They Might Be Giants – I Palindrome I

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  General Comment:he thinks of pulling the plug on his mom...then his children do quite the same (Dad palindrome Dad). and I am pretty certain the lyrics are "man oh man" here, man.

  Flag Psychedelephanton June 28, 2012   Link

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  General Comment:The song is about a son who is very open about his desire for his mother to die. The bullet proof dress is what it's saying she needs to wear to protect herself, and when the speaker mentions the medical zig-zag that he has control over, he's thinking about sabotaging her while she's in the hospital. It's sort of like a palindrome, them going back and forth, and of course the song is filled with palindromes. An interesting line is when the mother says "Son, I am able." Abel was another character who was killed by a member of his own family.

  Flag reubencoon November 29, 2011   Link

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  General Comment:The "I'm a snake head eating the head on the other side" line is not only a visual palindrome, but also a reference to the Ouroboros symbol.

  Flag beau99on October 29, 2010   Link

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  General Comment: In the last verse it seems as if hes implying that he was the victor because he says "see the spring of the grandfather clock unwinding" which to me says both time and youth's "spring" have elapsed and then directs us to "See the hands of my offspring..." which he wouldn't have if he hadnt lived (survived, won)....but even as this is being sung, between the lines, as if slowly dawning on him, he realizes that he is now in his former adversarys position and could recieve the same treatment..."Egad, a base tone denotes a bad age". his "Offspring making windmills"...could this his way of saying..."Oh no! im old now" and be his own visual of the kids swinging thier fists........?

  Flag nerdincognitoon March 16, 2010   Link

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  General Comment:This song clearly is about palindromes (meaning the word or sentence sounds the same backwards)

  Flag Shuda7on May 23, 2009   Link

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  General Comment:I think that the point of the song is that the narrator's children kill him. His offspring "making windmills" means his children making a circle, completing a cycle, by killing him. Also, in the line "Dad, palindrome, dad", the "I" from earlier choruses becomes "dad," i.e. "I became a dad." Also, the word grandfather denotes generations. This is the big palindrome of it: you reap what you sow. The song is about essentially the same thing as BSG.
  
  Another thing I just noticed: Egad a base tone denotes a bad age. I have never heard this line in the song, but it might mean something about a "base" of evil denotes, or leads to, an entire age of badness. That is, one act of evil results in ages of bloodshed. But that's just a thought.

  Flag Radical3on March 24, 2009   Link

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  General Comment:I think the 'snake head' metaphor is just explaining what the guy is doing - isn't a snake biting off its second head like a man killing his brother, or his mother? It's just as vicious and sly, and kinda self-serving too because you never know what that second head is going to try and do.
  
  "Mom leans down and says" - The impression I got was that the first line was meant to be an off-side, but she was right behind him and heard it.

  Flag ragweedon April 17, 2008   Link

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  General Comment:I see this song as saying that the mother is already in the hospital, and her son is trying to finish her off. The "bulletproof dress" could be one of the lead aprons that are used x-rays. I picture the snake heads as the Caduceus (☤) that features two snakes facing each other, and is often used erroneously as a symbol for the medical profession.

  Flag patrick9241on November 21, 2007   Link

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  General Comment:No one has mentioned another less obvious palindrome-like pattern:"See the spring of the grandfather clock unwinding,See the hands of my offspring making windmills". With the words "spring/offspring" and "winding/windmill" tying the two lines together and looking forward with the word "offspring" and backward with the word "grandfather". It gives it a very backward/forward looking effect. This is not as blatant as the other palindromes but it seems to me to have been purposefully woven into this very clever song.

  Flag diverdaveon August 04, 2006   Link

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  General Comment:I thought the snake head thing was just making reference to being a palindrome, since it's the same backwards and front.
  He's saying he IS the snakehead, and also saying "I palindrome, I" I was never sure about that part though.

  Flag ccsims4lifeon December 10, 2005   Link

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