Crash Test Dummies: Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm Meaning
Song Released: 1993
Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm Lyrics
Got into an accident and couldn't come to school
But when he finally came back
His hair had turned from black into bright white
He said that it was from when
The cars had smashed him so hard
Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm...
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This song is actually about nothing at all, if you read into it, everything had always been there, it just is. Period. I think people read way too much into it. 2nd verse, birthmarks had just been there, I have moles that have always been there...
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I think it's about people.
People and love.
Y'know, it's like, did you ever have a pet that you really loved, but couldn't help yourself from kicking it, just because it ran out on the road? A kind of visceral affection, manifested through violence and a version of being tactile that many cannot understand.
Either that, or they're just taking the mickey. -
This song is about two children who have physical issues with themselves and are embarrassed or ashamed of their physical issues. Although one child has a issue with parents and religion, it shows that the two with physical issue children would rather live their life with those issues then live in the life of the third boy with their parents and religion.
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Well, please don't judge me as I'm am only a thirteen year old teenager who is obsessed with this song.
I think, yes, that the first is a car crash. But I also think that maybe the car had smashed so hard into him that some cell made his hair turn white or something?!
I'm not sure about the second one, they could be birthmarks OR bruises.
I think that the third one suggests that there is always someone worse off than you, and despite how sad and sympathetic we feel for them we will always have this secret joy inside us that we are not them.
The shaking, well I think that the 'holy ghost' theory is quite likely seeing as they go to church and shake on the church floor. He probably doesn't want to be like this and his parents say he has too. And his parents are making him get teased and being labeled as weird. So his parents have probably screwed up his life by being like this because life starts from childhood and clearly his childhood is being screwed up.
In the end it all comes down to that there will always be someone worse off than you, depending in what way they are worse off than you. appearances aren't everything because in the end the boy being classified as 'weird' came out as being worse off.
But like I said I'm only thirteen so it's probably not very accurate. -
This song is over *15* years old and its exact meaning is still up for grabs.
Fascinating. Way to go CTDs. -
The third verse the kid has seizures so the other two are glad to not be him because their problems are minor compared to his
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I feel the whole song is about 3 different stories of child abuse. The first one I feel it really isn't an ACCIDENT .. maybe he was being beaten and everyone was led to believe it was an accident.. His hair turned white from being scared. The second girl has bruises she was ashamed of. The 3rd is a boy forced into seclusion and religion from his parents. Shaking all over the church floor eludes to religions that get the "holy ghost" in them where the people shake and speak in tongues.
And therefore the first two even though abused. The mental abuse of the third boy ... being he has no control and is being sheltered. Maybe in the long run that type of abuse might cause more future mental damage. -
This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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The video gives a little more clarity. To say that the third kids parents are for sure abusive is a little bit of a stretch but if you watch the video for the song they do seem ashamed of something unlike the other parents shown and the kid is scared on stage unlike the other children actors. The abuse thing I do not buy. If they meant brusis why say birthmarks. It was not the little girl daying they were birth marks.
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I think the "protection of patents" theory is silly, you're trying to read to far into nothing. If he was implying abuse he wouldn't have said "birthmarks" probably bruises, or just marks. And the boy's hair could only really go bright white due to a severe shock caused by a horrific accident, it happens in extreme cases.
And "mmm mmm mmm mmm" being "don't think so"?!?
They've said themselves that the "mmm" bit originally was intended to have words in, but when they played to friends they were told it sounded good that way.
Sounds stupid but it's true.
But I have absolutely no idea for the third verse, s'why I came on here looking for the meaning :)
Maybe there were lots of bees... -
I agree with the interpretation that the kids are protecting their parents. The main clue to the meaning is the recourse HMMM, HMMMM,.... like "don't think so" from say a social worker's point of view. How does an accident change your hair color, really...Birthmarks?...hmmmm
The last kid sheltered from the real world could be describing anything, as "their" church could be anything. Think of it as a cult of some sort that this kid has no control of his involvement.
So the song is expressing that reality/truth is all relative. So the next "kid story" you hear that doesn't ad up, well...hmmmmm -
For the first two kids I think that the white hair and the birthmarks represent little issues, details or peculiarities that the children can have, which are magnified by other kids, to make fun about it, which force the other kids to give absurd explanations (like the accident, for example), and this way, not to have to reveal the real reason of their peculiarities, which make them feel ashamed.
Finnaly, for the kid and parents, I agree with interpretation N°5. -
For the first kid, I believe that he got into a car accident, and he had been badly hurt by the accident, and therefore, he didn't really his life. (And maybe got into a coma and grew old?) Anyways, I think that when he came back to school he was different mentally because of the accident.
The girl: I think that she had been abused by her parents, hence the birthmarks = bruises theory.
And the last one.. I have no idea, how to interpret that. I don't think the epileptic thing makes sense, but it could have something to do with the religion, and.. How they trap their son into it to. -
Well the third boy doesn't have epileptic parents
his parents are probably shakers which is a lesser know offshoot quaker religion -
I think the person who said you feel he girl was abused by her parents is wrong, how the hell to you get that from it saying she had birthmarks all over her body. Don't you think he just would have said she had bruises all over her body!? I actually agree with the 5th interpretation. :)
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