My Manic and I

I have never believed "My Manic" as an actual person, but a personification of Laura's or the speaker's manic depression. At first the song describes a plagued man which may be just a plagued mind; a dark side of Laura or the speaker. Like another personality of a bipolar disorder. This would explain how the gods switch from "amaze" to "disappoint" and from how "you're ill" to "we" and "i."

She doesn't want to believe that her "friends think I'm crazy," but by the end of the piece, she finally accepts she is just this way and let's birds' singing to calm her down aka anti-depressants. In turn, this kills her manic and blinds him yet she knows she can never let go of her depression and "move on."

Bloody deep, really makes you think.

maybe i have a different version, but the last four lines of my copy are:

"My nihilist, my happy man, my manic and I have no plans to move on. But birds are singing to calm us down... And birds are singing to calm us down..."

I heard this crazy rumour that sometimes songs don't have one set interpretation. But hey, what do I know, you seemingly have some inner insight.

The song is clearly more complex than simply "my old boyfriend was a bit shit and sad sometimes". There are indeed allusions to mental disorder, psychological conditions, religion, as well as some stark imagery.

The whole "mountains as big as his nose, LOL SEE WHAT I DID THERE" bit is the only weak part of the lyric, really. It's cringeworthy.

I believe that the lyric "the mountains can cover the shape of his nose" isn't an insult about his nose, but a play on words about his insecurities. She's saying, he wants to die in a place that will hide, what he considers, his faults.

I also think that the change from "You're" to "I'm" to "We're ill" is perhaps a reflection on the fact that she has continued this merry go round with his manic depression. "My friends think I'm crazy" because I continue to do this, over and over.

Knowing someone who is manic depressive put a lot of this into perspective the moment I heard it. It frighteningly describes my relationship with him, though we've never dated. I don't think these words necessarily have to reflect a lover's relationship.

I also enjoy the theory that this is about her own manic depression, or another side of her. Songs like this one are very intriguing, she's an amazing poet with her lyrics.

The song is obviously about some sort of love of hers, a man who suffers from manic depression, clear from the title and hints given away in the song, such as his insomnia "Sleep will not come because sleep does not will it". From the first verse we can assume that he wants to die, this probably played on her mind and resulted in her perhaps not even fully believing in his depression, "I don’t believe him". This could also be because of his religious views and how he does not obey the laws of God, resulting in her not fully believing that he tells the truth all the time, "He believes in the love in his god of all things But I find him wrapped up in all manner of sins". The line "Till ring on my finger slips to the ground" could be perhaps an engagement ring, implying that they were once engaged? "The drugs that deceive him and the girls that believe him" could insinuate that perhaps they broke up due to his addiction to drugs and alcohol (which was mentioned in the first verse) and perhaps he was cheating on her, sympathy sex with other girls who believe that he does suffer this depression? The penultimate verse could be their breaking up, or just a time when she saw him, and it describes the emotions she felt, such as anger, "And birds were singing to calm us down" is simply the sound of the birds singing, almost as if the whole of nature might understand the anger that she was feeling. "And I’m sorry young man, I cannot be your friend. I don’t believe in a fairytale end", after the break up she might feel that she can no longer be friends with him as there are too many strong feelings like perhaps anger and hatred and confusion. "I don’t keep my head up all of the time" shows that she might have been sad at the idea of leaving him forever, but she feels it is the right thing to do. "And I hardly know you, I think I can tell. These are the reasons I think that we're ill" she might feel as if she barely knows him any more due to the drugs etc. and she might also be implying that she too suffers from depression by saying "These are the reasons I think that WE'RE ILL".

In my personal opinion I think this song is beautiful and is one of my favourite songs, ever.

As I see it, this is an internal personality conflict in which the split mind of she and he become one, and thus have won, by calming down.

"The DRUGS that deceive him",

"By two he is scared because sleep is NO FRIEND"

"I think it's dull when my heart MEETS my mind".

This is an eery song that makes my skin crawl, but it's so amazingly different, she really has the ability to think outside the box, something that some people seem afraid to do, or aren't creative enough, today.

I can see why she realeased 'New Romantic' first instead of this or 'My Manic & I', as they're alot less mainstream.

"And sometimes WITH SCORN and sometimes I believe him"

My version definitely has those last four lines as well.