What does Blue mean?

A Perfect Circle: Blue Meaning

Tagged:   No tags, suggest one.
Album cover for Blue album cover

Song Released: 2004


Blue Lyrics

I didn't want to know
I just didn't want to know
Best to keep things in the shallow end
Cause I never quite learned how to swim

I just didn't want to know
Didn't want, didn't want,
Didn't want, didn't want

Close my eyes just to look at...

  1. 1TOP RATED

    #1 top rated interpretation:
    wardo
    click a star to vote
    Jan 19th 2006 !⃝

    This song is about allowing yourself to being blinded to what's going on with those around you. The person being sung to is killing him/herself, or is already dead, and the singer is too busy to even notice.

    Maynard says in the commentary that he found himself in this situation dating a girl. His friends told him that she was strung out on drugs and he denied it, only to find himself taking a closer look at her and realizing that his friends were right. He had been obvlivious to her state the entire time, not realizing she was killing herself right in front of his eyes.

  2. 2TOP RATED

    #2 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jul 15th 2007 !⃝

    She's dying right in front of him (turning blue) and he's in denial about the fact that the things she's doing are killing her (drugs/alcohol et al.) "keep things in the shallow end" b/c he doesn't want to give any deep thought to WHY she's turning blue he'd rather think about how pretty she looks. "ignore the smoke and smile" b/c he sees the evidince of her problem all around and ignores it. "mistook their nods for an aproval" b/c they were trying to tell him that she was killing herself and he thought they were agreeing with "what a perfect color" blue was.

  3. 3TOP RATED

    #3 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Feb 14th 2008 !⃝

    There's actually no need to interpret the song. On the aMOTION DVD, Maynard states that the song is about his mother. She suffered a stroke and was practically paralyzed. Maynard watched her die basically, but refused to admit that she was dying. He couldn't cope with the pain of losing her, he "Never quite learned how to swim"

  4. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Apr 6th 2020 !⃝

    Like all finely crafted poetry ...or horescope
    ... It means precisely what the one perceiving it NEEDS it to mean..... Enjoy!

  5. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Dec 19th 2019 !⃝

    Everyone it’s obviously “calling out to much, she’s turning blue”. I’m just kidding that what Apple Music says he says but what do I know

  6. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Sep 8th 2019 !⃝

    Whoever is stupid enough to think it's Aftermath is absolutely insane! Go on Amazon music and X Lyrics tells you plain as day that it's CALL AN OPTIMIST!!! OPTIMIST!! CAN'T ANYONE READ??

  7. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Nov 8th 2018 !⃝

    First of all....all you dumbasses are hearing “call an optimist”? Seriously?! The lyrics are “call it aftermath she’s turning blue” Jesus get the words right before you try and butcher an great song

  8. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Aug 24th 2018 !⃝

    She OD on herion...
    Ignore the smoke....
    Mistaked there nods for approval
    Best keep things in the shallow end...never learned to swim,
    Its. About. Watching someome you care about... die right infront of you. Just didnt want know
    And it really could be about mjk mom. I think most of the cd was about her leaving him. And he not being able to help

  9. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Oct 16th 2014 !⃝

    It's the perfect ph balance in any covalent or ionic bond.

  10. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Mar 2nd 2014 !⃝

    The meaning of smoke in the saying "Where there's smoke, there's fire" I am sure is what the smoke is a reference to. Call an optimist means that rather than calling anyone who could actually render any sort of actual assistance, the person from whose perspective the song is sung wants the denial reinforced, and that is furthered by the "such a lovely color" line.

    I am not sure that there is an actual specific circumstance upon which the song is based. It seems like it may predominately be a song about that sort of extreme impregnable denial in general.

  11. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Oct 6th 2013 !⃝

    I`didnt want to know = stay in the shallow end = I close my eyes to look at you (if I close my eyes to see you, your image is just the one I already have in my mind, not your real image. So I don`t really want to see you/to know).
    Ignore de smoke = goes in the same way as I didn`t want to know.
    Call an optimist, she is turning blue (something is wrong)
    such a lovely color for you (instead of focus solving the problem I just "look away" putting my attention in secondary things (whether the blue is a lovely color for her doesn`t help her to solve the problem).
    I just sit and stare at you because I didn`t want to know (I did nothing to help)
    Mistook her nods for a approval (I feel comfort since she is ok with me doing nothing to help/but since the nods are mistook it is not real, but very convenient for me).

  12. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Aug 27th 2012 !⃝

    The song is about a woman who goes insane because her boyfriend and or husband died. She must have went to his funeral before that, then when he was all put in a grave, she put a blue flower on the grave, like its shown in the video. She is in denial of his death and she misses him so much, she is in disbelief that he is not living anymore. So she then becomes a grave digger and spends all night digging him out of his grave. She pretended he was alive and even had supper with him. She was having dinner with a corpse. Then she goes to kiss him and takes his hand to touch her down there after she ate. She didn't want to know that he was dead, so she went insane as she was in disbelief.

  13. t2klilt
    click a star to vote
    Aug 7th 2009 !⃝

    Most people think this song is about Maynard's girlfriend who was on drugs but I don't at all.
    It's about his mothers funeral,
    "best to keep things in the shallow end, because i never quite learned how to swim" how people want to help him with his grieving but he keeps it short because hes uncomfortable.
    "ignore the smoke and smile" the incense catholics burn in that little ball as the body is carried out.

  14. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jun 11th 2009 !⃝

    I like the top rated interpretation, and totally agree with it, and im not sure anyone said anything about the "blue" thing.

    my thought is "she is turning blue" is like she keeps denying being on drugs til she blue in the face and the guy is just like ok and accepts but also theres the "call the optimist" part, kinda weird but like hes saying call a optimist because they'd see the bright side of what the girl is saying, while he is just ignoring it.

    haha probably repeating stuff but whatever.

  15. mcbean
    click a star to vote
    May 1st 2009 !⃝

    Well I can't guess what the author had in mind but this song has a powerful effect on me because it fits perfectly with one of the worst days of my life. As a 7 year old i woke up one morning and found my mom dead on the couch. I was so scared that i couldn't do anything. "I didnt want to know". I knew something was wrong but couldn't come to entertain the fact that she was dead. "just ignore the smoke and smile".

  16. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Sep 11th 2008 !⃝

    The sound of the song is kind of hypnotic. Like spiraling in a circle kind of weird way.

    Anyways I think in the chorus I think Maynard is saying "Calling out too much, she's turning blue" not "Call an optimist" or "call it aftermath" whatever those would mean (I don't hear any "M" in the chorus for aftermath or any "P" for optimist). This could go with the denial of someone you know and their addiction and overdose by the old Cry Wolf story. The addicted person is calling out for help but everyone is in denial of it, or they think it's a false alarm and don't worry about it.

    And they just slip farther away, or maybe even die because it is easier to live life in denial and without worry. We'll trick ourselves in whatever way we can to not see the truth sometimes.

  17. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    May 17th 2008 !⃝

    For me.. I think of mother earth every time I hear this song. This may not have been what PC had in mind but I think it fits. Just ignore the smoke and smile.

  18. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Mar 8th 2008 !⃝

    The song is about a child who can't find his blue crayon and tries mixing colours to make it seem blue..... Thus he gets happy and starts singing........call an optimist she's turning blue!!

‹ prev 12



More A Perfect Circle songs »


 


Latest Articles

 


Submit Your Interpretation

[ want a different song? ]




Just Posted

Mad Hatter anonymous
Fire Lake anonymous
I'll Sleep When I'm Dead anonymous
We Gotta Get out of This Place anonymous
Jealous anonymous
Won't Get Fooled Again anonymous
Smokestack Lightning anonymous
True Colors anonymous
Future Love Paradise anonymous
Adios, Adios anonymous
Strangers anonymous
Possibility anonymous
Jailbreak anonymous
Sour Girl anonymous
Cornflake Girl anonymous

(We won't give out your email)