But my dreams
They aren’t as empty/
As my conscience seems to be.
Who is The Who’s “Man Behind Blue Eyes”? And what do we know about him? He isn’t well liked—at all—but it seems there is a part of him that doesn’t understand why and wants to change that. Maybe. One of the main themes of this song is that he does feel misunderstood. He does not come across as a sympathetic character.
He claims that he is fated to telling only lies. Who is fated to telling only lies? I can’t imagine many circumstances where this would literally be true. It sounds more like a persecution complex. He also believes that no one suffers as much as he does. He holds so much in; you will never know. But again he seems to want to change. That is what he tells us anyways.
The bridge does not go with the rest of the song (musically it sounds like a completely different song), but we have seen this in some of the psychedelic rock in the late 60s. That seems to be one of its features. Though I don’t put The Who into the psychedelic rock genre, this song came out at the height of that period and it was possible Townsend was inspired by it. Great chorus and an underrated bass performance.
Behind Blue Eyes Lyrics
No one knows what it’s like
To be the bad man
To be the sad man
Behind blue eyes
And no one knows what it’s like
To be hated
To be faded to telling only lies
But my dreams they aren’t as empty
As my conscience seems to be
I have hours, only lonely
My love is vengeance
That’s never free
No one knows what its like
To feel these feelings
Like I do
And I blame you
No one bites back as hard
On their anger
None of my pain and woe
Can show through
But my dreams they aren’t as empty
As my conscience seems to be
I have hours, only lonely
My love is vengeance
That’s never free
No one knows what its like
To be mistreated, to be defeated
Behind blue eyes
An no one know how to say
That they’re sorry and don’t worry
I’m not telling lies
But my dreams they aren’t as empty
As my conscience seems to be
I have hours, only lonely
My love is vengeance
That’s never free
No one knows what its like
To be the bad man
To be the sad man
Behind blue eyes
Songwriters: Pete Townshend
This is about a psychopath :
« As empty as my conscience seems to be »
Lack of conscience, of guilty feelings and absence of remorse.
« To be fated to telling only lies »
Lying is a pathological trait.
« My love is vengeance »
Love is used to hurt other ones : vengeance for the feelings they will never have : love, sincerity, honesty.
« That’s never free » : his victims are drained, in every possible way.
Enjoy this beautiful psycho song.