Hello

I propose that this song is an encoded message from an artist to its soulmate. The implication is that some cosmic process has separated two lovers, perhaps due to inevitable cycles of death and rebirth. Thus, they are having to go through the motions to relocate each other's pieces in new "physical" incarnations. Because of the nature of perception and states of consciousness--it may not be feasible for the central entity that is broadcasting this transmission to "walk in the door" of the intended recipient. So instead of providing the targeted listener with a "password', the song asks for a response ("tap in a code"...which might be read as 'show a sign of intelligent life...beat out a rhythm I'll recognize...'). The implication is that there's no silver bullet for getting the two back together as one instantly ("I don't have the password") but that each step of self-expression will provide a gateway to allow the fragments to attract each other and get closer to the source. But don't take my word for it--I heard all this from the Master Of Disguise himself...

It's also featured in the movie 'Stir of echoes'

The song is about the internet. It's about going into chat rooms (hey are you out there?) You can even hear modem sounds if you listen.

I always interpreted this song as being about the omniprescence of MODerators being all big brotherish, theres even a bit in the song where she seems to be complaining about how long it can take to talk to a moderator (on some sites) if you need to talk to one (like with a glitch or something); but I can see it being about hackers, the thing about leaving a trace on a data back road is something hackers try to avoid, no? (unless they want to get back in later) and isnt that chain linked thing about hidden messages that you click on part of an image or something and it routes you to another site or something? It could be something less literal and be referring to a "disconnected" (depressed?) boyfriend...

All these other discussions have merit, but in a more general and (imo) important sense, the song is about feeling lost in life, and missing somebody important.

I got the c.d. that this is on like whe it came out in '95. AS usual I was the oddball-nobody had ever heard of "Poe". So imagine my suprise when it was the ending credits song on "Stir of Echoes"-which kinda put a creepy other worldly feel to it.

Poe.org was one of the first social media sites, she was very actively involved in online social media in it's earliest days. I am so bummed I missed it, along with passing on a Nirvana concert because I planned to see them next time it is the biggest regret of my young life.

I believe she's looking for a specific person who's screenname she won't say because she'd have no way to distinguish him from an impersonating fan so she uses the abbreviation of his screenname or perhaps refers to him as an inside reference by calling him MOD, possibly referring to Masters of Deception either because he was one of it's members (unlikely, they're mostly identified) or maybe he was a hacker and they'd discussed MOD before.

I believe she made this song a Billboard #1 dance hit of 1997 in order to find him. I don't know but badly want to know what some of the clues in the song mean (things like "MOD" and "chainlinked"), is there an archive of poe.org that I can read (I didn't realize, Ms. Danielewski, I knew you'd be online but didn't want to bother you if you were even findable; that's what took me so long) and most of all, did it work? Did she find him? Did she ever talk about the song in interview? Was it just a creative work of fiction?

Does anyone have any ideas about this song?

Poe wrote this song after reading an article about a group of hackers called MOD...she wrote the crease of the magazine...or something like that.

this song is written to the MODS on this board,

just to say hello for doing a good job