This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Maybe it's the color of the sun cut flat
An' coverin' the crossroads I'm standing at
Or maybe it's the weather or something like that
But mama, you are just on my mind.
I don't mean trouble, please don't put me down or get upset
I am not pleadin' or sayin', I can't forget
I do not walk the floor bowed down an' bent, but yet
Mama, you are just on my mind.
Even though my mind is hazy an' my thoughts they might be narrow
Where you been don't bother me nor bring me down in sorrow
It don't even matter to me where you're wakin' up tomorrow
But mama, you're just on my mind
When you wake up in the mornin', baby, look inside your mirror
You know I won't be next to you, you know I won't be near
I'd just be curious to know if you can see yourself as clear
As someone who has had you on his mind
Maybe it's the color of the sun cut flat
An' coverin' the crossroads I'm standing at
Or maybe it's the weather or something like that
But mama, you are just on my mind
Mama, you are just on my mind
An' coverin' the crossroads I'm standing at
Or maybe it's the weather or something like that
But mama, you are just on my mind.
I don't mean trouble, please don't put me down or get upset
I am not pleadin' or sayin', I can't forget
I do not walk the floor bowed down an' bent, but yet
Mama, you are just on my mind.
Even though my mind is hazy an' my thoughts they might be narrow
Where you been don't bother me nor bring me down in sorrow
It don't even matter to me where you're wakin' up tomorrow
But mama, you're just on my mind
When you wake up in the mornin', baby, look inside your mirror
You know I won't be next to you, you know I won't be near
I'd just be curious to know if you can see yourself as clear
As someone who has had you on his mind
Maybe it's the color of the sun cut flat
An' coverin' the crossroads I'm standing at
Or maybe it's the weather or something like that
But mama, you are just on my mind
Mama, you are just on my mind
Lyrics submitted by pictorialpyro, edited by Mellow_Harsher
Mama, You Been on My Mind Lyrics as written by Bob Dylan
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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More Featured Meanings
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
Son Şansın - Şarkı Sözleri
Hayalperest
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This song seemingly tackles the methods of deception those who manipulate others use to get victims to follow their demands, as well as diverting attention away from important issues. They'll also use it as a means to convince people to hate or kill others by pretending acts of terrorism were committed by the enemy when the acts themselves were done by the masters of control to promote discrimination and hate. It also reinforces the idea that these manipulative forces operate in various locations, infiltrating everyday life without detection, and propagate any and everywhere.
In general, it highlights the danger of hidden agendas, manipulation, and distraction, serving as a critique of those who exploit chaos and confusion to control and gain power, depicting a cautionary tale against falling into their traps. It encourages us to question the narratives presented to us and remain vigilant against manipulation in various parts of society.
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
Little Feat
Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
Holiday
Bee Gees
Bee Gees
@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday".
I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
My absolute favourite song right now, Dylan's or anyone's. Cavern, your interpretation of the song being about Woody Guthrie rather than a potential love interest was very interesting, but the Jack Johnson argument is flawed. On the soundtrack for the I'm Not There film, Johnson does indeed covers Mama You Been On My Mind, (adding the "'ve"), and he also covers a certain "A Fraction of Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie", in the same track, but that's another piece altogether. "Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie" is a poem Dylan wrote and first recited on stage in early '63, a full year before he first came up with "Mama You Been On My Mind", so it's very likely they had no relation at all and Jack Johnson just happened to like both. Don't take me wrong, I really appreciated reading your interpretationg and I think it's valid, just not definitive (as by the way none could be for a work of art).
For me it's simply about being (a little) in love with someone you cannot be with, and actually getting by with it, but without pretending the feeling's not there. It could be because the other person has someone, because you have someone, because you two've been together before and I didn't work out, for strong lifestyle differences or even because the two of you live too damn far from each other. Whatever reason it was that made you conclude the union is impossible, you've already (kind of) accepted it. You just couldn't help telling the person about it all anyway ....perhaps secretly hoping (s)he would feel the same and come up with a way to get through the "impossibilities" and be with you at last. Perhaps just being unpretentiously honest.