Well I've opened up my veins too many times
And the poison's in my heart and in my mind
Poison's in my bloodstream, poison's in my pride
I'm after rebellion, I'll settle for lies

Is it any wonder that my mind's on fire
Imprisoned by the thoughts of what you do
Is it any wonder that the joke's an iron
And the jokes on you

Experiments that failed too many times
Transformations that were too hard to find
Poison's in my bloodstream, poison's in my pride
I'm after rebellion, I'll settle for lies

Yes I know the secrets of the iron and mind
They're trinity acts a mineral fire
Yes I know the secrets of the circuitry mind
It's a flaming wonder telepath

Well I've opened up my veins too many times
And the poison's in my heart and in my mind
Poison's in my bloodstream, poison's in my pride
I'm after rebellion, I'll settle for lies

Is it any wonder that my mind's on fire
Imprisoned by the thoughts of what you do
Is it any wonder that the joke's an iron
And the jokes on you

And the joke's on you


Lyrics submitted by shut, edited by SMUSER17506205

Flaming Telepaths Lyrics as written by Donald Roeser Albert Bouchard

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

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Flaming Telepaths song meanings
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  • +2
    General Comment

    If the penultimate line in the song is in fact "Is it any wonder that my jokes an iron," it seems to me to be the most enigmatic line in the verse. Open to interpretation naturally, but I do not feel the term 'iron' here has anything to do with a device for pressing one's clothes.
    So I looked up some information on iron symbolism. Iron could refer to irony - the joke being on you that you've opened your mind only to drive yourself crazy. Likewise, iron in the bible is sometimes used to symbolize natural truth, e.g. a truth as hard as iron. In that case, Is it any wonder that my joke is a natural truth, and the 'joke's on you' referring to your natural demise. This was my first sense of the song before delving deeper. Of course there is, as is so often the case with those of the soft white, a literary reference as well. In the short story, I Stand Here Ironing by Tillie Olsen, the iron stands between the secondary character and the first limiting her ability to fully engage with the other. I'm not saying this is what Lanier et al was thinking, simply that these sort of things have a way of creeping into the collective. Hence the joke is the blockage itself, and your blockage is your desire. To be honest, I want to believe there is room for all three given the development of the last three songs on the album. Even in this day of MP3 players and short attention spans, I have HoE, FTs, and Astronomy all in one track. There is a progression here if you look with your eyes closed: HoE being this amoral monster in pursuit of knowledge beyond his own vision, FTs experiencing it and its ramifications, and finally a vision spanning time and space, Astronomy. I could be wrong. It's probably just about vampires.

    oldgreyrabbiton November 18, 2020   Link

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