Hypnotized

I feel like this is a story of a "foreign fling" in a sense. She meets a man in another country and they have this connection, but there isn't enough there and it's not a happy relationship - you were no picnic, etc - but for a while, they have enough to stay together. Eventually, they fall apart because there's not enough to draw them together. I also think that the world of this man isn't like hers and she doesn't like it, which is also a point of contention.

This song is so sweet!

is her "high" literal?

"and the traffic was hissing by and I was homesick and I was high"

I wish that I understood this song better.

I love this song, and i absolutely love Ani.

To me, this song describes the trust you put in someone and how easily you can be mislead by them, and in the end, betrayed.

I think the beginning phrases refer to her being alone, in a world where she was an outkast "surrounded by a language which i could say only hello and thank you very much" then she finally meets someone, in whom she's singing to, who completely understands her so she ends up putting all of herself in this relationship "so i drew a treasure map on your hand".. which to her seems like a paradise

However the relationship is betrayed by the person when she gets to know the real them.. she talks about her disappointment when she says "the map led to an island with store-bought, or fake dreams and soul-less singers, or heartless people, ... she feels awkward and out of place but has "sweetness" to show a 'good' face.

but then at the end she's back where she started.

whoa sorry for the long description..

I don't see this song as being about betrayal in a relationship. I think the song describes a relationship, that, while not perfect, is still something worth staying in. To me, the "i/you was/were no picninc" are a gently humorous look at the things that sometimes make you feel attracted to someone.

Actually, I think 'Imperfectly' is a sort of a 'sister song' to this one.

This song makes much more sense if the its 'world' rather than 'worm'; she's at a low point, looking down at the world about to kill herself, drugged up etc and somebody comes along who helps her out, but it turns out he/she isn't as wonderful as all that. I like the realisticness of this song; that there are some very idealistic notions yet a real acceptance that people don't have to be perfect, or even to understand you to get you by, and if it turns out they don't lead you to some promised land, it can still be just enough to get you where you need to go

i suppose to me this song is about finding someone in a foreign place. i like to take the second stanza literally, in the fact that she does not know how to say anything except for 'hello' and 'thank you very much' (bonjour? merci beaucoup? you never know.)

and she is reminiscing about finding this, in the last verses, amid all the phoniness of everything else. she's talking about a diamond in the rough, i guess. and a personalized diamond, one that not other would think of as a 'picnic', or a 'prize'.

it's such a beautiful song though.

i feel this song is to be taken quite literally too, i feel its a long describtion of an encounter with someone that she meets as a stranger visiting a foreign country.

I think this is one of the most literal songs Ani has. In the Official Bootleg Series CD, Rome, Italy Ani talks about her encounter with a fan. The fan asked if Ani would sing a new song that hasn't been written. That night before the show Ani sat down and wrote a song for her...and boom! We have Hypnotized.

So, I'm fairly certain the lyrics are literal. Ani just chillin in Rome, probably homesick, most likely high, and running into a group of fans..."But you spoke so I could understand, and I drew a treasure map on your hand." This may be the fan talking to Ani, and Ani being relieved that she knew English. From then she probably autographed her hand or something of that sort. Treasure=Autograph (at least it would be considered a treasure for me). "And lovely girls were hovering above my head like gulls. With their long slender necks and delicate skulls." I imagine a group of women who were Ani fans gawking over the little folk singer.

Just my thoughts:)

I think this song is about a time when she was on a trip possibly on tour. She is lonely and homesick and meats someone she can talk with and it turns into a relationship. They don't particularly get along but there is enough chemistry to keep it going Just my thoughts