The Alan Parsons Project – You Don't Believe

General CommentJudas Priest - Desert Plains

• 1 Reply Log in to reply
  
    There was an error.

  @samwalton
  0

  @samwalton Wow! Great call! I loved (and still do) Judas Priest and the A.P.P.. and I am pretty good at calling out songs or parts that are the same/similar/lifted but I don't know if I would have ever connected these two songs. Desert Plains came first, I wonder if there was any inspiration going on or just a coincidence.

  Flag Diaminddogon July 11, 2015  

General CommentThe words to this song alway make me think of a man who is attempting to reassert control over every aspect of his life. I wondered if the song wasn't singer vs. producer. It didn't really seem to have the same feeling as a sng directed at a woman, although I suppose you could find the parallels all the same.
"My Tunes/ Your Compositions", eh? Sounds like some musical in-fighting to me.

• No Replies Log in to reply
  
    There was an error.

  @Major Valor

General CommentI often think of it as a man riling against this domineering woman....but artist versus producer seems more apt, all the lines fit in, even "when i look into your eyes...." you can imagine an artist with an idea or vision and the producer just thinking of it in monetary terms, and clearly not believing..... but why would he be looking into the producer's eyes???

• No Replies Log in to reply
  
    There was an error.

  @zehraraza

General CommentOne 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. :-)

• No Replies Log in to reply
  
    There was an error.

  @Interpret This!

General CommentOkay here is what I think: its a bigger meaning song for Eric Woolfson. As you may know Eric Woolfson mostly writes the songs while Alan Parsons produces/engineers it. Here's what I think

/My eyes with your vision/
Alan Parsons always had a vision for certain albums. Eric too but..
/My choice but always your decision/
Eric could choose songs but Alan always decided what goes into the album.
/My play with your direction/
Don't really know. Maybe Alan directed the music a lot.
/Well it's my lead but always your connection/
Dunno

/But when I look into your eyes you don't believe me
I can see it in your eyes you don't believe/
Maybe Eric talked with Alan about it. But Alan never believed.

/My words, your expression/
Eric wrote the songs, but they also had always a very Alan sound to it.
/My land, always your possession/
Maybe about the name of the group.
/My song, your production/
Eric wrote everything, Alan always produced
/My expense is always your deduction/
Eric was also the manager.

/And the face I see before me
Is both sides of a mirror
You really know you've got a hold on me
And the face you're looking into
Is both sides of a window
And any way you look you see through me/
Dunno, more neutral.

/My fame, your reflection/
Eric is kinda famous but Alan is like more know
/My weakness always your protection/
Dunno. Probably because Alan only produced
/Well it's my terms on your conditions/
Dunno.
/And they're my tunes but they're your compositions/
Eric wrote, sung and did put a lot of creative juice in a lot of APP songs

Conclusions: This song was an early warning of issues Eric had with Alan and could be a reason why Alan and Eric went separate after Freudiana. I may be too far into it but its kinda based on post-APP interviews and don't get me wrong but I am a huge fan of APP, Alan and Eric but to me Eric's reasons to separate just to pursue musicals wasnt really too solid. There was more behind it

• No Replies Log in to reply
  
    There was an error.

  @Legendardisch