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Get In the Mind Shaft Lyrics
[Main Version of Intro]
When I was young
I went into an abandoned house
In one of the rooms
I found an old piano
I didn't know how to play piano
So I just fumbled across the keys
Pressed the pedals down I sat there for hours
Trying to understand
How to construct a melody
My brain to my fingertips
And after a while I hit three notes together
At the same time
[Alt Version 1]
I've been walking down by the river
For hours
Past sailors, that have
Less tattoos than the average teenager
There's a man fishing
And selling what he catches
A dollar a head
I've been sitting near him
For a long time now
And he's yet to look over
I have a strange feeling
That I know this man
That it's me
I think it's me
[Alt Version 2]
Wherever you go in the world
you'll find that in the Bible
It says someone who works with their hands
A carpenter, a pot maker, a brick layer
Someone who works with their hands
It seems no matter how far the human race progresses
No matter how computerized, robotic, digital everything becomes around us
Not too far away there is somebody working with their hands
[Alt Version 3]
Feeling distorted
Brick by brick by brick
A box containing another box
Upheaval in a pond as large as the world
And a leaf that falls for infinity
It never lands
Across the country
Stones, soil, trees
All humming the exact same frequency
The exact same frequency
[Alt Version 4]
It's 97 degrees out
The humidity is so thick
It's like drinking a glass of water
Every time I take a breath
I'm standing on this mound of dirt
Cracking the bones in my fingers one by one
I'm staring at him
Wondering what he's thinking
Is this the end or the beginning?
Will I be able to make it out alive?
And then I slowly release the ball from my hand
And it travels toward him
[Alt Version 5]
It’s Sunday morning
And I have that same feeling
I’ve had every Sunday for my entire life
It’s as if I have been woken up by whispers
The whispering of voices all around me
I can’t make out what they are saying
Some people would call it ghosts
Or some kind of hallucination
I don’t know what I’m supposed to call it
But I’ve never told anybody about that
[Alt Version 6]
There were 30 men all trapped inside
The sun has been blocked out
The shaft collapsed on itself
There was no way out
The gas in our lamps had almost run dry
It was so quiet cause no one dared disturb the silence
By uttering something that wasn't useful
And that is when we saw the hand break through
And we saw sunlight for the first time
[Alt Version 7]
There is a distant hum
Coming from the clouds
Just on the other side of the ridge
Nobody knows the source of the hum
And the frequency is enough to rattle anything stationary
The entire town feels like it has been cursed
The hum won't go away
The oldest people around remember the hum of their childhoods
They say it has always been there
And never gone away
[Alt Version 8]
Sound by sound
Track by track
Note after note
Constructing melody
Soft voices provide staccato hammering
Over the top and subtle and inferior
The sublime notes
The harmonies that I just (???)
Dissonant vibrations of untouched percussive instrumentation
Each one adding an extra note of frequencies
To the overall beauty of the melody around you
[The rest of the song is the same for all versions]
Let's try it
Can you hear me now?
Am I invisible to you?
Out of the blue now
Out of the blue now
Can you hear me now?
Am I invisible to you?
Get in the mind shaft
Can it be?
Can it be?
Can it be?
Can it be?
Ah, ah, ah, ah
Can you hear me now?
Get in the mind shaft
Get in the mind shaft
Come inside
Come inside
Can you hear me now?
Deep inside me, now
Ah, ah, ah, ah
Get in the mind shaft
Can you hear me now?
I went into an abandoned house
In one of the rooms
I found an old piano
I didn't know how to play piano
So I just fumbled across the keys
Pressed the pedals down I sat there for hours
Trying to understand
How to construct a melody
My brain to my fingertips
And after a while I hit three notes together
At the same time
For hours
Past sailors, that have
Less tattoos than the average teenager
There's a man fishing
And selling what he catches
A dollar a head
I've been sitting near him
For a long time now
And he's yet to look over
I have a strange feeling
That I know this man
That it's me
I think it's me
you'll find that in the Bible
It says someone who works with their hands
A carpenter, a pot maker, a brick layer
Someone who works with their hands
It seems no matter how far the human race progresses
No matter how computerized, robotic, digital everything becomes around us
Not too far away there is somebody working with their hands
Brick by brick by brick
A box containing another box
Upheaval in a pond as large as the world
And a leaf that falls for infinity
It never lands
Across the country
Stones, soil, trees
All humming the exact same frequency
The exact same frequency
The humidity is so thick
It's like drinking a glass of water
Every time I take a breath
I'm standing on this mound of dirt
Cracking the bones in my fingers one by one
I'm staring at him
Wondering what he's thinking
Is this the end or the beginning?
Will I be able to make it out alive?
And then I slowly release the ball from my hand
And it travels toward him
And I have that same feeling
I’ve had every Sunday for my entire life
It’s as if I have been woken up by whispers
The whispering of voices all around me
I can’t make out what they are saying
Some people would call it ghosts
Or some kind of hallucination
I don’t know what I’m supposed to call it
But I’ve never told anybody about that
The sun has been blocked out
The shaft collapsed on itself
There was no way out
The gas in our lamps had almost run dry
It was so quiet cause no one dared disturb the silence
By uttering something that wasn't useful
And that is when we saw the hand break through
And we saw sunlight for the first time
Coming from the clouds
Just on the other side of the ridge
Nobody knows the source of the hum
And the frequency is enough to rattle anything stationary
The entire town feels like it has been cursed
The hum won't go away
The oldest people around remember the hum of their childhoods
They say it has always been there
And never gone away
Track by track
Note after note
Constructing melody
Soft voices provide staccato hammering
Over the top and subtle and inferior
The sublime notes
The harmonies that I just (???)
Dissonant vibrations of untouched percussive instrumentation
Each one adding an extra note of frequencies
To the overall beauty of the melody around you
Can you hear me now?
Am I invisible to you?
Out of the blue now
Out of the blue now
Can you hear me now?
Am I invisible to you?
Get in the mind shaft
Can it be?
Can it be?
Can it be?
Ah, ah, ah, ah
Get in the mind shaft
Get in the mind shaft
Come inside
Come inside
Can you hear me now?
Deep inside me, now
Can you hear me now?
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I think it's about a musical awakening, like when you first start figuring out how to play an instrument or write a song and then suddenly a whole new world opens up to you. The alternate lyrics on the vinyl record version are about the same kind of thing, but a musical awakening that happens much later in life; it's about looking at yourself and realizing you don't fully recognize the person you've become, thinking that maybe your creative process has become too depersonalized or too commodified, and then deciding it's time to let yourself go and try something completely new, to let yourself enter a universe you don't understand yet. Also, this might be reaching, but it feels kind of apt or intentional that digital music, being the younger/newer format, has the version of the lyrics that's about a young kid, while the older format has the version that's about an adult trying to get out of the ways they've been stuck in.