The Mirror

This is by far one of my favorite Frusciante songs. I hear it and I feel complete raw emotion. It's like listening to a dejected soul finally shattering. I don't know why, but let me try to explain. First off, the song opens up with these misty sounds, but I hear them as sighs, instead. It's like John is taking a deep breath and bracing himself. For me, this song is about growing old and losing touch with yourself. "Hit in the face when you open a door" should not be interpreted literally, but more like when opportunity knocks, your plans blow up in your face for whatever reason. The next lines "Unconsiderate... to you" are about falling into disrepair, neglecting yourself. Without proper care, all instruments fade out of tune. By the end of the first verse, I think about how older people are "let go" in the workplace and replaced by younger workers. "Fired by an unknown eye" might reflect this view. The second verse makes me sad. It is socially accepted and expected that men act strong, if even in facade. He wasn't supposed to cry, but now things are changing. He knows that "becoming mature" really means that he is going to die. He looks in the mirror and sees an old, changed face, no longer the young spirit inside. In the next verse, I interpret the lyrics as a social metaphor. How many times have we been ashamed of ourselves, hiding from others, from social atmosphere and jokes because we were unsure? Our emotions run every which way at once, and we cannot assume anything to be true. It is sad. In the last verse, I truly feel that the lyrics should be "Time doesn't crawl back to where it doesn't show." Although I know this to be mistaken, I feel that it is much more poignant. Time is cruel and relentless. It never hides its face. When in groups with friends, sometimes comments are made such as, "Oh, look at Debbie, she hasn't changed at all since high school!" But John feels that no one ever refers to him in this context. He has changed. He has grown and matured, and he is not sure if he is adjusted to that change yet. For the ending makes this clear: "The face in the mirror is not me." He doesn't know who he is anymore. This is just my skewed interpretation. Feel free to comment on it.

I love this song, I love what John does, is music, is guitar palying and next year I want to learn electric guitar like him and thanks to him. He made me love music: this guy is not just one of the greatest guitarist in this fuckinf world, it's also a soul, a past, a voice, many emotions through his music, love him!

i wrote a peom thats like this and its called the mirror aswell although i think i may have stolen the idea from john i cant remember when i wrote it. i think its to do w/ the parallel universe where john feels safe in a certain mirror. i believe that all mirrors show diffrent parallel worlds and depending on what mood you're in you can look in that mirror and think to yourself that is me in my mind that does look like me but what john sees in this mirror for the first time after all the years looking in that mirror is not him but some othier form of him in the parallel worlf behind that glass. he dosent like it that much or its a new experience for him and he wants to share it w/ others in ths world. well thats what i think but i dont know it could mean anything as a mirror can be a big place

i think the song is obviously about having a low self esteem, being critical of urself, etc ,etc and in the end possibly taking it all too far.

this is the first song i heard from him...solo wise....except maybe but thats a cover sooo...this song opened me up to him and his gift...and after listening to all of his other stuff it made me wanna play guitar.

I think this has a lot to do with feeling depersonalized or detached from one's body. He's not his physical self - he's what's behind that shell.

I think it's about when he was in the depths of his drug addict... and he would look in the mirror and the John he would used to seeing was gone. Total disintergration of Self.