Okay, there’s obviously some kind of relationship situation going on in this song but I think the first verse addresses something more general. Here’s my crack at it:
He’s lost his membership card to the human race, or, he’s an outsider, disconnected from everyone. However(!) he wants to get back into the loop and is, so to speak, in the process of getting his card reprinted. As he prepares to reassimilate himself with people he recalls his priorities: having feelings good, dishonesty bad, holding back worst, i.e. he must make an effort to connect to people and share his feelings, not be defensive or restrained. And as soon as he rises to the occasion, people (Morrison cleverly calls them ‘injuns over the hill’) start to pose problems for him.
The next verse is more concrete and specific. He’s not just having trouble connecting with people in general but with one person in particular, presumably his girlfriend. He can’t be straight (eye-to-eye) with her, honest about his feelings, though he’d like to be. Instead, they’re in a power struggle. He can win the argument and be above her or lose the argument and be below her but he can’t just be on the same level with her, sharing feelings honestly. Moses brought God’s Ten Commandments down from Mount Sinai to the Jews in Exodus, I suppose this comparison is supposed to indicate the state of his relationship since both the narrator and his partner just deliver judgments or moral justifications to each other and don’t share anything they really feel.
His girlfriend distrusts him. They can’t be friendly anymore. They’re miserable. They can’t make each other laugh, except in defiance of one another. And his question to her is the chorus: what do you want me to say so you’ll trust me? So you’ll believe that I’m being straight with you?!
The song is about the challenges of connecting with people; of being honest and sincere with them instead of having to fight or use them; of getting people to trust you, trust that you won’t judge them or use them.
By the way, this song is one of my favorites from E&I. The obscure verses take some unraveling but the music is so immediate that the song is very probably the most cathartic on the whole album.
Okay, there’s obviously some kind of relationship situation going on in this song but I think the first verse addresses something more general. Here’s my crack at it:
He’s lost his membership card to the human race, or, he’s an outsider, disconnected from everyone. However(!) he wants to get back into the loop and is, so to speak, in the process of getting his card reprinted. As he prepares to reassimilate himself with people he recalls his priorities: having feelings good, dishonesty bad, holding back worst, i.e. he must make an effort to connect to people and share his feelings, not be defensive or restrained. And as soon as he rises to the occasion, people (Morrison cleverly calls them ‘injuns over the hill’) start to pose problems for him.
The next verse is more concrete and specific. He’s not just having trouble connecting with people in general but with one person in particular, presumably his girlfriend. He can’t be straight (eye-to-eye) with her, honest about his feelings, though he’d like to be. Instead, they’re in a power struggle. He can win the argument and be above her or lose the argument and be below her but he can’t just be on the same level with her, sharing feelings honestly. Moses brought God’s Ten Commandments down from Mount Sinai to the Jews in Exodus, I suppose this comparison is supposed to indicate the state of his relationship since both the narrator and his partner just deliver judgments or moral justifications to each other and don’t share anything they really feel.
His girlfriend distrusts him. They can’t be friendly anymore. They’re miserable. They can’t make each other laugh, except in defiance of one another. And his question to her is the chorus: what do you want me to say so you’ll trust me? So you’ll believe that I’m being straight with you?!
The song is about the challenges of connecting with people; of being honest and sincere with them instead of having to fight or use them; of getting people to trust you, trust that you won’t judge them or use them.
By the way, this song is one of my favorites from E&I. The obscure verses take some unraveling but the music is so immediate that the song is very probably the most cathartic on the whole album.