Something happens and I’m head over heels…
It’s hard to be a man when there’s a gun in your hand.
“Head over Heals” by Tears for Fears is an 80s classic about a man who has fallen in love with a woman. We get the sense that she holds all the cards, and is either not reciprocating or not giving him any indication one way or another whether she is interested in him. Perhaps she is hung up on the past. She seems to parry his advances.
In the beginning of the song it sounds rather innocent but by the end it appears that this girl is occupying his mind so much that it is affecting his life in a negative way: his family used to have aspirations that he’d be a doctor and now just look at him, he’s a mess.
The line about how “it’s hard to be a man when there’s a gun in your hand”, seems to be a point of contention. I think he is expressing his unease about connecting with her. When you are holding a loaded gun you have to be super careful because if you pull the trigger there are no takebacks.
Likewise, at this stage of their relationship, he has done nothing to earn her trust and he feels like one misunderstood word could leave her running for the door. She is only entertaining him. One screw-up and she’ll move on to the next guy, He hasn’t earned her trust yet. It is hard to be man feeling and performing like this.
In the end he is still hoping it works out. It seems like he is waiting on her for a long time (“funny how time flies”). Overall, he feels emasculated and helpless. Something needs to change. Hopefully she will open up. She is so important to him.
The vocals, instrumentation and arrangement are all great in this song. The opening piano solo is classic. Also, excellent use of falsetto. The way he weaves in and out of falsetto is iconic. We feel the narrator’s connection to the lyrics and make this a classic.
Head Over Heels Lyrics
I wanted to be with you alone
And talk about the weather.
But traditions I can trace against the child in your face
Won’t escape my attention.
You keep your distance with a system of touch
And gentle persuasion.
I’m lost in admiration, could I need you this much?
Oh, you’re wasting my time,
You’re just, just, just wasting time.
Something happens and I’m head over heels.
I never find out till I’m head over heels.
Something happens and I’m head over heels,
Ah, don’t take my heart, don’t break my heart
Don’t, don’t, don’t throw it away.
Throw it away.
Throw it away.
I made a fire and watching it burn.
Thought of your future.
With one foot in the past, now, just how long will it last?
No, no, no, have you no ambition?
My mother and my brothers used to breathe in clean in air,
And dreaming I’m a doctor.
It’s hard to be a man when there’s a gun in your hand.
Oh, I feel so…
Something happens and I’m head over heels.
I never find out till I’m head over heels.
Something happens and I’m head over heels,
Ah, don’t take my heart, don’t break my heart
Don’t, don’t, don’t throw it away.
And this my four-leaf clover!
I’m on the line, one open mind,
This is my four-leaf clover!
(La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la)
In my head, my mind’s eye,
One little boy, wandering by.
Funny how time flies.
Songwriters: Curt Smith / Roland Orzabal
Hey
Thanks much for sharing with us your interpretation of this song..
I agree with you line for line I think, except the portion when he says its hard to be a man when there’s a gun in your hand.
What I feal that really relates is how sometimes as Men we are/must be supersensitive to a woman’s emotions and oftentimes and up sticking a foot into the mouth so to speak.
Oftentimes our advances get mininterpreted as being sexual when they’re Not – its rather just our natual man-ways/”masculinity” that is/are misconstrued as meaning something else – or being “too far along the line”. Take for example, telling a woman she hs a nice bottuck. How does one even accomplish this!?
This aside, I agree with your every interpretation of the song and THANK YOU much for sharing it. You’re truly a bright spark.
Peace.
you can see in the video its actually HIM who holds the gun. In fact he fires it
I think the line SHOULD be “It’s hard to be a man when there’s girl in your head.” I’m all man even when I have a gun in my hand.
I want to see guys thanks for your analysis of the song Head over heels by tears for fears and the two ladies of course I wrote it somehow time does fly. Through Christ in my life he was my four leaf clover 🍀 and of course one little boy wandering by I I understand the girl might have had a child by him . But just the same his life overpowered her and she couldn’t deal with it and neither could he funny how time flies.
That line about Hard To Be A Man When there’s a Gun In Yoyr Hand, Who is Holding the gun?
My interpretation of “it’s hard to be a man when there’s a gun in your hand” is a bit different. In the music video, we see the gun is in Roland’s hand, not the girl’s. Why the gun is in HIS hand needs us to step back a little.
A recurring theme in Tears for Fears songs is the roles and expectations placed on us by family and social tradition, and how being burdened with these roles from childhood damages us as adults. That’s the case here, as we can glean when Roland sings about “traditions I can trace across the child in your face” and the expectations of his mother and brothers. He sees that both he and she are both impacted by the past in ways that interfere with their honest desires.
Unlike in the video, the narrator and the woman in the lyrics are already in a relationship, but it’s superficial. He wants to connect in a more meaningful way, but she steers it back towards physical rather than emotional intimacy (you keep your distance by a system of touch).
So I think”it’s hard to be a man when there’s a gun in your hand” is about traditional power dynamics between men and women. He wants an authentic relationship with her, but he worries that she might go along with a relationship because she feels it’s expected of her. Falling in love and getting married is what she’s supposed to do, and she may not see any other choice.
At the end of the video, we see Roland’s character and the librarian together after many years. But he’s behind a big important desk and she’s relegated from a near authority figure to the role of his assistant. They’ve both fallen into their expected traditional roles and neither of them are happy.