Can you explain these lyrics please

only if he did it as a parody of "the...stilted speech..of...captain kirk", the song would be about two hours long

Shatner is one of those whove overcome a defect and made a living at being a cartoon. He has become a sort of "Crazy Guggenheim" of these times.

he shows up on the opie and anthony show sometimes, even on their uncensored xm side, something most "legitimate" actors avoid, every time he's on he's great, he's one of those actors who realizes that he's an actor and doesn't take himself to seriously

I think it means are you going to keep that joint moving around please?

I have The Lettermen version of the song Windmills of Your Mind and I absolutely love it. I believe it is the best version I've ever heard of this song. It makes the interpretation easier to understand. What makes the song so difficult to interpret is that the song is meant to be felt, not just heard. Listen the to Lettermen version while you have your eyes closed and let your mind go with the imagery of the words. By the third stanza or paragraph, you will understand the song through your feelings. It opens up like a flower.

Here is my interpretation: The song is meant to convey the feelings of the singer as he grapples with the almost overwhelming emotional confusion brought on by the ending of a brief, but intense love affair.

FIRST PARAGRAPH
As his mind races back to the beginning of their relationship, the first stanza describes the intoxicating joy of their passionate love (possibly a "first" love) with the "circle in a spiral" and "a wheel within a wheel" and the roller-coaster-like effect of new love "never ending or beginning on an ever-spinning reel". The joy of the relationship and how fast it grew is also conveyed with "snowball on a mountain" and "carnival balloon". And "a carousel that's turning rings around the moon" signifies the giddly heights of his affection and joy.

The repeating line "like a clock whose hands are sweeping past the minutes of its face" represents how fast time flew while in their relationship.

"And the world is like an apple whirling silently in space" represents the purity of their world and of their relationship.

SECOND PARAGRAPH
This paragraph represents the feelings of despair as the realization of the relationship's ending sinks in.
Using imagery that expresses feeling hopelessly lost "Like a tunnel that you follow to a tunnel of its own, down a hollow to a cavern where the sun has never shown"

The nightmare feeling of her leaving him is expressed as "Like a door that keeps revolving in a half forgotten dream" and he feels the loneliness of her rejection with the line "or the ripples from a pebble someone tosses in a stream".

The repeating lines of "Like the clock whose hands are sweeping past the minutes of its face, And the world is like an apple whirling silently in space" are used here to describe the slowing of time as the relationship winds down and the solitary apple is now represents the feeling of sadness of being alone.

THIRD PARAGRAPH
This paragraph brings us to the singer's present consciousness (signified by "Keys that jingle in your pocket") as he continues to relive his memories in search for answers.

"Words that jangle in your head" represent how distracted he is now.

"Why did summer go so quickly" represents the possible timespan of their affair.

"Was it something that you said?" represents the natural questioning we go through after a breakup.

"Lovers walk along a shore and leave their footprints in the sand" represents his romantic illusions of their relationship and, like footprints in the sand, how fleeting their relationship seemed.

"Is the sound of distant drumming just the fingers of your hand?" again, represents his inability to focus through his sadness or to even be aware of his surroundings.

"Pictures hanging in a hallway, and the fragment of a song, Half-remembered names and faces, but to whom do they belong?" probably represent the various artifacts of their relationship, including photos of the friends they made while they were a couple. "To whom do they belong?" could be questioning if these people are now HER friends or HIS friends. "Half remembered names and faces" indicates just how much he was emotionally invested in the relationship; to the point where everyone else was just in the background.

"When you knew that it was over, you were suddenly aware that the autumn leaves were turning to the color of her hair." I cannot do justice to this line, but it probably means that everything beautiful now reminds him of his lost love.

FOURTH PARAGRAPH
This paragraph is a repeat of of the "circle in a spiral" imagery which is to indicate that his sorrow continues as he tries to recover from a broken heart.

Rick Eanes
West Palm Beach, FL

It is about periodic nature of all things in universe. They go around and come around in a cycle in a circle over and over again. There is no escape from this cycles these circles that surround us both on the outside reality and within our minds that reflect it. We are doomed and trapped in this cycle for ever . It is never ending.

The personal and societal breakdown of the way things are, the disillusionment of reality compared to our personal idealized dreams, and fantasies, and the futility of trying to make sense of it all.

This song has not a really clear or obvious interpetation as the lyrics perhaps are meant to be stream of consciousness images and seems pretty loose.


My Take on the Lyrics:

Time has no beginning and maybe no end. Patterns and events are part of some microcosm..and there are microcosms within microcosms. So perhaps you can't be certain why something began (love affair) or why it ended. What is reality and what is a fantasy is not objective.

Your imagination or senses capture life's observed intricacies and attempts to make sense of them. So, whatever forces or events 'blow through' (like with a windmill) you enable your imagination to interpet life as you see it or sense it. Maybe it's random..maybe it's not, but all subject to your individual interpretation.

I missed this first time round--



I didn't hear Mr Thompson but that song has no similarities with Dylan's stuff. It comes close to expressing Munchian angst at the thought of following Mr Tambourine Man.

It is certainly trite though.

"But if the arrow is straight,
And the point is slick,
It can pierce through dust
No matter how thick".

Restless Farwell which Dylan sang for Frank Sinatra's birthday bash when, if I remember correctly, he was 80.

I think the song refers to the passing of time.

Why did summer go so quickly?
Was it something that I said?
I think this indicates passing into the "fall" of life. 50s I think.
Lovers walk along a shore
And leave their footprints in the sand
Memories of past love.
Was the sound of distant drumming
Just the fingers of your hand?
Has the memory of powerful drums really tainted by youth?
Pictures hanging in a hallway
Remnants of the past.
Or the fragment of a song
The whole memory of the song, and event are lost.
Half-remembered names and faces
But to whom do they belong?
People from a faded memory.
When you knew that it was over
Were you suddenly aware
That the autumn leaves were turning
To the color of her hair?
In the autum of life he still remembers the vivid red of her hair, he remembers the important things.

Being in the autumn of my life, this would be my interpretation.

I think you are right!

I believe it is about the loss of the love of one's life, and how the lovers think about it over and over, still trying to make sense of it as years pass and the memory becomes more obscure in the boredom and tedium that are left of life without the love.

I came across this site and was amazed to find people find this song "nice"
Don't get me wrong, I am not saying its a bad song - I think it is a sinister or evil song. To me it is about mental illness or psychosis. The singer wants to sleep but his mind keeps turning, bringing up random images and concepts - wheel within a wheel (restlessness) - time passing (lost time / opportunity) world is an apple spinning silently (Isolation / helplessness / pointlessness) Tunnels within tunnels (Isolation introversion / depression / loneliness) half remembered faces (Losing your mind) Why did summer go so quickly (Loss again, seasonal disorder / darkness) Was it something that you said? (Guilt / blame / regret) It might be just me but also the chord changes are disquieting - it is an uneasy restless song, full of fear, loathing, loss and regret.

"...When you knew that it was over
you were suddenly aware
that the autumn leaves were turning
to the color of her hair"

I think they saw "Last year at Marinbad" once too often

I think t is about the mind trapped in a state of confusion without a beginning or an end. Mental Illness

"Like a tunnel that you follow to a tunnel of its own"
-is a usual symptoms of a Schizophrenia sufferer. a kind of reasoning that the patient uses to dig for an answer that leads to another hole which needs further digging.

"Keys that jingle in your pocket, words that jangle in your head" and "Is the sound of distant drumming just the fingers of your hand?"
-refers to over sensitivity of the patient to sounds and the disturbance they experience when people talking to them.

"Why did summer go so quickly? Was it something that you said?"
-is a clear indication in the lack of reasoning in causality.

I love your explanation!