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Rotating Head Lyrics
Rotating head, keeps on the right side
Coiled up and tense remains on the lookout
Expects to be shot or get given the bullet
Rotating head tries to look on the bright side of things
Rotating head, friends in high places
No need to guess what he's got in that briefcase
A mind like a gin-trap, one swollen ankle
The rotating head tries to stay on the right side of things
On the right side of things
Living on tip-toe
Waiting for the next step
The wages of death
What a life for a swivel head
Understand, underhand, underarm protection
Each new passer-by a new wave of suspicion
In less than an hour the plane will be leaving
The lights and the cameras
Then sleep on a prayer and a wing
Rotating
Living on tip-toe
Waiting for the next step
The wages of death
What a life for a swivel head
Rotating head look on the bright side
Coiled up and tense remains on the lookout
A mind like a gin-trap, one swollen ankle
The rotating head tries to stay on the right side of things
That's the right side of things
Coiled up and tense remains on the lookout
Expects to be shot or get given the bullet
Rotating head tries to look on the bright side of things
No need to guess what he's got in that briefcase
A mind like a gin-trap, one swollen ankle
The rotating head tries to stay on the right side of things
On the right side of things
Waiting for the next step
The wages of death
What a life for a swivel head
Each new passer-by a new wave of suspicion
In less than an hour the plane will be leaving
The lights and the cameras
Then sleep on a prayer and a wing
Rotating
Waiting for the next step
The wages of death
What a life for a swivel head
Coiled up and tense remains on the lookout
A mind like a gin-trap, one swollen ankle
The rotating head tries to stay on the right side of things
That's the right side of things
Song Info
Submitted by
planetearth On Apr 10, 2004
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For some reason this song makes me think of people turning their heads away from their problems, to not have to deal with the problems to be happy
For some reason this song makes me think of people turning their heads away from their problems, to not have to deal with the problems to be happy
The instrumental version used in the soundtrack for "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" is called "March of the Swivel Heads."
The instrumental version of this song was used in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, the scene where he's racing his parents home.
To me, "Rotating Heads" seems to refer to people who must constantly look around them for signs of danger ("Coiled up and tense, remains on the lookout.") A mind like a "gin trap" (we would say "like a steel trap" in the U.S.) describes someone who is quick-witted. The imagery seems to invoke a Secret Service agent or bodyguard:
"keeps on the right side" (could mean literally the right hand of the person being guarded, or the morally correct side, or both) "Expects to be shot or get given the bullet" "friends in high places" "Each new passer-by, a new wave of suspicion" "In less than an hour, the plane will be leaving" "The lights and the cameras"
The line about the briefcase might be referring to the "nuclear football", a briefcase containing the nuclear launch codes that accompanies the U.S. President everywhere he goes.
Swollen ankles are a side effect of frequent airplane travel.
It's about a member of a Secret Service type agency. The name of the album is Special Beat Service and the photo on the album cover is a depiction of the song
In the 1980s, all of us in the LA area who listened to KROQ thought that this song must be about fighting in the trenches of WWI. I still think this song is about a lookout in a trench in WWI who had to raise his head above the trench they were in to see what the enemy was doing and who "expects to be shot or give the bullet."