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My Man Lyrics

Artist: They Might Be Giants
Album: Mink Car

My man
Muscles from hand to foot
Completely coated in uninteruppted skin
My man
Signals command the leg
To follow orders coming down from headquarters
Why then am I in bed?
I guess my man's fallen out with my head

May I direct your attention to the following simile
You're like the coasts of an ocean
Buried beneath is a submarine cable
Connecting the opposite shores that surround it

My man
How can he stand?
Your fingers could encircle clear around the ankle
My man won't walk again
In conflict with express instructions given by the brain
Why can't the message be sent?
I guess my man's fallen out with my head

When something happens to drag on the floor of the ocean
For instance an anchor or mooring
The cable can be disrupted and even be severed
Which halts the transmission across it

There is no way to repair the break

My man
Muscles from hand to foot
Completely coated in uninteruppted skin
My man
Signals command the leg
To follow orders coming down from headquarters
My man
How can he stand?
My man
Muscles from hand to foot
Completely coated in uninteruppted skin
My man
Won't walk again

Comments/Interpretations

by tim on 1/22/2009 6:11pm
does anyone else thinks this is about a horse?

by Poor Coco on 5/9/2009 4:36pm
No; it's about paralysis and the experience of being unable to command your own body. The symbol (not simile) of the submarine cable is a reference to the spinal cord; the disruption is a spinal cord injury: "There is no way to repair the break."

I love the literalistic play on the expression "my man".

One thing I find really intriguing about Mink Car is the way so many of its songs can be construed as relating to 9/11: the album was released on that very day in 2001. This song can be viewed as relating to a victim who just survived; and "Drink!" includes the enigmatic line, "What words rhyme with 'buried alive'?"

by Nick on 7/13/2009 12:23am
This is definitely about a spinal cord injury. It's actually a great way to explain to a kid about how the spinal cord works and why a spinal cord injury can cause paralysis.

by Steeple on 8/9/2009 7:10pm
The "my man" part makes me think of the "homunculus argument", with the illustration of a little person inside the head, seeing through the eyes.

by Zapato on 9/1/2009 4:32pm
It definitely is a simile:
"You're like the coasts of an ocean"

from the Merriam-Webster online dictionary:
"a figure of speech comparing two unlike things that is often introduced by like or as (as in cheeks like roses)"

Otherwise, yes it is clearly about paralysis cause by a spinal injury

by typo alert! on 1/3/2013 11:33am
uninteruppted?