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Mimi On The Beach Lyrics
I scan the horizon for you, Mimi
I scan for the both of us
I scan the horizon for you, Mimi
I stand and scan on the strand of sand
stand and scan on the strand of sand
but first I'm sitting over here
see that gaggle of guys and girls
a typical day at the beach
well, typical 'til I make my speech
there is a girl out on the sea
floating on a pink surfboard
with a picnic lunch and parasol
sitting there like a typical girl
this is not a locker room
and that's a surfboard --- not a yacht
the arrangement's not --- quite --- quite there
one girl laughs at skinny guys
someone else points out a queer
they're all jocks --- both guys and girls
press the button --- take your cue
and see the girl with perfect teeth
she picks up lonely guys in bars
then she takes off when they've bought her drinks
don't you have money? I ask
of course I do...
this is not a locker room
and that's a surfboard --- not a yacht
the arrangement's not --- quite --- quite there
but the day was faultless in beauty
pitched on tropical scenery
stretched from white sand
up to the open sky
down to the shining sea again
and then back to me
and Mimi on the beach
Mimi on the beach
Mimi and me...
I'm still sitting over there
one guy just got up and brayed
they wag their words --- they're all in heat
I can ignore it --- just don't steam up the view
Mimi's still out on the sea
floating on a pink surfboard
she's checking out her arms and legs
in case her casing's getting burnt
this is not a locker room
and that's a surfboard --- not a yacht
the arrangement's not --- quite --- quite there
but the day was faultless in beauty
pitched on tropical scenery
stretched from white sand
up to the open sky
down to the shining sea again
and then back to me
and Mimi on the beach
Mimi on the beach
Mimi and me...
you don't know me but I've been watching you all day
and I've come to the edge of the water now to have my say
the picnic lunch is off
throw your parasol away
put your belly to the board, Mimi, and paddle out to sea
then turn the board around, Mimi, until you're facing me
then you wait for the waves to start building
for the valleys to deepen
and the mountains to increase in height
and when the right times comes, Mimi
you grab the edges of the board with your hands
lift yourself up and stand there
and see as fasr as you can see
stand up, Mimi
STAND UP
I scan the horizon for you, Mimi
I scan for the both of us
I scan the horizon for you, Mimi
I stand and scan on the strand of sand
stand and scan on the strand of sand
the great leveller is coming
and he's not going to stop to take your pulse
and he's not going to ask you why you're the way you are
and I think that's the worst part
you never get a chance to explain yourself
and he's going to take those mountains
and shove them into the valleys
until there's nothing left except a vast expanse
and you'll float there, Mimi
on the flat Sargasso Sea of your soul
and if they pull you away from your bleaching pink surfboard
and stretch you across the wind
you'll make no sound
wet leaves on a dry map
nothing, nobody
the great leveller or the great escape?
but the day was faultless in beauty
pitched on tropical scenery
stretched from white sand
up to the open sky
down to the shining sea again
and then back to me
and Mimi on the beach
Mimi on the beach
Mimi and me...
there is a girl out on the sea
floating on a pink surfboard
a parasol floats nearby
the arrangement's not --- quite --- quite there
I scan for the both of us
I scan the horizon for you, Mimi
I stand and scan on the strand of sand
stand and scan on the strand of sand
see that gaggle of guys and girls
a typical day at the beach
well, typical 'til I make my speech
floating on a pink surfboard
with a picnic lunch and parasol
sitting there like a typical girl
and that's a surfboard --- not a yacht
the arrangement's not --- quite --- quite there
someone else points out a queer
they're all jocks --- both guys and girls
press the button --- take your cue
she picks up lonely guys in bars
then she takes off when they've bought her drinks
don't you have money? I ask
of course I do...
and that's a surfboard --- not a yacht
the arrangement's not --- quite --- quite there
pitched on tropical scenery
stretched from white sand
up to the open sky
down to the shining sea again
and then back to me
and Mimi on the beach
Mimi on the beach
Mimi and me...
one guy just got up and brayed
they wag their words --- they're all in heat
I can ignore it --- just don't steam up the view
floating on a pink surfboard
she's checking out her arms and legs
in case her casing's getting burnt
and that's a surfboard --- not a yacht
the arrangement's not --- quite --- quite there
pitched on tropical scenery
stretched from white sand
up to the open sky
down to the shining sea again
and then back to me
and Mimi on the beach
Mimi on the beach
Mimi and me...
and I've come to the edge of the water now to have my say
the picnic lunch is off
throw your parasol away
put your belly to the board, Mimi, and paddle out to sea
then turn the board around, Mimi, until you're facing me
then you wait for the waves to start building
for the valleys to deepen
and the mountains to increase in height
and when the right times comes, Mimi
you grab the edges of the board with your hands
lift yourself up and stand there
and see as fasr as you can see
stand up, Mimi
STAND UP
I scan for the both of us
I scan the horizon for you, Mimi
I stand and scan on the strand of sand
stand and scan on the strand of sand
and he's not going to stop to take your pulse
and he's not going to ask you why you're the way you are
and I think that's the worst part
you never get a chance to explain yourself
and he's going to take those mountains
and shove them into the valleys
until there's nothing left except a vast expanse
and you'll float there, Mimi
on the flat Sargasso Sea of your soul
and if they pull you away from your bleaching pink surfboard
and stretch you across the wind
you'll make no sound
wet leaves on a dry map
nothing, nobody
the great leveller or the great escape?
pitched on tropical scenery
stretched from white sand
up to the open sky
down to the shining sea again
and then back to me
and Mimi on the beach
Mimi on the beach
Mimi and me...
floating on a pink surfboard
a parasol floats nearby
the arrangement's not --- quite --- quite there
Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.
At first, I thought it was a lesbian song about a girl (i.e. Jane Siberry) desperate for another girl named Mimi who was at sea floating on a pink surfboard. I later soon found out by the song's sequel "Mimi Speaks" that pretty much explains the whole story behind the events surrounding the song Mimi on the Beach with no hints of lesbianism unlike Mimi on the Beach.
Mimi speaks does not explain the original, it replies to it. You were partly right at the outset. Jane plays with same sex desires in her early music, and a little in her life according to someone who would know. I'm not saying she "did things" -- I'm saying she dabbled in the idea of same sex eros -- not as dull and blatant as those two Russian girls in school outfits on a national tongue sicking tour to sell a one hit wonder, nor the Britney Madonna thing --something a little more subtle and...
Mimi speaks does not explain the original, it replies to it. You were partly right at the outset. Jane plays with same sex desires in her early music, and a little in her life according to someone who would know. I'm not saying she "did things" -- I'm saying she dabbled in the idea of same sex eros -- not as dull and blatant as those two Russian girls in school outfits on a national tongue sicking tour to sell a one hit wonder, nor the Britney Madonna thing --something a little more subtle and a lot earlier. Look, she is a very good writer and smart. THE SPECKLESS SKY album is very very good -- I sent a copy of it to William Irwin Thompson who was interested in studying it, and I, myself looked at it as well. As for Mimi, which is a great song and early, it's in part an outsider song and it captures the ambiguity if being an outsider -- all the dumb jocks and jockettes on the beach caught in their rituals as one community, the intellectual poet standing nearby able to disrupt their slumber with a meaningful sentence, and then also, somewhat in the distance, the sublime object of contemplation and desire: the girl on the pink surfboard. The poet is struggling to make sense of her relationship to the sublime Mimi -- why does Mimi captivate her (that way that women are captivated by Cosmo cover model images) and how can the poet be true to herself when an image like this has the ability to overwhelm her just as easily as it does these morons hooting on the shoreline. She resolves it with the "great leveler" a play on a giant wave, but it's really time or death -- what will take that body of Mimi's (does she call it a container) and make it no more interesting than anyone else's. So it's a contemplation of the way we obsess with beauty and project meaning on it. The Mimi speaks song is when Jane comes back as a grown up and realizes that her very comments about Mimi, suggesting she was spiritually empty because she was not a beach poet and such. In that song Mimi basically says, Bitch you don't know me. So it's one iteration away from the original contemplation critique. Of course, the original is the better tune because the issue is not the philosophy of desire which will not be resolved in a 26 line song, it's about the juxtaposition of contemplative forms and the subject position of the poet -- in other words, the singer does not have to be profound if she is commenting on her own subject position as a confounded adolescent. That and the tune is great of course.