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Old 05-25-2003, 12:24 AM
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Johnny Stew Johnny Stew is offline
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I have to admit I don't usually take part in lyrical interpretations, but The Chain posted about "Miranda" on the Rumours Forum, and I added a few thoughts in regards to my interpreation of the song... and I decided, "why not go one better, and add them to the interpretation thread!"

This is also my first time reading this particular thread, so I was kind of surprised to see that so many others also seem to think that "Miranda" was at least partly inspired by Anne Heche.

Here are my thoughts from my post on the Rumours Forum:
Quote:
Of the three most likely candidates from the 'Gift Of Screws' tracks ("Come," Miranda," and "Down On Rodeo"), "Miranda" is the one I thought most likely to have been written about Anne Heche.

"She sticks the camera right into her arm... anything to forget what the trouble's about," for me seems to refer to a tortured actress, living her life in front of cameras and in the public eye, as if it were a drug her body so desperately needed.

And I see references to Anne's apparent schizophrenia, in the lines, "She sees her face in another magazine, and the walls all close in as the fancy takes flight... can't stand to be loved, but she loves to be seen... she slips down head-long into the night."
To me Lindsey's painting a portrait of a woman definitely lost to the dual (and dueling) sides of her own personality.
She wants this attention... she craves it... she needs it. But, at the same time, she hates it and wants to run away from it.

The lion... the beast that's forever nipping at her heels... will always have dominance over her. She's a slave to it because she can't stop running away from it... and because of this, she'll always be alone.

With the knowledge that Anne has claimed her homosexual father sexually molested her (.) throughout her childhood and teenage years, Lindsey may be questioning the validity of these accusations:
"And there all at once, the sun starts to rise... she sees her father holding her down... but the daylight is poison to her eyes... she slips down the shade, and lets herself drown."

To me, it sounds as if he's stating there that, when held up to the light, Miranda's "truth" becomes distorted... revealed as just another myth she has created around herself, which she uses to justify her behaviour.
But the danger of being revealed causes her desire to remain in the dark... embracing, and relying upon, her fabrications in order to maintain her delicate psychological balance.

Anyway, that's how I see it.
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