# What do these lyrics mean?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-these-lyrics-mean/986367>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Tags:** music\
**Created:** [June 30, 2023, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-these-lyrics-mean/986367 "2023-06-30T18:36:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2023, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-these-lyrics-mean/986367/1 "2023-06-30T18:36:29Z")

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I know this subject has been done to death. Probably even this very song, since it’s so old. However, I watched a YouTube video recently that stated that Maniac, from Flashdance, was originally a song about a serial killer that Michael Sembello changed a few words to fit the theme when he was asked for a song for the movie. So maybe we’ve got an explanation for the jacked up lyrics. I mean, really, a cold kinetic heat? At least that line sort of jibes with the visual of getting water splashed on you while you’re dancing in a steel mill.

However, I cannot parse:

It can cut you like a knife, if the gift becomes the fire  
On a wire between will and what will be

Huh? Even Jay-Z’s “Thirty-eight revolve like the sun round the Earth” makes more pseudo sense if you’re talking about guns and bullets and, um, pre-Renaissance astrology. Plus, it’s rap. They only make sense about 75% of the time.

I think he was trying to be deep (in a disco song, no less) but what was he trying to be deep about? I dunno. Also, I’d love to know if I’m not the only one who listens to lyrics and think, huh? A lot of times I’ve misheard it but, just as many times, I heard it right, I just do not understand what the lyricist was trying to say.

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**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2023, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-these-lyrics-mean/986367/2 "2023-06-30T18:50:06Z")

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The gift of talent that overtakes everything in a person’s life yet  
the difference between succeeding or not can be razor thin.

Depending on how far you hoped to go and how close you got, “failure” can be devastating.

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**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2023, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-these-lyrics-mean/986367/3 "2023-06-30T18:53:47Z")

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It is absolutely beautiful that you got this from that! My brain was absolutely stuck on ‘between will and what will be’ but you saw that that first ‘will’ was a noun.

It’s still a terrible lyric but now it makes sense,

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**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2023, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-these-lyrics-mean/986367/4 "2023-06-30T18:58:30Z")

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Re Maniac

I’d heard it was originally intended for IIRC one of the Halloween films. When asked to work on Flashdance, the writer sent it in as a sample of his work. The director loved the song so much he insisted on a rewrite of the lyrics so it could be used in Flashdance.