Warren wanted a Beach Boys thing for this one, and Carl Wilson and Billy Hinsche came in, with Carl arranging the vocal parts. The other harmony vocalists (credited as the "Gentlemen Boys") were Jackson Browne, J.D. Souther, Zevon's longtime backers Waddy Wachtel and Jorge Calderon, and Linda Rondstadt/Stone Poneys guitarist Kenny Edwards.
When you were languishing in rooms I built to file you in
And when the wind set down in funnel form and pulled you in
I don't need to walk around in circles
Walk around in circles, walk around in circles
Walk around in
Don't need to walk around in circles
Walk around in circles, walk around in circles
Walk around in
And when the ghostly dust of violence traces everything
And when the gas runs out just wreck it, you insured the thing
I don't need to walk around in circles
Walk around in circles, walk around in circles
Walk around in
Don't need to walk around in circles
Walk around in circles, walk around in circles
Walk around in
Doom da doom da doom
Well I'm going, I'm going
Doom da doom da doom
Well I'm going, I'm going
Doom da doom da doom
Well I'm going, I'm going
Doom da doom da doom
Well I'm going, I'm going
But I can't sigh now that you made the move
It has gone and gone to dogs
Lay down on the floor
For the right price I can get everything
Slip into the car
Go driving to the farthest star
I don't need to walk around in circles, walk-a
In circles, walk around in circles
Walk around in-a
Don't need to walk around in circles
Walk around in circles, walk around in circles
Walk around in
Don't need to walk around in circles
Walk around in circles, walk around in circles
Walk around in
And when the wind set down in funnel form and pulled you in
I don't need to walk around in circles
Walk around in circles, walk around in circles
Walk around in
Don't need to walk around in circles
Walk around in circles, walk around in circles
Walk around in
And when the ghostly dust of violence traces everything
And when the gas runs out just wreck it, you insured the thing
I don't need to walk around in circles
Walk around in circles, walk around in circles
Walk around in
Don't need to walk around in circles
Walk around in circles, walk around in circles
Walk around in
Doom da doom da doom
Well I'm going, I'm going
Doom da doom da doom
Well I'm going, I'm going
Doom da doom da doom
Well I'm going, I'm going
Doom da doom da doom
Well I'm going, I'm going
But I can't sigh now that you made the move
It has gone and gone to dogs
Lay down on the floor
For the right price I can get everything
Slip into the car
Go driving to the farthest star
I don't need to walk around in circles, walk-a
In circles, walk around in circles
Walk around in-a
Don't need to walk around in circles
Walk around in circles, walk around in circles
Walk around in
Don't need to walk around in circles
Walk around in circles, walk around in circles
Walk around in
Lyrics submitted by bizzichild
Circles Lyrics as written by Michael Doughty Mark Degliantoni
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Downtown Music Publishing, Songtrust Ave, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Spirit Within
Bertoldi Brothers
Bertoldi Brothers
Show Me a Little Shame
Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals
Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals
He certainly did earn that reputation.
Battle Royale
Word Alive, The
Word Alive, The
This song is def a twin to "Unfair" (a song she has been quoted as saying is about falling in love with someone who is already in a relationship) so it is presumably about the same person. Given the references to buying an apartment and not being able to see her love interest "after tonight," it's most likely that she's moving away and she'll "wait a day to break the bad news" (i.e. notifying him that she's leaving once she's already gone).
And, of course, the fact that she sees in him a fellow "idealist" and "dreamer" (terms commonly given to people with the INFP personality on the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)) portends that she'll always be left wondering if they would've been perfect together.
Standing On The Edge Of Summer
Thursday
Thursday
In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
Doughty has written that the "going in circles" part is how he felt about the band at that point. The "rooms I built to foul you in" refers to the Wincester Mystery House.
I think it's about a relationship. And it's not really going anywhere, circles, so he's just kinda laying it down for the girl about what he wants.
The last half of the song seems to be about the breakup.
"When the gas runs out, just wreck it, you insured the thing," is such an great lyric I think. It just describes the philosophy of a person who would rather walk out on a relationship (or anything) rather than fix a miniscule existing problem.
@Taobeth good interpretation
Great song, great band. Few bands have as much class as theses guys do.
dude, he's bein' deep AND singing about cars.. what a fkin' genius!!!
I love this song...I have memories of my youth singing "I don't need to walk around in circles" in the check out lines with my mom and them giving me weird looks...no one believed me it was a real song, then I downloaded it, LoL. It's too great.
Mike Doughty is Jesus.
This is one of the best songs to relax to in my opinion.
fun song, really cool. ive liked it ever since i heard it on the tv show felicity a long time ago
Somewhat repetetive. Listening to the song, I wouldn't have thought much of it, but the lyrics suggest a poetically calm and pensive state