I sit alone in my four-cornered room staring at candles
Oh that shit is on?
Let me drop some shit like this here, real smooth

At night I can't sleep, I toss and turn
Candlesticks in the dark, visions of bodies being burned
Four walls just staring at a nigga
I'm paranoid, sleeping with my finger on the trigger
My mother's always stressin' I ain't living right
But I ain't goin' out without a fight
See, every time my eyes close
I start sweating and blood starts coming out my nose
It's somebody watching the Ak'
But I don't know who it is so I'm watching my back
I can see him when I'm deep in the covers
When I awake I don't see the motherfucker
He owns a black hat like I own
A black suit and a cane like my own
Some might say take a chill, B
But fuck that shit, there's a nigga trying to kill me
I'm popping in the clip when the wind blows
Every twenty seconds got me peeping out my window
Investigating the joint for traps
Checking my telephone for taps
I'm staring at the woman on the corner
It's fucked up when your mind's playing tricks on ya

I make big money
I drive big cars
Everybody know me
It's like I'm a movie star
But late at night something ain't right
I feel I'm being tailed by the same sucker's headlights
Is it that fool that I ran off the block
Or is it that nigga last week that I shot
Or is it the one I beat for five thousand dollars
Thought he had caine but it was Gold Medal flour
Reached under my seat, grabbed my popper for the suckers
Ain't no use to me lying
I was scareder than a motherfucker
Hooked a left into Popeye's and bailed out quick
If it's going down let's get this shit over with
Here they come just like I figured
I got my hand on the motherfucking trigger
What I saw'll make your ass start giggling
Three blind, crippled and crazy senior citizens
I live by the sword
I take my boys everywhere I go because I'm paranoid
I keep looking over my shoulder and peeping around corners
My mind is playing tricks on me

Day by day it's more impossible to cope
I feel like I'm the one that's doing dope
Can't keep a steady hand because I'm nervous
Every Sunday morning I'm in service
Praying for forgiveness
And trying to find an exit out the business
I know the Lord is lookin' at me
But yet and still it's hard for me to feel happy
I often drift when I drive
Having fatal thoughts of suicide
Bang and get it over with
And then I'm worry-free, but that's bullshit
I got a little boy to look after
And if I died then my child would be a bastard
I had a woman down with me
But to me it seemed like she was down to get me
She helped me out in this shit
But to me she was just another bitch
Now she's back with her mother
Now I'm realizing that I love her
Now I'm feeling lonely
My mind is playing tricks on me

This year Halloween fell on a weekend
Me and Geto Boys are trick-or-treating
Robbing little kids for bags
'Til a old man got behind our ass
So we speeded up the pace
Took a look back and he was right before our face
He'd be in for a squabble no doubt
So I swung and hit the nigga in his mouth
He was going down we figured
But this wasn't no ordinary nigga
He stood about six or seven feet
Now that's the nigga I'd be seeing in my sleep
So we triple-teamed on him
Dropping them motherfucking B's on him
The more I swung, the more blood flew
Then he disappeared and my boys disappeared too
Then I felt just like a fiend
It wasn't even close to Halloween
It was dark as fuck on the streets
My hands were all bloody, from punching on the concrete
Goddamn, homie
My mind is playing tricks on me

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Lyrics submitted by Shaun2oo3, edited by Mellow_Harsher

Mind Playing Tricks on Me Lyrics as written by Joseph Johnson Isaac Hayes

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Warner Chappell Music, Inc.

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Mind Playing Tricks On Me song meanings

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General Comment
I can see that perhaps the narrative is from the perspective of a dealer who has started snorting his profits (and he's in deep guano now), which doubtless could bring on such paranoia. But then again there could be a million reasons a dealer/gangster/whatever would be paranoid and anxious. The Geto Boys don't say, and that's smart. The best way to ruin any character is to get too much into "the story behind it all."

While this whole song kicks fucking ass, the first and last verses stand out to me. Consider the first verse. It all takes place in the consciousness of the speaker while he's "staring at a woman on the corner." He's lying awake at night, all alone, and he's confronted with the gravity of his own being. Like whenever you're a child and you were put to bed early, and it was dark and you tried to make yourself go to sleep, but you can never do that. It is inescapable and horrible insomnia. That is what this character (as well as Richard III and Macbeth, I might add) experience.

More generally, this song isn't about addiction as such. It just isn't. That might play a part in it, but there is something far deeper at work. It's about a gangster (or three different ones - the fourth is a Geto Boy, I assume) who is coming to terms with his lifestyle. All the people he's beat the shit out of ("thought he had cane, but it was Gold Medal flour"), killed, or left (the woman who he realizes he loves). And the narrator knows he is more and more alone, with more and more enemies each day. I don't know much about this lifestyle. But the Geto Boys have, intentionally or otherwise, incorporated the philosophies of Emmanuel Levinas and Henri Bergson, as well as the stunning psychological realism of Shakespearean tragedy.

So, to me, this song is the major esthetic achievement of rap, and indeed, songwriting in general. The beat is sick. The narrative is amazing. Nuff said.

I can see that perhaps the narrative is from the perspective of a dealer who has started snorting his profits (and he's in deep guano now), which doubtless could bring on such paranoia. But then again there could be a million reasons a dealer/gangster/whatever would be paranoid and anxious. The Geto Boys don't say, and that's smart. The best way to ruin any character is to get too much into "the story behind it all." While this whole song kicks fucking ass, the first and last verses stand out to me. Consider the first verse. It all takes place in the consciousness of the speaker while he's "staring at a woman on the corner." He's lying awake at night, all alone, and he's confronted with the gravity of his own being. Like whenever you're a child and you were put to bed early, and it was dark and you tried to make yourself go to sleep, but you can never do that. It is inescapable and horrible insomnia. That is what this character (as well as Richard III and Macbeth, I might add) experience. More generally, this song isn't about addiction as such. It just isn't. That might play a part in it, but there is something far deeper at work. It's about a gangster (or three different ones - the fourth is a Geto Boy, I assume) who is coming to terms with his lifestyle. All the people he's beat the shit out of ("thought he had cane, but it was Gold Medal flour"), killed, or left (the woman who he realizes he loves). And the narrator knows he is more and more alone, with more and more enemies each day. I don't know much about this lifestyle. But the Geto Boys have, intentionally or otherwise, incorporated the philosophies of Emmanuel Levinas and Henri Bergson, as well as the stunning psychological realism of Shakespearean tragedy. So, to me, this song is the major esthetic achievement of rap, and indeed, songwriting in general. The beat is sick. The narrative is amazing. Nuff said.

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RKLengon February 13, 2008 Link
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