How will I ever know you enough to love you
If you're hiding who you are?
Don't ask me to explain.
Who are you hiding you from,
Across the table with a penny in each eye?
Don't ask me to explain.

I'd like to marry all of my close friends,
And live in a big house together by an angry sea.
Am I the devil's marbles don't move on without me
Who will be watching my body when I sleep?
Who will I believe in?

How am I supposed to let it show when I don't even know?
Don't ask me to explain.
Besides, I don't want to be the one whose coming out first,
I'd really like to but I'm just too shy.
Don't ask me to explain.

I'd want to marry all of my close friends,
And live in a big house together by an angry sea.
Am I the devil's marbles don't move on without me
Who will be watching my body when I sleep?
Who will I believe in?

It's so easy to lie to myself
And pretend that I could love you but I can't


Lyrics submitted by gleebs

Don't Ask Me to Explain Lyrics as written by Kevin Barnes

Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

Don't Ask Me to Explain song meanings
Add Your Thoughts

14 Comments

sort form View by:
  • +2
    My Interpretation

    It's so easy to lie to myself And pretend that I could love you But I can't

    This song is spot-on homosex love the way I'm seeing it. It's all about not accepting yourself and not wanting to explain... an explanation would force him to accept whatever confusion is going on. The angry sea stays outside the comfy house this way.. If he marries all of his close friends, he can be gay without being gay, yet he'd never be intimate with who he wants, thus the saddening "who will be watching my body when I sleep/who will i believe in?" It's also expressing responsibility. "How will I ever know you enough to love you/if you're hiding who you are?" If he never gets over the shyness, isn't ready to come out, lalala, he can't blame anyone else for not finding love. Pretending to love the people you can't love gets you pretty much nowhere real.

    repudiatedmortalon November 30, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    this, to me, is about loving someone, but being unsure of whether or not the person really reciprocates the feelings or not. the person happens to be of the same sex, which complicates things further. both people are "in the closet" so to speak, and so he doesn't want to be the one coming out first, but he doesn't want to bring up the subject with the other person for fear they aren't really feeling the same way.

    "who are you hiding you from across the table with a penny in each eye?"

    this means to me that the person won't actually come out and say anything, but all the same the narrator has strong feelings that the person feels SOMETHING, because he can see it in the person's eyes(2 pennies = 2 cents, 2 cents = someone's thoughts on something)since the eyes ARE the windows to the soul... so he's wondering why the person bothers to hide things when it's so obvious how he feels.

    "it's so easy to lie to myself and pretend that i could love you but i can't,"

    this says to me that if the other guy won't hurry up and admit his feelings and be HONEST about everything, they'll never have a chance to be together, regardless of how they both might feel, because if the guy won't even try, there's nothing the narrator can do to make things work.<p><b><i>Edited by delial on May 28 2008, at 03:12AM</i></b></p>

    delialon July 31, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    i think the person above me is on the right track but i don't think it's necessarily about people of the same sex, just two people who are unsure of the other person's feelings and don't want to be the first to say something.

    perintasticon March 04, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Yeah, don't go to songmeanings.net and try to explain your interpretation of the meaning of the song.

    I mean, that would be completely ridiculous, and pretentious. Right, smokeychamplain?

    blueoftheskyon November 01, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    good call he's definitely talking about explaining to someone how he feels...not explaining the lyrics of the song he's singing. but sure.

    hey-lushon November 02, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Such a sweet song. It describes my situation perfectly. I like a guy, but I'm afraid to tell him how I feel, and I don't know how he feels, because he's very mysterious and hides his true feelings. And I can't tell him how I feel, because I don't even know anymore. But I don't want him to go off with other girls/guys, because then who will I belive in? Plus, my best friends and I like to pretend we're in a giant polygamist organisations. We do meetings and everything.

    TerroristCakeson August 08, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    i think this song is about a friend of mine lol no seriously

    elderlymechanicon August 11, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    SO BEYOND AWESOME.

    schizometricon August 30, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    SO BEYOND AWESOME.

    schizometricon August 30, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I am feeling exactly like this, have been for the past two years. Been in love with a boy who's out in Iowa in college now, and I think I'm going to send him a love letter soon...

    sirsquilliumon September 08, 2007   Link

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

Album art
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
Album art
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988. "'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it." "There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
Album art
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988. "'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it." "There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
Album art
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version. Great version of a great song,
Album art
Amazing
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran tells a story of unsuccessfully trying to feel “Amazing.” This track is about the being weighed down by emotional stress despite valiant attempts to find some positivity in the situation. This track was written by Ed Sheeran from the perspective of his friend. From the track, we see this person fall deeper into the negative thoughts and slide further down the path of mental torment with every lyric.