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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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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Where are we?
what the hell is going on?
the dust has only just begun to form
crop circles in the carpet
sinking feeling
This verse is pretty obvious to me. A relationship gone bad. Typical questions people ask when a relationship goes bad. Where are we? What the hell is going on? How did we get to this point, etc. The dust has only just begun to form, so its recent, crop circles in the carpet from moved furniture. Sinking feeling, obvious.
spin me round again
and rub my eyes,
this can't be happening
when busy streets a mess with people
would stop to hold their heads - heavy
Pretty obvious here also. Confused, disbelief about the failed relationship.
hide and seek
trains and sewing machines
all those years
they were here first
I'm not really sure what the trains and sewing machines is all about. All those years, they were here first might be some way of trying to comfort herself, that there is a bigger picture and the relationship is ultimately insignificant.
oily marks appear on walls
where pleasure moments hung before the takeover,
the sweeping insensitivity of this still life
Pictures removed from the walls of them together before the breakup. The sweeping insensitivity of this still life is empty, indifference of a barren apartment/house.
Mmmm whacha say,
Mmmm that you only meant well?
well of course you did
Mmmm whacha say,
Mmmm that its all for the best?
Because it is
Mmmm whacha say?
Mmmm that it's just what we need
you decided this
whacha say?
Mmmm what did she say?
Typical things someone who breaks up with another would say and the responses.
"I only meant well"
"It's all for the best"
"This is just what we need"
Responses to those comments;
"Of course you do"
"Yeah, maybe you're right"
"This is what we need? This is what YOU need, not me"
"Who is she? What did she say to take you away from me" (Assuming that the person cheated, but most everone assumes that when someone breaks up with them)
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
Not sure about the ransom notes, or newspaper cut outs. But the last line is pretty standard for someone to say when they get broken up with, you don't care. -
This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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Where are we?
what the hell is going on?
the dust has only just begun to form
crop circles in the carpet
sinking feeling
-where are we today? What have we gotten our selves into? What kinda of mess of the wolrd have we made? We are only just beginning to see the effects of what we caused, things like global warming, murder, ect. Weird things are starting to happen to our world, and we are only just beginning to realize the effects they could have on everything.
spin me round again
and rub my eyes,
this can't be happening
-click me into reality, take (spin) me back to the way things used to be. I can’t beleve what I'm seeing, this is a mistake, its all a mistake.
when busy streets a mess with people
would stop to hold their heads – heavy
- flashing up to the future. People finaly realizing the affects of what we have done when they start showing up in our daily lives. People in disbelief, mourning all the time, stopping dead in the middle of the streets, although with time..
hide and seek
trains and sewing machines
all those years
they were here first
- we are all trying to hide from the reality of what we’ve done, like we always do. However, we can never outrun reality, its like its always seeking us, hanging over us like a heavy cloud. We’ve wasted our time, money, and resources on petty things to help are daily life. We are forgetting who was here first. We are putting us and our lifestyle above God and nature.
oily marks appear on walls
where pleasure moments hung before the takeover,
the sweeping insensitivity of this still life
-the world, our surroundings, everything around us is crying out to us. Where we used to be happy and care free, we will soon be reminded daily of what we have made of this world. Before the takeover: the time when man valued the important things in life like God, your family, and friends instead of what we now value; money and popularity. This is referring to the time before we wrongfully took over the earth and made it ours. Our insensitivity, not focusing on the true things of life. Wishing we could pause life just for a moment, to take all the results of what we have done in.
hide and seek
trains and sewing machines (oh, you won't catch me around here)
blood and tears (hearts)
they were here first
- She’s trying to escape to a simpler, better place, running away, but she cannot (refer to hide and seek). People rightfully bleeding and crying, taking on the full blow of there actions, everything finally catching up to us. Reminding the world who was here first. The world has never been, and will never be, ours to take.
Mmmm whacha say,
Mmmm that you only meant well?
well of course you did
Mmmm whacha say,
Mmmm that its all for the best?
Because it is
Mmmm whacha say?
Mmmm that it's just what we need
you decided this
whacha say?
Mmmm what did she say?
- Someone trying to explain themselves, saying that they were only trying to help our race. Defending themselves, knowing their wrong doing. Her having a breakdown, screaming, saying she can’t believe they thought this was the best, they never thought out the conciquences, they were only generalizing what would help humans, not the entire world and everything that lives in it. She continues on, screaming, possibly not know who to blame, generalizing this to the entire world, trying to find anyone to blame but herself.
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
- the world keeps coming up for false explanations about how we got ourselves here, in this state of shock, wishing we could all start our lives over, start the worlds life over. She now begins going back into the future, to when the devastation has sunk in. we all go about our daily lives, knowing there is nothing we can do, making small talk to pass the time. We read the newspaper articles, certain words standing out at us like “devastation” “too late” “nothing we can do”, and “its all over”. None of us want to talk about what has happened, but she knows the world is hurting. She speaks to the people who still refuse to believe the affects of global warming, living their daily lives like nothing is going wrong (you don't care a bit)
(hide and seek)
ransom notes keep falling out your mouth
mid-sweet talk, newspaper word cut outs
(hide and seek)
speak no feeling no I don't believe you
you don't care a bit,
you don't care a (you don't care a) bit
(hide and seek)
oh no, you don't care a bit
oh no, you don't care a bit
(hide and seek)
oh no, you don't care a bit
you don't care a bit
you don't care a bit
-always stating how the world is trying to hide from our problems, pretending they don’t exsist, like we don’t even care… -
My friend told me an interesting interpretation, but I think maybe Imogen didn't mean for it to come out this way IDK!
Anyhow, I think it ties to the good old movie, the Hills Have Eyes theme!
People were forced to leave their homes and memories for government experiments and such. That was long ago, and during that time, people would ride trains instead of cars. They were all poor, so obviously they would have sewing machines to where they made their clothes.
The dust referrs to the bombs and things that would settle around the houses that were forced to evactuate, the crops circles and walls referring to the things that were once there. The heavy heads etc. refers to the fact that everyone pretended none of this was going on, and therefore the government couldn't be blamed for ripping peoples lives apart (blood and tears; all the hard work spent building up their lives).
The government says to the people" it's all for the best" so they can test their nuclear stuff, but they really don't care what happens to these peoples lives. The newspaper word cutouts and ransom refers to the money paid to these people to leave their homes, and when some of this truth was reported in the newspaper, the government would take it out before it was printed so that they wouldn't look like the bad guys.
The entire song and its words and feeling have to do with what happened to those people, all the while the government is claiming to contribute. I guess. Please don't yell at me cause I don't hate my government, that's just what the song sounds like its saying. :) -
well, personally I think the song means:
a woman who just found out her lover had a wife (and kids?). think about the line 'they were here first'. and 'the takeover, the sweeping insensitivity of this still life"
also, the line "mmm, what did she say?" and lots of others.
it just seemed so obvious.
so yeah -
I would venture to say that you are all right. This song is beautiful, and while it was being written I'm sure the writer had a very specific interpretation for it. However the only way to find this out is to ask the artist herself. I can tell you that the song is gorgeous, and stirs deep emotions within the human soul...this is why we all listen to music. It is a way for us to either express our feelings, or to be introduced into new ones. If you feel deeply about a certain someone breaking your heart, then your interpretation will probably be that the song is about a break up. If you are in morning or know someone who is over the death of a loved one, you'll agree with the death of someone close scenario. Or if you are a deep sympathizer with the victims of 9/11, or a person who is spiritual, you will take this song for a much much deeper meaning. But one thing is sure, the song makes us all feel, in a world that can sometimes feel so dull and pointless. Whichever meaning means something to you, I would say is the right interpretation. Remember...music, is an art form. If the writer wanted the world to except an exact interpretation, she would have written the song much more plainly.
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This song is about a relationship. the first portion about the dust falling and the crop circles is about the furniture being moved and the hide and seek is about how the first part of the relationship is just like a game. the trains and sewing machines refers to the train on the wedding gown, and the sewing machines used to make it. the oil appearing on the wall refers to the oils your fingers leave when you touch the wall (like removing the pictures of the fun times after a divorce)
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I really think this song is about either the holocaust or, more likely, the Europeans taking over America and killing and making all the native Americans either move or work. Also the Europeans thought they were "helping" the native americans to be more civilized. "trais and sewing machines" you see. every lyric supports it.
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To me this song is about when the white people came in and changed everything for the aboriginals in Australia..
It says they were here first and the crop circles thing could mean the roads and stuff. When it says the crowd would stop and hold their heads heavy to me its like people are feeling sorry for doing it. The trains and sewing machines were introduced.. and when it says the takeover.. That's what happened, the white people just sort of took over everything. The white people were all saying it would make life better for them and that they meant well and everything and it says that in the song too. It was all over the newspapers (newspaper word cutouts) and aboriginals were killed and all that (blood and tears)
But I don't know if it's right.. it's just what it means to me. -
This is a great thread, deserving of such a beautiful and powerful song.
After listening to it, I had to find out what Imogen is singing about - because you can tell her by her impassioned voice and words that there is certainly something serious behind this song.
I really like MPete's breakdown of the lyrics. I think this is certainly a song about lost love - what else could make someone sing like this.
I have a little twist that I didn't see in any other threads but maybe I missed it in someone else's interpretation. Either way, here goes:
I think this song is about a love and relationship that is broken through the loss of a child through a still-life birth.
The idea sparked as for me the real increasing intensity moment of this song is about "the oily marks on the wall and the insensitivity of this still life". I agree with what you are all saying about these marks being around the bed, and the conception of a child.
I thought then that the trains and sewing machines might be about the toy trains and sewing machines that expectant mothers would have for their babies - either because they didn't know whether a boy or a girl and bought both the masculine and feminine standard gifts for kids. Or else because the seing machine is such a classic symbol of the mother archetype.
The loss of a child is something that could bring down a marriage or a relationship - the things that were there first.
I think the rest of the song could work with this idea as well, if you use MPete's lyric breakdown.
Great work everyone, I loved reading most of the interpretations and whether we can fully define the meaning of this song or not, its nice to discuss and appreciate.
Adios. -
This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
-
This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
-
This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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