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Detour Thru Your Mind Lyrics
Your brain is an ever-changing kaleidoscope of moods and colors
We walk to the park, but it's melting in the dark
All of a sudden your mood changes and your face looks like a cake
Left out in the rain
Is your name MacArthur Parker?
Or is it Reba?
[Chorus:]
Detour through your mind, supersaver to your mind
We seem to float by yesterday's child. The new you.
The land time forgot and a horse with no mane
As we go further into the gloom, we chance upon a large orange room
A key pops out of your nose. We open the door
And all of a sudden we realize that we are no more
Who am I? Where am I going? How much will it cost?
I hear another galaxy spinning around
A flash of blinding light and we're in an elegantly appointed doctor's office
It seems that Doctor Aron Butterfly wants to dip us in plaster and use us for bookends
We say to the doctor, "No. Please. No!"
And then we get the doctor's bill. What a shock!
$16,000! And all he wanted to do was dip us in plaster!
[Chorus]
Who am I? Who am I?
Where have I been?
Where am I going?
How much will it cost?
Do I need any luggage?
Can I bring my mother?
Oh wow. I can't believe what I see.
Here, try one of these.
16 magenta butterflies
Dancing on the back of a maroon octopus
Oh, now it's talking to a hippopotamus
The hippopotamus is cussing us out
Is this a bad dream?!
Help! Help!
This is so groovy!
No, doctor, not another one of those!
What do you mean ten dollars?!
Ouch!
I need to leave my past behind.
I need to leave my behind in the past.
(Backwards message)
I buried my parakeet in the backyard
Oh no, you're playing the record backwards
Watch out, you might ruin your needle
We walk to the park, but it's melting in the dark
All of a sudden your mood changes and your face looks like a cake
Left out in the rain
Is your name MacArthur Parker?
Or is it Reba?
Detour through your mind, supersaver to your mind
The land time forgot and a horse with no mane
As we go further into the gloom, we chance upon a large orange room
A key pops out of your nose. We open the door
And all of a sudden we realize that we are no more
I hear another galaxy spinning around
It seems that Doctor Aron Butterfly wants to dip us in plaster and use us for bookends
We say to the doctor, "No. Please. No!"
And then we get the doctor's bill. What a shock!
$16,000! And all he wanted to do was dip us in plaster!
Where have I been?
Where am I going?
How much will it cost?
Do I need any luggage?
Can I bring my mother?
Oh wow. I can't believe what I see.
Here, try one of these.
16 magenta butterflies
Dancing on the back of a maroon octopus
Oh, now it's talking to a hippopotamus
The hippopotamus is cussing us out
Is this a bad dream?!
Help! Help!
This is so groovy!
No, doctor, not another one of those!
What do you mean ten dollars?!
Ouch!
I need to leave my behind in the past.
I buried my parakeet in the backyard
Oh no, you're playing the record backwards
Watch out, you might ruin your needle
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This initially comes off as a pastiche of late-1960s pop music references--the description of the park as "melting in the dark" and the question, "Is your name MacArthur Parker?" are in reference to the 1968 string-drenched hit of the same name; the "horse with no mane" is a clear reference to the America hit, "Horse With No Name"; "Dr. Aaron Butterfly" is most likely a play on "Iron Butterfly," and even the backmasked message "I buried my parakeet in the backyard" seems like an oblique reference to the alleged backmasked message at the end of "Strawberry Fields Forever" which has John intoning, "I buried Paul." The rest of the song probably contains more late-60s pop-culture references, though I can't make them out. The last line, "I need to leave my past behind," casts the song in an interesting light; the song could be interpreted, based on this line, as a paean/elegy for the band members' (possibly just Fred's) nostalgia for the late 1960s, during which time the band members would have all been between the ages of 10-15 and thus deeply impressionable, especially as consumers of pop culture.
nice use of backmasking.