Down, down, down you go
No way to stop
As you fall, hear me call
No, no, no
Listen to this warning and
Consider these
Simple words of advice
Stop, stop, stop

Fogging the view, cupping face to the window
In darkness you make out a spiraling shape
Putting all reason aside you exchange
What you got for a thing that's hypnotic and strange

The spiraling shape will make you go insane
(Everyone wants to see that groovy thing)
But everyone wants to see that groovy thing
(Everyone wants to see that thing)

And nobody knows what it's really like
But everyone says it's great
And they heard it from the spiral in their eyes

This could lead to excellence
Or serious injury
Only one way to know
Go, go, go
Go ahead, wreck your life
That might be good
Who can say what's wrong or right?
Nobody can

Put out your hands and you fall through the window
And clawing at nothing you drop through the void
Your terrified screams are inaudible drowned
In the spiral ahead and consumed in the shape

The spiraling shape will make you go insane
(Everyone wants to see that groovy thing)
But everyone wants to see that groovy thing
(Everyone wants to see that thing)

And now that you've tried it, you're back to report
That the spiraling shape was a fraud and a fake
You didn't enjoy it, you never believed it
There won't be a refund, you'll never go back

The spiraling shape will make you go insane
(Everyone wants to see that groovy thing)
But everyone wants to see that groovy thing
(Everyone wants to see that thing)

And nobody knows what it's really like
But everyone says it's great
And they heard it from the spiral in their eyes
(Spiral in their eyes)

Fogging the view, cupping face to the window
In darkness you make out a spiraling shape
Putting all reason aside you exchange
What you got for a thing that's hypnotic and strange

The spiraling shape will make you go insane
(Everyone wants to see that groovy thing)
But everyone wants to see that groovy thing
(Everyone wants to see that thing)

Don't spend the rest of your life wondering
(Everyone wants to see that thing)

Don't spend the rest of your life wondering
(Everyone wants to see that groovy thing)
Don't spend the rest of your life wondering
(Everyone wants to see that thing)


Lyrics submitted by doortodoor

Spiraling Shape Lyrics as written by John Linnell John Flansburgh

Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.

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Spiraling Shape song meanings
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17 Comments

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  • -1
    General Comment

    I've heard a lot of different interpretations for this song, it's one of TMBG's most-discussed. Here's a summary of what I thought when I first heard it.

    The narrator is speaking to someone who was a "newbie" in a religion (probably Christianity, but nearly any religion could work), and it seemed like a good thing at first, but they soon dioocvered things about the religion which disturbed them. This resulted in a major disillusionment, and the poor sap "spiralled" back into the state they were before they found the religion, perhaps a bit worse.

    "Go ahead, wreck your life, that might be good" could mean that, even though people in the church are telling you that you'll have nothing but hardship if you leave, when you emerge from this hardship, you'll be stronger because of it.

    I might make another post interpreting more of the individual lines later.

    UglinessManon January 10, 2005   Link

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