:]
Detour through your mind, supersaver to your mind
We seem to float by yesterday's child
The new you, the land time forgot and a horse with no name
And all of a sudden we realize that we are no more
A key pops out of your nose, we open the door
As we go further into the gloom we chance upon a large orange room
From ear to ear, from the here and now
Who am I? Where am I going? How much will it cost?
I hear another galaxy spinning around
A flash of blinding light and we're in an elegantly appointed doctor's office
It seems that doctor Aron Butterfly wants to dip us in plaster
$16,000! and all he wanted to do was dip us in plaster!
We say to the doctor, "No, please, no!"
And then we get the doctor's bill, what a shock!
[Chorus]
Who am I? Where have I been? Where am I going? Do I need any luggage?
I need to leave my past behind.
Lyrics submitted by Ice, edited by DanVitaleRocks
Detour Thru Your Mind Lyrics as written by Fred Schneider Kate Pierson
Lyrics © Sentric Music, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Light Up The Sky
Van Halen
Van Halen
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Magical
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
Blue
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
Head > Heels
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Head > Heels” is a track that aims to capture what it feels like to experience romance that exceeds expectations. Ed Sheeran dedicates his album outro to a lover who has blessed him with a unique experience that he seeks to describe through the song’s nuanced lyrics.
This initially comes off as a pastiche of late-1960s pop music references--the description of the park as "melting in the dark" and the question, "Is your name MacArthur Parker?" are in reference to the 1968 string-drenched hit of the same name; the "horse with no mane" is a clear reference to the America hit, "Horse With No Name"; "Dr. Aaron Butterfly" is most likely a play on "Iron Butterfly," and even the backmasked message "I buried my parakeet in the backyard" seems like an oblique reference to the alleged backmasked message at the end of "Strawberry Fields Forever" which has John intoning, "I buried Paul." The rest of the song probably contains more late-60s pop-culture references, though I can't make them out. The last line, "I need to leave my past behind," casts the song in an interesting light; the song could be interpreted, based on this line, as a paean/elegy for the band members' (possibly just Fred's) nostalgia for the late 1960s, during which time the band members would have all been between the ages of 10-15 and thus deeply impressionable, especially as consumers of pop culture.