Ghosts in the park
Appear just after dark
Killers, children
But no one has a harp

They look like tourists
It makes me want to laugh

Under floorboards
It's hard to fly a kite
Underwater
My cigarette won't light

Standing in the shade
I'm getting frostbite

Strange as I seem
I'm getting stranger by the minute
Look in my dreams
They're getting stranger by the minute

When I'm drowning
You drag me up to you
Rings in the water
My only residue

But you're just fiction
And I'm a twisted boy

Strange as I seem
I'm getting stranger by the minute
Look in my dreams
They're getting stranger by the minute
Strange as I seem
I'm getting stranger by the minute
Look in my dreams
They're getting stranger by the minute


Lyrics submitted by Ministry

Stranger by the Minute Lyrics as written by Colin Edwin Balch Christopher James Maitland

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Downtown Music Publishing

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

Stranger By The Minute song meanings
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20 Comments

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  • +4
    General Comment

    ...no, it's not about drugs. Voyage 34 might be, but Stranger By The Minute is not. It's about a person with mental problems. He is a childlike (flying a kite) adult (cigarettes) who also imagines having a perfect soulmate, who could rescue him from going even crazier.

    infinityontrialon April 12, 2008   Link
  • +3
    General Comment

    I think this is about paranoia, or schizophrenia. "Killers, children...

    They look like tourists, it makes me want to laugh."

    He's paranoid, thinks everyone's out to get him. He can find something incriminating about every situation (under floorboards, underwater, in the shade). He's only getting Stranger by the Minute. My 2 cents, anyway.

    NilRecurringon September 17, 2008   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    "When I'm drowning You drag me up to you

    But you're just fiction And I'm a twisted boy "

    I love those lines.

    chironon April 14, 2005   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    "But you kind of ruined if for me"

    Sorry :-)

    Good points there, but somehow the line 'Strange as I seem' gives me the vibe that his strangeness is not an acute, but a chronic state. And I think many 'mad' people have moments of clarity when they realize that they are crazy and just getting crazier.

    infinityontrialon May 05, 2008   Link
  • +1
    My Opinion

    Almost everytime I hear this song, it almost makes me want to cry. The Guitaring just triggers something...

    Anyway, My input about the song is that he has some kind of mental disorder, possibly developed from a young age? But I also get where you're coming from with the whole acid trip thing.. Depression, yeah. Much like drowning. And his "dream" person saving him..

    But as I'm listening to the song now... It does sound like he's just dreaming about being crazy.. Yaknow?

    Anyway.. Just my opinion.

    :) Love this song alot.

    Porkytreeon May 19, 2010   Link
  • +1
    My Interpretation

    It's a boy with mental problems, he is under water, drowning, a person tries to save him, but that person is fictional, then he ends leaving rings drowning in the water.

    Allexon November 11, 2011   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    I view it in this way:

    I am a strange boy. Where others look at tourists at park, I imagine they are children and killers. I hope somebody has a harp, but nine does. I have a great imagination. And this makes me strange. As days go by, I am getting stranger by the minute.

    I have tried flying kites under floorboards, as an experiment. I have tried lighting cigarettes underwater - not just as experiment, but also because I wanted to smoke one and am not allowed to do so. I imagine getting frostbites even in the shades.

    I imagine there is this person who will save me from drowning in my own thoughts, leaving behind just mere memories (rings in the water)... But that person can't, because he/she is fiction, and my mind is twisted.

    I am getting stranger by the minute.

    On a side note, this seems so relatable, because I seem to be getting more and more strange. No wonder it's the most relatable song of Porcupine Tree, for me.

    soumya1061on May 11, 2016   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Just Awsome.

    Wakeboard_Snufkinon July 06, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    It's simply brilliant the way that Porcupine Tree can take a rock based approach theme - and use in it such a clear & clean pop stracture - while still making it sound so good. A lot of people with different musical tastes can relate to the sound and vibe of this cool eerie song. Stupid Dream is a bit mainstream in compare to the other pieces of PT, but it rocks so good. It should have gotten world wide spread in all the radio stations along Lightbulb Sun & the amazing In Absentia, which seems to be more "convienet" to the average listener/ear, though obivously it is very complexed. It would have brought pop music to a whole other different notion by radio listeners. Of course that Steven Wilson probably wouldn't want that since that's his niche.

    Wakeboard_Snufkinon September 03, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    chiron: his soulmate is a fiction.

    JohnDiFoolon January 11, 2007   Link

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