Genius Next Door

Ok so Regina writes a lot of her songs poetically, full of double meanings and allegories. So basically, if you're picking up on something, or you have a faint idea that she might have meant something, that's probably part of the meaning, or one of the meanings.

My interpretation is all conjecture here. So I may be way off. (Like for instance, her Samson song has a very specific reference, it's about a bible/Torah story, and about cancer. You wouldn't know that unless you were told that, or have experience with those two things. Probably to most people, it's just a love song). Anyways here's my interpretation of genius next door

To me, I think this song is about the struggle of life in modern society, for intellectuals. Regina is an intellectual. She's an artist, a writer, a pianist, and many other things. So I think she sees herself very much in the "genius next door". Like for instance, her song about rowboats. That's very much a nerdy person song.

I think the mystery of the song is whether he kills himself or if he does something else nightly at the lake.

Im going to look at the song backwards, starting at the end, because I think that's when she tells us what happens, and the puzzle pieces all fit into place from there.

"And the genius next door was sleeping"

I think at this point he is passed away, aka "sleeping," but his spirit remains in the lake "next door".

"Dreaming that the antidote is orgasm"

It's hard to translate this meaning into words. Basically, the song is about depression. And he's searching for anything that could cure it, and thinking that maybe it is orgasm, love, a relationship. But at this point he has died. So it's actually his ghost, dreaming that, from his long sleep in the lake. I think this is an allegory on life and death. We don't know why we're here. We don't know why we suffer. And even a genius has simple needs.

"In the morning the film crews start arriving With donuts, coffee and reporters"

At this point, people are showing up to report on his dead body. Life is going on as normal for everyone.

Now, this is where it gets murky. Are they reporting on his dead body? Are they reporting that the lake changed to normal? Or is this the point that the lake changes to porridge?

So maybe he didn't kill himself. Maybe he was going to the lake nightly, and casting some kind of spell, to fix the lake, or he is the one who caused it to change to porridge.

Or, maybe he did kill himself, and that's what changed the lake back to normal? Or more likely, he killed himself, and the porridge is an allegory for how the lake was changed forever at that point.

"And to wade midway into that porridge Just him and the secret he was keeping"

Ok so it was already porridge. So I think after he died, or whatever he did that night, it changed the lake back to water, and that's why all the reporters showed up.

"Getting high and mumbling German fables"

I think this is a key to the meaning. There is probably a fairy tale that this is inspired by. I did a quick Google, and Grimm's Fairy Tales was first published in Germany. So maybe there's a fairy tale about this. Or, maybe Regina just thought this sounded kind of like a fairy tale, a lake turning into buttery porridge.

"If you just hold in your breath til you come back up in full Hold in your breath til you thought it through, you fool"

This is the allegory of struggling, and drowning. It's not an uncommon theme in poetic writing. I think it's the basic meaning of the song. And the verses are just a clever story she wrote to bring us around this message, that sometimes life is terrible, but, just hold your breath until you come back up. She's a very kind person, at least she is in her writing, and so I think this is intended as a kind message to everyone who is feeling low.