Tame Impala - Mind Mischief Analysis

Tame Impala - Mind Mischief

 

The genre of this song is psychedelic rock this is clearly identified by the use of guitars, drums, bass, etc... It is also shown through the visuals of the music video and how it’s portrayed. The video shows a scenario where a young naïve boy begins to fall in love with a girl but almost starts getting led on, the girl keeps leaving him but he tries and regains her love again; this can be shown through the lyrics

'How optimism led me astray,
Two hundred things I took the wrong way
But I saw her love gauge running low,
I tried to fill but it overflowed.'

The first line is him realizing that his optimism about the situation had confused him about what was actually going on and the next line reinforces this. He's looked on the relationship in a more positive way than he should have, taking 'two hundred things...I took the wrong way'. The next line is the moment he notices the change in the girl and he tries to save it but his efforts basically make it worse.

‘She remembers my name
could be blown way out, way out
It's all going to change
She remembers my name’

This verse begins to show his excitement that ‘she remembers my name’ and begins to think things may actually start to change. He's under the impression that this may change everything and they'll be happy together again and that he could have blown everything out of proportion. It then goes on to the next verse which proves him wrong.

‘But she was only messing around,
Please, no more playing with my heart
Ooh, go with Mr. Right just for once
Ooh, no more mischief with my mind’

This then goes on to show us that everything he thought wasn’t actually real that he feels played, clearly shown through the first two lines. It then says ‘Ooh, go with Mr. Right just for once’ He has finally realized he isn’t the man she wants and tells her to find someone else the ‘Mr. Right’ finally they use the line ‘Ooh, no more mischief with my mind’ which then relates back to the song name.

‘No more getting it wrong,
I'll be frozen here on.
If forever we'll see,
But no more guessing for me

Oh, I was just so sure of everything
Ooh, that's what you get for dreaming aloud
Oh, the day that words are clearer to me’

Finally the last two verses explain his disappointment and how broken hearted he actually is. It also explains how he will ever make this mistake again through the lines ‘But no more guessing for me’ and ‘Oh, the day that words are clearer to me’