Cyclops Rock

nope. it's a bit deeper... at least, i interpret it like this: it's a commentary on the music industry, and how the media totally bastardizes anything good.

the chorus "i taught you how to cyclops rock, then you turn around and break my heart / waste my time / mess up my mind.." is saying how.. at a time, musicians were all about the rock, right? but then, something (let's say MTV, for argument's sake) just sells it out and rock becomes a corporate thing.

and thus, the scene is destroyed.. "gotta find a new place to hang out, cuz i'm tired of living in hell."

"all the children run away from me / gotta find new friends to hang with cuz you're all afraid of me" like.. the kids now don't appreciate real music, and people are afraid to like things that aren't shoved down their throat by the media.

the whole cyclops thing is a metaphor for doing your own thing, but also still ending up feeling like a freak -- alienation.

"There's a whole new generation waiting to be wrecked by you" basically sums it all up

"Chuckie" is a movie about a possessed doll who kills little children. The satanic doll just won't die.

This song is either about a guy who taught his girlfriend a dance called the "Cyclops Rock" or had sex with her with only one eye open and then the girlfriend dumped him.

I think this is one of my fav. TMBG songs...but I have alot of favorites

i kind of agree with NQArbuckle i've always thought it was about being yourself, no matter what the consequences

"It was sweet like lead paint is sweet but the after-effects left me paralyzed" --- he tried going with the flow for a while, but soon realized that he couldnt be himself if he conformed

[ty]

Supporting NQArbuckle's theory, the female vocal breakdown says:

Pony, twist, monkey, and frug These are the things that I taught to you Hitchhike, boogie, hypocrite bop I'm stuck in a van outside of New York AAAAAAAAAHHH!

The pony, the twist, the monkey, the frug, the hitchhike, the boogie, and the bop are all dance steps/styles. And the singer allegedly taught "you" these steps, but is now stuck in a van outside of New York, i.e. out of the limelight they once knew.

But who is Chuckie ??? &:-D

I see a lot of parallels to the story of the cyclops in Homer's Odyssey.

In the song, the cyclops feels rejected and betrayed. In the story, the cyclops captures Odysseus and his men in a cave. Odysseus gets the cyclops drunk, and jokes with him. When the cyclops passes out, Odysseus stabs his eye out and escapes. The cyclops then asks his father (the god of the sea) to act out his revenge for him.

"It was sweet like lead paint is sweet but the after-effects left me paralyzed" refers to him getting drunk and passing out "I just stare with my one glass eye hoping you won't be back again" refers to the cyclops' eye being taken, and his anger and desire for Odysseus to be killed. "I'm sick like Chuckie was sick, my defeated heart keeps beating on" refers to his hangover

The story of Odysseus is a very tragic one, and throughout his journey he stumbles upon obstacle after obstacle. "There's a whole new generation waiting to be wrecked by you" refers to the next challenge, the laestrygonians.