As your body floats down Third Street
With the burn-smell factory closing up
Yes it's sad to say you will romanticize
All the things you've known before
It was not not not so great
It was not not not so great
And as you take a bath in that beaten path
There's a pounding at the door
Well It's a mighty zombie talking of some love and posterity
He says "The good old days never say good-bye
If you keep this in your mind:
You need some lo-lo-loving arms
You need some lo-lo-loving arms"
And as you fall from grace the only words you say are

Put your hand inside the puppet head
Put your hand inside the puppet head
Put your hand inside
Put your hand inside
Put your hand inside the puppet head

Ads up in the subway are the work of someone
Trying to please their boss
And though the guy's a pig we all know what he wants
Is just to please somebody else
If the pu-pu-puppet head
Was only bu-bu-busted in
It would be a better thing for everyone involved
And we wouldn't have to cry

Put your hand inside the puppet head
Put your hand inside the puppet head
Put your hand inside
Put your hand inside
Put your hand inside the puppet head

Memo to myself, do the dumb things I gotta do
Touch the puppet head

Quit my job down at the car wash
Didn't have to write no-one a good-bye note
That said, "The check's in the mail, and
I'll see you in church, and don't you ever change"
If the pu-pu-puppet head
Was only bu-bu-busted in
I'll see you after school

Put your hand inside the puppet head
Put your hand inside the puppet head
Put your hand inside
Put your hand inside
Put your hand inside the puppet head

Put your hand inside the puppet head
Put your hand inside the puppet head
Put your hand inside
Put your hand inside
Put your hand inside the puppet head


Lyrics submitted by qshapadooy

Put Your Hand Inside the Puppet Head Lyrics as written by John Linnell John Flansburgh

Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

Put Your Hand Inside The Puppet Head song meanings
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8 Comments

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  • +1
    General Comment

    Probably my favorite TMBG song it's awsome

    Emily1014on April 21, 2004   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    The most meaningful TMBG song! I think it's not random at all like some of their other ones where it's impossible to know what they were actually thinking when they wrote it...anyway....

    It's a protest against the status quo: people just doing their duties without questioning, working just to please their boss, and generally being fake. It makes people like mindless puppets. Putting your hand inside the puppet head means conformity. The song is saying that if we could "bust in the puppet head", that is, throw all this fakeness away and start fresh, we'd be free. We could deal with each other honestly and sincerely.

    The first verse is also attacking nostalgia and sappy sentimentality. Maybe TMBG thinks these are also empty and fake and used to keep people in line by manipulating their emotions. People are told (especially by pop songs) that all they need is some romantic love to make their life complete, when actually the problem is much deeper.

    In the last verse, he decides to quit his job, which is at a carwash. It's important that the job is at a carwash. A carwash is where people wash the outside of their cars so they will look good to other people...another way of keeping up the status quo. Clean the inside of the cup, man!

    hockpa2eon August 09, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I have no earthly idea what it's about.

    billdye44on February 22, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I believe in the first couple of stanzas tmbg are referring to how nostalgia can be dangerous if you dwell on and romanticize it. You lose track of reality and start imagining the way you and things were instead of realizing how they really were.

    The rest of the song seems to use the imagery of sticking your hand in a puppet to illustrate that we can never just be ourselves. We always walk around flashing a facade...a projection of what we think other people want us to be. If the puppet head was "busted in"...if we could just be ourselves...things would be much better for everyone.

    rog27on May 31, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I agree with rog27 about the meaning, and not wanting to be someone's "puppet", such as the boss in the 2nd stanza. But my favorite part is "Do the dumb things I gotta do...touch the puppet head." TMBG are classic!

    kickstart71on March 26, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    these guys are fuckin insane. literal interpretation is useless. just lay back and welcome the chaos in.

    ShakeyFan2on January 27, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    these guys are fuckin insane. literal interpretation is useless. just lay back and welcome the chaos in.

    ShakeyFan2on January 27, 2010   Link
  • 0
    My Opinion

    I find it kind of funny in the first line "Well it's a mighty zombie talking about love and prosperity." It's talking about how people try and convert others to faiths.

    Ogeranon September 19, 2013   Link

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