Imogen Heap, will you marry me?

Just the other day I was shuffling songs about in thoughtful order to create a playlist on my Ipod. I was making a mix cd for a friend that tells the story of a girl and a guy in the sunset of their relationship, followed by the onset of a new encounter between the girl and another guy while also reflecting the scarring/healing process of her previously failed relationship. The mix was supposed to be a dialogue of some sort, where a girl sings and then a guy responds. I started the mix with a short instrumental called “A Beginning” by the Beatles just for the namesake of cuing the listener that indeed this was the beginning of the mix. A bit contrived but it sets the tone for the first few tracks. I followed it with Imogen Heap’s “Hide and Seek” which happens to be one of my favorite songs of all time or at the very least, an iconic song during this season of my life. I’ve know this song for some time but since I’ve recently encountered relationship struggles of my own I’ve come to appreciate her lyrics much deeper and I’ve concluded that Heap is not only an extraordinary vocalist but a captivating and witty lyricist. Intrigued by the seemingly elusive meaning behind some of the phrases in the song I did a little research and came upon a stellar description/interpretation that I cannot take credit for. So, I offer my sincere thanks to whoever posted this on www.lyricinterpretations.com .

 

Hide and Seek by Imogen Heap

[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

 

 

 

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It was a challenge for me to choose a song out of my collection that would flow, not only in tone/timbre but in content as well since her song has such presence. I won’t list the rest of the songs I ended up choosing since that’s not really the purpose of this blog (unless some of you are curious, in which case I’ll list the rest of the songs along with their lyrics). It is in fact just a little thank you note paying tribute to Imogen Heap.

Music is in many ways a life saver for so many of us. I’m not a musician but I appreciate music of all sorts… especially when a song’s lyrics deeply empathizes with one’s life experiences coupled with a tonality and rhythm that reflects the emotional intensities of human interaction… sometimes a great song can relate with you even better than a friend…but if they’re a really good friend they’ll share the pleasure/pain all the same. Indeed, music is the gift that keeps on giving, for us the living. What a profoundly beautiful symbiotic relationship…

If you’ve ever felt that way about a song, be it melancholy or uplifting, I’d love to hear about it.

And if by slim happenstance that Miss Heap might ever stumble upon this… Thank You.