The tambourines are shaking but I don’t hear a sound
It’s my favorite song but I don’t like the crowd
Wish I was able to see what you see
Turn all the words into poetry
So I close my eyes
I’m focused on whatever’s spinning in my mind
And I try to find a sign
But I never learn to read between the lines
I know that sometimes my eyes are too blue
But I am still counting on the stars for a clue
Wish I was able to see what you see
So I close my eyes
I’m focused on whatever’s spinning in my mind
And I try to find a sign
But I never learn to read between the lines
The tambourines are shaking but I don’t hear a sound
It’s my favorite song but I don’t like the crowd
Wish I was able to see what you see
Turn all the words into poetry
So I close my eyes
I’m focused on whatever’s spinning in my mind
And I try to find a sign
But I never learn to read between the lines
The lyrics are strange, at least to me, looking on internet ¨shelbssson¨ made a really good explanation of the lyrics:
¨I think this song is about accidentally ruining a relationship by over thinking it and creating problems where they don’t exist.
The “troubleman” is reflecting back on how he had a perfectly good girl and a perfectly great love, but he was constantly worried about “what if” scenarios that weren’t real which lead to the loss of love.¨
Evidence:
1) “she’s got it bad for me, she’s got it bad for me, the only game she played, now turned the other way
Although the girl genuinely loved him, the Troubleman always assumed she was playing games with him or being dishonest because he was too insecure to accept that she might really love him. When he reflects back in this song, he realizes that she wasn’t being deceptive and that the only “game” she was playing was enjoying what they had. Now that he has ruined it, the game has turned the other way and she is not interested.
2) “Back at the start, I was still in love with the way. It’s a long way, From what’s become.”
When you first fall in love, all you notice is the good things about a person, big or small. Here, he is saying that in the beginning he was in love with “the way”, which to mean that he was simply in love with the way she was and everything about her. There were not any pet peeves, annoyances, mistrusts, or doubts at the start. As time wears on, the honeymoon affection wears off and “troubles” and the worries set in though and now they are a long way away from the feelings they had in the beginning.
3) “Filling my cup, Playing at the edge of the shore. See the way she moves, I broke the spell.”
I don’t get this verse as a whole, but I think parts of it can be taken in different ways to suit the overall theme.
“Playing at the edge of the shore” could be his sentiment that they almost had it and were almost there, they were playing so close to love but he couldn’t fully dive in.
“See the way she moves, I broke the spell” goes back to the line we talked about above where he said “I was still in love with the way”. At the beginning he was in love with the small things about her like the way she moved. By overthinking the relationship and causing arguments over nothing, he has made her insecure and made her act differently, hence “I broke the spell”
4) “oh no, try to fix it before you break it then it’s gone”
This one is one of the most obvious. The troubleman was too focused on fixing problems that didn’t exist and that caused a breakup. He fell in love with her because of who she was then was always afraid she was too good to be true instead of just cherishing her.
For example, perhaps he was so in love with her and scared to lose her to someone else that he had major jealousy and constantly accused her of cheating when she was doing nothing wrong. This kind of constant unfounded persecution drove her away.
5) “troubleman, you wished it all away”
Again, semi-obvious. He was too caught up in daydreaming up “what if” scenarios to focus on the present, and that kind of thinking lead to it’s demise.
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