| The Alan Parsons Project – You Don't Believe Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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One of the things I have in mind is the rest of the album. Look at how many songs deal with a struggling and broken relationship. Look at where "You Don't Believe" is positioned, right between "Don't Answer Me" and "Dancing On A Highwire." It could be meaningless, but it's difficult to think so. A lot of words do seem to point at the interpretation of ARTIST VS INDUSTRY (record label), I just struggle to make it fit with the rest. I think the chorus comes from this: they say a symptom of lying is an inability to make eye contact, so when you make direct eye contact, you are telling the truth and the other party should believe you. Here he says the opposite is happening--he makes eye contact but is not believed. That's maddening. Maybe the song is about the frustration of everything going the opposite of the way it's supposed to and feeling completely out of control. The feeling of figuratively having everything taken out of your hands, and no matter what you do, it isn't good enough because some opposition "takes it away from you." I can certainly say I've felt all this in fights with my controlling, manipulative ex-wife and my later similar ex-girlfriend. I could tell her the absolute truth of what I meant or intended (or didn't) and get nowhere, and I did so not only to cool her off but to bring the situation under control (trying to be the calm, collected, rational man) but she wouldn't listen or believe and the fight and her wrath would keep going like an Energizer battery. You get that helpless, desperate feeling that says "I just can't win, no matter what I say or do," and the rest of the song seems to add up to that. An artist facing a record label could feel the same way. :-) |
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| The Alan Parsons Project – Eye In The Sky Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| I agree. Read my comment somewhere on here. I have been through relationships with women with control issues. They would make rules and conditions, and throw fits if I ever made any, because it's about who has the upper hand to them. "I am the maker of rules" is him saying he is taking ultimate control now, and "I can cheat you blind" is referring to pulling the rug out from under her before it hits her he did it. If you research psychology a bit, you will learn that the only way to take control away from a controlling person is to remove yourself from them and their influence. But please remember for yourselves, don't ever make it ABOUT having control, power, or the upper hand in the relationship; it is about having control of your own life and your own emotions without being puppeteered by master manipulators. Unfortunately, there are too many out there who make relationships about power play instead of love. | |
| The Alan Parsons Project – Eye In The Sky Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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I'm somewhat surprised to not have read what I'm about to say yet. "Eye in the sky" is commonly a metaphor for having the bigger picture vantage point. We speak of being able to see more (everything) from higher places. I agree the song is about one person in a bad relationship deciding it's time to end it, explaining why, and refusing to change his mind no matter how she pleads. I honestly believe that the deception the lyrics refer to were her claims of love, care, how important he is to her, etc. She was probably afraid of being alone, and possibly had insecurity issues with controlling behavior patterns and use of manipulation, and would say anything to keep him around. When he stayed, her true loveless colors reared their ugly face again, and he had enough and was blunt about it. He could finally see what was really going on because now he could see the big picture, see the situation from a higher place. I'm sure Parsons used 1984 as a backdrop for the album, like he said. He used other works to help with creating a theme to tie his songs together on each record. Like I Robot, but guess what? The songs on I Robot are all about human emotions and stuff he was going through, not robots. A book can help us articulate our own written work, songs included. Doesn't mean the lyric is about the book. |
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