I Was a Prisoner in Your Skull Lyrics

Lyric discussion by Maige 

Cover art for I Was a Prisoner in Your Skull lyrics by Swans

I thought it was pretty straight forward, the title gives it away; I Was A Prisoner Inside Your Skull.

Basically it's a conversation between the subconscious and the rest of the mind (perhaps multiple personalities because of the term 'everyone'), but directed at the dominant personality (something he knows a great deal about).

It seems that the disturbed person tried to suppress this element of the mind (the 'fucked up' prisoner) only to find that this element was tethered to basic yet vital functions (turning on the water, using a fork etc).

The 'prisoner' is stating that although he is 'fucked up' the person is more fucked up without him; he cannot function. The last part is left ambiguous, possibly to give us a hint of the nature of the prisoner and why he was suppressed in the first place. Naturally we'd think that he was going to say 'show you how to drive' but he also mentions going to school. The omission could indicate that the 'prisoner' has malicious intentions and that the person has to compromise his restraint in order to perform basic functions.

Listen to it and it makes sense, there is too much detail for the conversation to be between two separate individuals.

@Maige I don' think so. The whole speech is delivered in a really shitty sound quality. There are a lot of instances of a micro cutting in and out. Doesn't make sense for a monologue.