The Idea of You Lyrics
Maybe, I was somebody else
I'm somebody, for what that's worth, if that means anything anymore
I think there's something just wrong with me
I have been wondering, when did you know?
You know, really know?
No no no no, I don't think that's going to happen here
You missed all that on the way out
Remember, I don't want to remember anymore
Maybe I was somebody else?
Just go back to the idea of me
Just go back to the idea of me
Just go back to the idea of me
Just...
(Wake!) Is happening
(Wait!) None of this
(Wake!) Is happening
(Breathe!) None of this
(Believe!) Is happening
(Hey!) None of this
(You tell yourself!) Is happening
If I start to tell you anything, please don't pay attention
That's not really me in there, I would never do that
Just go back to the idea of me
Go back to that idea
Can you even hear me over here?
Can't you feel it happening?
Everything absorbing liquid twitching forming something terrible
The sores are gone
And you can hardly tell now but
There was someone else who isn't here anymore
(Wake!) Is happening
(Wait!) None of this
(Wake!) Is happening
(Breathe!) None of this
(Believe!) Is happening
(Hey!) None of this
(You tell yourself!) Is happening
(Wake!) Is happening
(Wait!) None of this
(Wake!) Is happening
(Breathe!) None of this
(Believe!) Is happening
(Hey!) None of this
(You tell yourself!) Is happening
(Wake!) Is happening
(Wait!) None of this
(Wake!) Is happening
(Breathe!) None of this
(Believe!) Is happening
(Hey!) None of this
(You tell yourself!) Is happening
(Wake!) Is happening
(Wait!) None of this
(Wake!) Is happening
(Breathe!) None of this
(Believe!) Is happening
(Hey!) None of this
(You tell yourself!) Is happening
(Wait!)
(You tell yourself!)
It gets (it gets) so lonely in here
Hey! Wait! Can you hear?
It gets (it gets) so lonely in here
Sounds almost like one side of a conversation by itself. But the really interesting thing is that the title reverses it, feels like a response from the other side... wherever that person is. Maybe they're the listener.
Another possible piece of the puzzle I see just on first glance is shades of the same themes as Trent explored in The Becoming, but, again, this time in reverse. As if the thing that's "made out of wires" is trying to come back to being "the me that you know".
Fascinating stuff.
So I've given this thing a little more thought (couldn't help it!) and this is what I came up with: What you've got here are two small parts of a person's mind at war with each other. The overall person is pretty far gone down a path of self-destruction, and the negative, self-destructive part of their mind wants them to shut out everyone else in the world and keep doing that. But the song itself takes place during a rare moment of lucidity, where, in the verses, the small positive part of the person's mind desperately tries to convince them that this is not who they really are... the voice is weak and the things it says are garbled and slightly nonsensical in its desperation to reach the outside world before this moment of lucidity is over. In the choruses the negative, self-destructive part of the person comes in insisting that the positive voice isn't a real part of them and should be ignored... the positive voice is still there, in the background, trying to tell the mind to wake up and realize that this is just what it tells itself as an excuse to stay self-destructive, but it's nearly drowned out.
At the end of the song the moment of lucidity is over and the positive voice has lost the battle... but there is a hint that it will try again, and again, and maybe eventually grow strong enough to be heard.