Imogen Heap: Hide and Seek Meaning
Hide and Seek Lyrics
the dust has only just began to fall
crop circles in the carpet, sinking, feeling
spin me around again and rub my eyes
this can't be happening
when busy streets a mess with people would stop to...
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1TOP RATED
#1 top rated interpretation:This is a pretty credible interpretation of the lyrics that I found. Just sorry I couldn't figure it out, it seems obvious now. Trains and sewing machines threw me off. She is clever!
Interpretation in parenthesis
where are we?
What the hell is going on?...
Dust has only just begun to fall,
(a big fight recently happened between wife and husband
and the dust is just settling and she has no idea of whats coming next)
crop circles in the carpet
sinking, feeling...
Spin me around again and rub my eyes
this can't be happening...
(she just came home and the devastating realization hits so very hard;
some furniture is gone (carpet crop circles),
and unable to accept being left, the world is falling apart)
when busy streets amess with people
would stop to hold their heads heavy
(if the whole world felt what she felt,
this is what it might look like. Everything, everybody stops
to hold their heads heavy because, nothing else matters. It looks as if all that is precious is lost
and things will never be the same again...)
hide and seek
(the "game" of finding love, seeking and hoping to find it)
trains and sewing machines
(the trains of a wedding dress and the work it takes to make the dress and as well, a marriage)
all those years, they were here first..
(the breakup is happening, but our marriage, our time together happened too. It was here first before the other, and it was real and it meant something.)
oily marks appear on walls
where pleasure moments hung before...
(the place where pictures and happy memories hung before, but no longer. The absents of the pictures are as painfull as if they were still hung... The poor womans life is now a sad and lonely void)
the takeover, the sweeping insensitivity of this still life.
(the takeover meaning being pushed aside by the other?
The harsh cold and gray of loneliness after having known love and the loss of it.)
hide and seek
trains and sewing machines ...Oh, won't catch me around here...
(i'll not play the "game" of finding love...
I will never marry again.....)
(and this is why... Her past experience was so brutally painful and damaging
(can't forget, can't heal??))
blood and tears.... They were here first
ohm, what'd you say, mmm, that you only meant well?
Well of course you did
(meant well? Doesn't meaning well mean trying to fix it. We vowed to each other for better or worse.)
ohm, what'd you say, mmm, that it's all for the best
'cause it is
(for the best? You're just going to throw it all away?)
ohm, what'd you say, mmm, that it's just what we need...You decided this?
(.... You decided this? Shouldn't we talk and both decide??
Ohm, what'd you say, mmm, what did she say?
(the third party... The reason all this happened)
ransom notes keep falling out your mouth
(love being held hostage, dangled in front with hollow words and no
intention of trying to go back to what we had)
mid-sweet talk, newspaper word cut-outs
speak no feeling, no I don't believe you
you can bet you don't care a bit...
(saying things, words you know I want to hear but no feeling in them
... I know you don't care anymore. I don't believe you)
ransom notes keep falling out your mouth
mid-sweet talk, newspaper word cut-outs
speak no feeling, no I don't believe you...
You don't care a bit
you don't care a bit
you don't care a bit
you don't care a bit -
2TOP RATED
#2 top rated interpretation:My first thought was that the song was about loss of a relationship. And that may be true. Then it shifts into a brand of loss that seems larger and more universal. Loss on a more public, global scale. That mix made me think that this was about 9/11, from the perpective of someone who lost a loved one, but it also outraged at the world for what it has become. A very sad song indeed and brilliant because like all powerful art, it means something different to everyone.
However, I was so interested in seeking what imogen's motivation was for writing the lyrics, I search high and low on the net and found the following (in her own words) which speaks about the writing of the song and how she chooses to (or not to)define the meaning. When the interviewer asks her what the song means, here is her answer:
"well, i’m not going to tell you exactly what it’s about, because I think that's part of the reason why it is not so obvious is sometimes it’s good to have those songs that really mean something very dear to you, but maybe you don’t want to speak about it to the rest of the world. But, with that one, I wrote it so quickly, the lyrics I probably wrote in about 20 minutes, which is unheard of. But I like to be clever with words and I like to make them like a puzzle, I like the words to sound interesting in the mouth and create patterns within themselves. So with that one, it just literally came out of nowhere and I found myself getting really passionate about it and it just poured out of me. There was something in my life that obviously needed to be said.
In a broad strokes way, it’s about losing something very dear to me and how much of an impact that person had on my life and about maybe how when something awful happens to somebody else, how other people react to it. It tied in with when I went to see michael moore’s farenheit 911 and I remembered that image of george bush being told and him completeley carrying on as if nothing had happened. And I just thought that was outrageous, if I was the president I would run out of their and fucking get onto the tv and say something amazing, and he wasn’t even reading his book and he had it upside down. And I was really horrified at how selfish and awful he was, and how emotionless he was and that kind of reminded me a little bit about somebody else behind this song." -
3TOP RATED
#3 top rated interpretation:In my opinion, this song reflects a combination of emotional anguish and a certain sense of disbelief/nostalgia suffered from one who has just been broken up with. The lines, "crop circles in the carpet, sinking, feeling/spin me around again and rub my eyes/this can't be happening", made me picture a a man entering his living room with some furniture having already been removed (literally creating the 'crop circles' in the carpet). I picture him standing there thinking about the good times or "pleasured moments" with his former partner, then falling to his knees, saying to himself "how did this all just happen?"
i interpreted the "hide and seek" portion of the lyrics to illustrate just how transient a relationship can be in the grand scheme of things.
Towards the end, you can feel that overwhelming sense of insensitivity that the one person must have felt at the end of the relationship. "mid-sweet talk, newspaper word cut outs/speak no feeling no I don't believe you" - it almost feels like it was out of the blue and as if the person who was initiating the break-up sugarcoated the whole deal with some pretense of friendship. -
This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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Deep inside the minds of people lurk thoughts, words, fears, ideas. Take two people, any two people, and reach into their minds and hearts. Then, compile the most choice parts of two fragmented interviews into a "heap" of lyrics that have little meaning and even less continuity, and one can then start to understand how Imo may have penned these lyrics. I, for one, am glad she did. She sings beautifully.
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Not sure about most of the song, but I think that "Spin me 'round again" could be referring to when you are given bad news and wish you could go back to not knowing it, like when you turn around and find something frightening behind you, your first instinct is to turn back around.
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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It's not just about a wife and husband. It's about her own parents and how she was so lost after they divorced hence the "hide and seek". They divorced when she was twelve
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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This song is CLEARLY about a robot takeover on earth, you dont have to be a genius to figure it out...
Where are we?
What the hell is going on?
(lost, confused in the alien world the protagonist has found herself in)
The dust has only just begun to fall
(the takeover has just finished, robots have taken over the humans as the dominant species and are building their society)
Crop circles in the carpet
(crop circles refers to the alien nature of the new world but also the destruction of the "carpet"(old human civilization, carpet symbolizing intergeated and structured))
Sinking feeling
(protagonist realizes the old way of life is gone and they have lost everything)
Spin me around again and rub my eyes
This can't be happening
(protagonist shows disbelief, cannot believe what has happened)
When busy streets a mess with people
Would stop to hold their heads heavy
(thoughts about life before the takeover, this is shown by the use of past tense. People would be saddened by the loss of human civilization (heads heavy))
Hide and seek
(life is now a game of hide and seek for the protagonist, constantly running from the robot police)
Trains and sewing machines
(she doesn't understand the robots and derogatorily refers to them as "trains and sewing machines")
All those years
They were here first
(all the years of human civilization were here before the robots, protagonist feels angry that the robots took her life away from her and uses the defense that humans were here first so deserve to control earth)
Oily marks appear on walls
Where pleasure moments hung before
(robots use the old human houses and the pictures of family and friends ("pleasure moments") have been destroyed. Oil refers to the robots leaving oily residue everywhere)
The takeover, the sweeping insensitivity
(the destruction and takeover of the human race by robots, was obviously insensitive)
Of this still life
(present tense refers to post-takeover, robots are referred to as "still" as in lifeless)
Hide and seek
Trains and sewing machines
(after this line are also the words "you won't catch me around here". This obviously refers to the avoidance of robot police by the protagonist.)
Blood and tears
They were here first
(blood and tears were here first, obviously robots have neither. Reference to pre-takeover civilization)
Mm what'cha say?
Mm, that you only meant well
(the robots only meant to increase productivity and help out the humans but ended up destroying their civilization)
Well of course you did
(sarcasm)
Mm what'cha say?
Mm that it's all for the best
(that robots are more efficient than humans and their society is better)
Of course it is
(more sarcasm)
Mm what'cha say?
Mm that it's just what we need
(robots were needed to keep up with growing human demand but it got out of hand and they took over)
You decided this?
(reference to robot thought process, the robots can now think for themselves)
Mm what'cha say?
Mm what did you say?
(reference to all the people who promoted robots in the human times)
Ransom notes keep falling out your mouth
Mid-sweet-talk newspaper word cutouts (paper word cutouts)
(robots have no feelings, what they say is fabricated and lifeless like ransom notes)
Speak no feeling; no, I don't believe you
(robots cannot convey feeling, protagonist doesn't believe them because they have no feeling or emotion in what they say)
You don't care a bit
You don't care a bit
(robots are incapeable of caring)
When you put the evidence together, it's clear this song is about the robot takeover of the world. -
When listening to this I think about a society in war with another. The bombs of one landed on the other right when people were in their daily routines. The places where factory workers of textile mills lived were raided and abandoned. In this I imagine two survivors talking about this, when one says "They were here first" (meaning the other society had rights of passage to the territory). This upsets the other survivor, they continue their talk and the first survivor tries to justify it.
The last part I imagine somone taking somone dear to one of the survivors, preferrably the 2nd (one who objects). This somone taken is being held by many others at ransome. Finally the line "you don't care a bit" whould refer to the 1st survivors lack of care for the second survivors dear freind/love -
i just have to say i full-heartedly agree with the alien interpretation of this song. that's clearly what it's about. here is my proof:
"where are we what the hell is going on?"-- alien spacecraft crashed and now the aliens are confused
"the dust...feeling"-- the aliens were upset with other aliens on their home planet and they left,(very recently i might add)but upon crashing realized they didn't actually want to leave their planet
"spin me round again...heads heavy"-- the aliens are still shocked by the crash and the seriousness of their situation but now people are staring at them(who wouldn't? i mean aliens just crashed)
"hide and seek...here first"-- the "hide and seek" part refers to the aliens running from their pasts and then trying to get back to them "trains and sewing machines" is, of course, our technology, and "they were here first" is in reference to us being here for so long and the aliens not knowing about it
"oily marks...still life"-- things were great but now the people are being hostile to the aliens so the aliens complain of the insensitivity of that and state that even though they're different than us they are "still life"
"hide and seek...here first"-- "hide and seek" now referring to the aliens running from hostile people "you won't catch me around here" saying they're going to put up a fight "blood and tears" it's going to be a bloody, messy fight and "they were here first" this time refers to the people who originally saw the aliens who could testify that they are harmless but who chose to remain silent
"Mm whatcha say..."-- aliens arguing against the people that what's best is for the aliens to be eliminated instead of helped
"ransom notes...word cutouts"-- everyone is against the aliens, they're all looking for them. some people try to get on their good side with bribery and what not
"speak no feeling...you don't care a bit" and so on through the rest of the song-- the people don't give a damn about the well-being of the aliens and so on.
i think we can all agree that this song is NOT about aliens. my point with this is to prove that this song can't be analyzed with just one definition-- i think this song is meant to be interpreted differently by every person who hears it, so that it's more meaningful to them alone. -
This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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I think it is about the Native Americans. It begins by the Americans running away and not realizing where they are and the "dust is just begun to fall" symbolizes a battle just started. When there are "crop circles in the carpet" shows that the Indians were kicked out of their homes.Then the Natives can't realize what is going on so they go into a depressed state. People nowadays realize what they have done and can "stop and hold their heads heavy."Hide and Seek represents the Pilgrims looking for the Indians. Trains and sewing machines most likely symbolize the industrial revolution which could just symbolize in general a revolution occurring. "All those years. They were here first" shows the length of time the Natives were here and then the English kicked them out; they were here first. "Oily marks" illustrate the Natives in their barbaric state before the "takeover". "Whatcha say? That you only meant well, well of course you did." displays the Natives thoughts after they were betrayed because they were originally in allegiance with the English but the English had to takeover because it was for "the best". "It's just what we need, you decided this."...it is just cruel. The English didn't "care about them" after they had gotten what they had wanted.
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I think this song is about the Native Americans being forced from their land and killed and reduced to small numbers on small tracts of land far from their original land. They were also told they should change their religion but the followers of that religion were the ones killing them and taking their land and possessions.
Think about the lyrics:
"They were here first"
"You don't care a bit"
Trains and sewing machines she says you won't see her around them - because they represent replacement of real human weavers and clothing artisans, and loud trains and tracks going through their land. -
This song seems to have many different meanings for different people, and I believe that it takes true talent to incorporate the passion and universality in this song. For myself in particular, I believe that this song could be representing the distant and unhappy civilization we are creating. Technology, the trains and sewing machines, which were made to help humans with simple tasks, have evolved into things that may hurt us as people. Cell phones, Facebook, among other things are taking away the personal relationships we could have with people. "All the years they were here first" and "blood and tears they were here first" could represent that the years of extra work and blood and tears were here first and had purpose. "Heads held heavy" could be the effect of taking the shortcut and losing our self-worth. I'm not sure, but this is what I feel from the song.
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