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It's no good trying to place your hand
Where I can't see because I understand
That you're different from me
Yes I can tell
That you can't be what you pretend
And you're rocking me backwards
And you're rocking towards the
Red and yellow mane of a stallion horse.
It's no good trying to hold your love
Where I can't see because I understand
That you're different from me
Yes I can tell
That you can't be what you pretend
The caterpillar hood won't cover the head of you
Know you should be home in bed.
It's no good holding your sequin fan
Where I can't see because I understand
That you're different from me
Yes I can tell
That you can't be what you pretend
Yes you're spinning around and around in a car
With electric lights flashing very fast...
Where I can't see because I understand
That you're different from me
Yes I can tell
That you can't be what you pretend
And you're rocking me backwards
And you're rocking towards the
Red and yellow mane of a stallion horse.
It's no good trying to hold your love
Where I can't see because I understand
That you're different from me
Yes I can tell
That you can't be what you pretend
The caterpillar hood won't cover the head of you
Know you should be home in bed.
It's no good holding your sequin fan
Where I can't see because I understand
That you're different from me
Yes I can tell
That you can't be what you pretend
Yes you're spinning around and around in a car
With electric lights flashing very fast...
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Where I can't see because I understand
That you are different from me
These lines might actually be understood literally! As a person who has used a small amount of LSD - a long time ago, only once in my life - I can tell you that I had a very strange visual effect for about a month after that episode - when I saw a person from one side, and only one arm of that person was visible, I thought that the other arm simply doesn't exist, and this person actually has only one arm! For me, that could be explained as some kind of PHPD (post hallucinogenic perception disorder) but as Syd was using tons of LSD, it is possible that he developed a permanent condition after his drug use.
Before this episode, I could never understand the meaning of this song - even when I had heard it many times
I dare say you haven’t had much practice, said the Queen. When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."
I stumbled upon this quote on this you tube page :
youtube.com/…
Has this been documented elsewhere? It seems like this song title is obviously a Lewis Carroll lift... maybe the most pilfered children's book in the psych era.
It's no good trying to place your hand
where I can't see because I understand
that you're different from me
yes I can tell
that you can't be what you pretend
and you're rocking me backwards
and you're rocking towards the
red and yellow mane of a stallion horse.
It's no good trying to hold your love
where I can't see because I understand
that you're different from me
yes I can tell
that you can't be what you pretend
the caterpillar hood won't cover the head of you
know you should be home in bed.
It's no good holding your sequin fan
where I can't see because I understand
that you're different from me
yes I can tell
that you can't be what you pretend
yes you're spinning around and around in a car
with electric lights flashing very fast...
'It's no good trying to place your hand, where I can't see because I understand that you're different from me' recalls a gentler version of Dylan's 'something is happening that you don't understand' (Ballad of a Thin Man)... at least my first impression of this song was that it is directed at observers of the scene/ himself.
Theres a jokey play on words with 'rocking'... watching the youtube above got me thinking this could be a lighthearted put down of Mick Rock, given Barrett's tendency to throw in cryptic references to his friends/ girlfriends. Probably not though. Maybe not even a reference to the 'rock' world.
There's all the fun of the fair as Barrett and companion are 'rocking backwards and rocking towards me' on 'the red and yellow mane of a stallion [fairground] horse.'
Rhythmically this is kind of a companion to Octopus/ Clowns and Jugglers and draws from the same fairground imagery:
nfa.dept.shef.ac.uk/history/rides/…
I remember going on one of these at Cambridge Midsummer Fair back in the early 80s... you are already 'spinning around in a car with electric lights flashing very fast' when suddenly the caterpillar hood mechanically covers over each car and you're plunged into darkness whilst bumping up and down at speed... an exhilerating experience, matched here by the choppy drum rolls, carnivalesque bleepy organ and wailing lead guitar.
I think the song as a whole alludes to the fairground nature of the music business/ psychedelic scene... Barrett has had too many late night's larging it, 'you know you should be home in bed', but there's no 'caterpillar hood' to protect him, he is instead standing completely exposed on stage through all this.
You could go further into the significance of fairgrounds and carnivals in English culture, their demonisation as a manifestation of 'pure hedonism'. Anyway, my recollections are that even in the 80s, the Midsummer fair was a big deal in the semi-rural flatlands of Cambridge, as this other world of travelling people, bright lights and scary rides sprawled accross Midsummer Common (a conglomeration of several travelling fairs together)
Not sure about 'sequined fan', any ideas?
Like the 'you shouldn't try to be what you can't be' line in 'Waving my hands...' I'm not sure if the 'you' is pointed at anyone particular or is more inward looking.
This was reportedly a very difficult track to record, with Syd significantly changing performance, length of bars etc between takes. As has been discussed elsewhere, this seems to have fazed Barrett's old bandmates (who on his departure settled into a plodding 4/4, with the odd exception such as 'Money' aside) more than the Soft Machine crew. His 'play what you like' approach might have been unusual, but in the context that his musical route seems to have come not through classical training but blues/ beat/ rnb morphing into an interest in free jazz does not seem unreasonable... perhaps also because he somewhat unwittingly found himself in the role of 'band leader'
Is that Rick Wright on the organ? It seems reminiscent of the Tonite Lets Make Love take of Interstellar Overdrive/ Nick's Boogie... I think those two had a good musical chemistry.
Yeh I like it similar to "Idle Race " and "the skeleton and the roundabout"
Climb aboard my roundabout
Climb aboard my roundabout
I am the fairground man at heart
I run the roundabout this part
I fill this fair but custom have I none
I turn the handle round so fast
It makes my elbow ache
Nobody seems to care
No-one rides upon my roundabout
No longer anymore
Oh what a horrid fair
Climb aboard my roundabout
Climb aboard my roundabout
Climb aboard my roundabout
Climb aboard my roundabout
Money there is none
I'm thinner than a skeleton
But wait a minute, I'm so thin
That all these aches and pains
Could be a chance for me
I could be a horror
Or a ghost in a ghost train
I think I'll go and see
I meet the man who run the ghost train
He says, you're just great
I'll pay you top class wages
If you'll just hang from this gate
A year is passing lots of food
And money come my way
Oh, lucky man am I
But who's this telling me, you're fired
You're much too fat to be a ghost
Be on your way - so here I am
Climb aboard my roundabout
Climb aboard my roundabout
Climb aboard my roundabout
Climb aboard my roundabout
La la la la ....
The Fairground is an archetypal LSD hallucination as is the skeleton.
And like you said "'you know you should be home in bed', but there's no 'caterpillar hood' to protect him, he is instead standing completely exposed on stage"
He was well known for tripping on acid on stage,and acid gives the sensation of connection to the audience (whom are high also)but kills the ego self and can be very frightening without the cover of the catapiller hood or ego.
I think alot of his lyrics hark back to the Idyllic childhood he had growing up in the cambridgeshire countryside,being the youngest,his mother doting on him and then his dad dying and how all this effected him
''It's no good trying to place your hand
where I can't see because I understand
that you're different from me''
It's no use trying to hide, I know you don't miss me. I know that you'll move on without me.
''yes I can tell
that you can't be what you pretend''
This might be about Roger Waters. I saw on him on TV saying he didn't really get about the psychodelic movement, he just wanted to be a big rockstar driving nice cars and sleeping with lots of girls.
''and you're rocking me backwards''
Pretty self-explanatory.
''and you're rocking towards the
red and yellow mane of a stallion horse.''
Don't really get this part...LSD?
''It's no good trying to hold your love
where I can't see because I understand
that you're different from me''
It's no use trying to walk away from me, I know that you still like me, or that you care about me.
''the caterpillar hood won't cover the head of you
know you should be home in bed.''
This could be: I know you since you were a child, all that pose won't cover who you really are.
'It's no good holding your sequin fan
where I can't see because I understand
that you're different from me''
It's no use trying to hide all your sucess. Syd didn't want to be a big rockstar and he hated all this wonder-band stuff, but roger and the other guys didn't. Roger said on an interview that Syd got very suspicious when they started getting famous, and he got all ''Wait a minute, wasn't that what you wanted? We wanted to be rockstars!''
'yes you're spinning around and around in a car
with electric lights flashing very fast...''
This is may be a reference to the big cars Roger daydreamed about driving, and the lights could be a reference to Pink Floyd early gigs, when they would flash lights all over the stage.
I don't know why, but this song sounds so spiteful.
Well, that's just my two cents.
where/I\can't\see bec-ause-I /understand" part.(Slashes show vocal melody, lol). The guitar is very unique how it uses volume fading sounds, sort of modern sounding. Definitely one of Syd's best, IMO.
My friend, a great Floyd/Barrett fan, once remarked that nearly everything that Syd wrote could be interpreted as a love song of sorts. This one...it seems the narrator is saying that he knows more about the person in the song than that person thinks, and possibly has feelings for her, yet at the same time is somewhat annoyed by the person's assumption that the narrator can't tell what she is thinking. (I'm mostly using 'she' as a default gender pronoun more than anything else.)