I know a man who lives under his covers
Uh uh uh uh uh uh
Lost his mind from the TV
Now he's playing God
Somebody told him that he was no good at
Ah ah a a a all
He's talking out of the left side of his mouth
And he won't follow these lines he's drawn for him
And he don't want to try
Seeing is believing
Lord knows what he sees here every night
Three little boys dress up in the morning
Uh uh uh uh uh uh
Come back home from the school yard talking 'bout Love
But on this occasion the boys feel the same
Uh uh uh uh uh uh
Something's holding them back there
I bet it was their mom
And they won't follow these lines he's drawn for them
And they don't want to try
Seeing is believing
Lord knows what they see here every night
We both know
That people change when truth's not part of their lives
I've seen the love in their eyes
Don't say goodbye
Goodbye
I know a man who wakes up in the evening
Uh uh uh uh uh uh
Lost his mind from the TV
Now he's blaming God
Somebody told him that he's good for nothing
Uh uh uh uh uh uh
Now he screen prints American T-shirts through the night
And he won't follow
These lines they've drawn for him
And he don't want to try
Seeing is believing
Lord knows what he sees here
Seeing is believing
Lord knows what he sees here
Lord knows what he sees here every night
Those Wilsons were a bizarre bunch. Word on the street is Murray pretty much freaked out his kids-- they were susceptible to all that crazy mental instablity, anyway, just like a lot of incredible smart people are (Take "A Beautiful Mind" for example).
This song is excellent. Take this line: "If seeing is believing/lord knows what he sees here every night." 1) it's important because it's repeated, like, a jogillon times. 2) think about it! What hallucinations are they susceptible to? Have you ever met someone who just seems to invent everything about their lives, they are illogical and impossible to reason with? "People change when truth's not part of their lives."
I never knew it was in context of the Wilsons, which may detract from the line in my opinion, but it's still incredible. In that case, what man lives under his covers? BRIAN WILSON. ding (did you guys check out his album "Smile?" do it. you can listen to it a thousand times and NEVER hear everything that's going on musically.)
"Lost his mind from the TV." Again, another excellent line, whether it's in context with the Wilsons or not. The story is, that Brian Wilson saw preformance of Jimi Hendrix on the television, and Hendrix freaked out and yelled, "YOU'LL NEVER HEAR ANOTHER BEACH TUNE AGAIN!" Brian was working on Smile at the time (a LONG time ago), and he threw away all of the recordings he had done so far. As far as Murray having lost his mind from the TV, he pushed his kids to be perfect. This isn't like your regular, well-wishing dad. Nothing was ever good enough-- he beat on them, etc. To say that he was a "real asshole" is a huge understatement ("playing god?"). So he MADE them produce singles that were popular country-wide, so they were on Television and whatnot. He "lost his mind from the TV."
Great song, Pete.
Peace
Well I am not sure exactly what this song means, but I think that with lyrics like, "And we both know, that people change when truth’s not part of their lives, I’ve seen the love in their eyes, don’t say goodbye….goodbye," it is obvious that Pete Yorn has some type of extraordinary clarity.
Apparently, this song is about about Brian Wilson's father, Murray, or so it says at peteyorn.com.
ahhh does it matter what its about? its a great song to just get up and do a little jig too.
BlinkGrl, the whole songmeanings.net concept is to discuss the meanings of the songs (hence the title). hehe craziness...
It is about Murray Wilson (Brian, Carl, and Dennis' dad). He was the manager of the Beach Boys, and he was a real asshole.
I really like the line about "Talkin' out of the left side of his mouth." That's pretty funny, because that's exactly what Brian Wilson does.
The line "come back from the school yard talkin' about Love" probably refers to their cousin and fellow bandmate Mike Love (who is now suing Brian Wilson over any number of Beach Boys-related issues), as they all grew up together in Hawthorne, California.