# What the hell is Particle Man about?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-particle-man-about/25271>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [July 12, 2000, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-particle-man-about/25271 "2000-07-12T04:26:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Philbuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e9a140/32.png) [@Philbuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philbuck)\
**Post date:** [July 12, 2000, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-particle-man-about/25271/21 "2000-07-12T19:47:31Z")

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Of course, if Jerry Falwell were to do an interpretation, we would learn that Triangle Man is actually gay…

(sorry)

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**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\
**Post date:** [July 12, 2000, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-particle-man-about/25271/22 "2000-07-12T23:06:55Z")

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I had a pet theory that Particle man was about various theologies/heresies; Triangle Man being the christian trinity idea, Person man being along the lines of the varous heresies that held that Christ was just man and not of dual nature (or existential post-nietzsche anthrocentric thought), particle man being Brahman-atman or somesuch, etc. Also not a good theory, but I had some people believing it at a time.

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**Author:** ![dpr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8797f3/32.png) [@dpr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dpr)\
**Post date:** [July 12, 2000, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-particle-man-about/25271/23 "2000-07-12T23:37:00Z")

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Well if we’re going to start quoting the cooler lyrics:

I was working all night in my office  
When a man I had recently killed  
Called me up from a phone near my building  
So I looked out the window at him  
He had the same obsequious manner  
That was the reason I had him killed  
So to calm my nerves I sang this song  
To him, over the phone

Turn around, turn around  
There’s a thing there that can be found  
Turn around, turn around  
It’s a human skull on the ground  
Human skull on the ground  
Turn around

I was out by myself in the graveyard  
I was doing an interpretive dance  
When I felt something heavy and pointed  
Strike me in the back of the neck  
And then the ghost of my dance instructor  
Pushed me down into an open grave  
And as dirt rained down she played a xylophone  
And sang me this song

chorus

We were waving our arms out the window  
Of a fast moving passenger train  
Acting in an irresponsible fashion  
Until the engineer whose back had been turned  
And who we thought would find us highly amusing  
Quickly swiveled his head around  
And his face which was a paper-white mask of evil  
Sang us this song

chorus  
Do we really think THIS song has meaning? In this case does it really matter? The simple fact is that any group who uses the word obsequious are tres cool in my book.

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**Author:** ![Lazarus7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/67e7ee/32.png) [@Lazarus7](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lazarus7)\
**Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-particle-man-about/25271/24 "2000-07-13T03:33:54Z")

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dpr …

I concur. That song, and the statue got me high, are my two favorite TMBG songs!

MDE

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**Author:** ![Demo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demo/32/8472_2.png) [@Demo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Demo)\
**Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-particle-man-about/25271/25 "2000-07-13T05:17:05Z")

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My favorite line from a TMBG song:

They don’t need me here, and I know you’re there,  
Where the world goes by like the humid air.

From Anna Ng.

I felt like that for a long time, perfectly put.

BTW, Balance, that was the shortest, best explanation of _Everybody Wants a Rock_ I’ve ever heard

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**Author:** ![Homer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/df788c/32.png) [@Homer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homer)\
**Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-particle-man-about/25271/26 "2000-07-13T05:55:56Z")

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IIRC, “Whistling in the Dark” is a story about people who do the same dumb damn thing over and over again, and never learn from their mistakes.

> [@](#):
>
> A woman came up to me and said  
> “I’d like to poison your mind  
> With wrong ideas that appeal to you  
> Though I am not unkind”  
> She looked at me, I looked at something  
> Written across her scalp  
> And these are the words that it faintly said  
> As I tried to call for help:

She tries to tell him things, but he gets frightened and won’t listen. This isn’t the actual exchange, or her actual words, this is the feeling the exchage gave him.

> [@](#):
>
> There’s only one thing that I know how to do well  
> And I’ve often been told that you only can do  
> What you know how to do well  
> And that’s be you,  
> Be what you’re like,  
> Be like yourself,  
> And so I’m having a wonderful time  
> But I’d rather be whistling in the dark  
> (snip)

Note the chorus.

> [@](#):
>
> A man came up to me and said  
> “I’d like to change your mind  
> By hitting it with a rock,” he said,  
> “Though I am not unkind.”  
> We laughed at his little joke  
> And then I happily walked away  
> And hit my head on the wall of the jail  
> Where the two of us live today.

Notice he ‘bumps his head up against the wall.’ Quite apparent symbolism.

(And goodbye to the rest of the song, chorus repetition and “Whistling in the dark…” over and over again.)

–Tim

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**Author:** ![Demo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demo/32/8472_2.png) [@Demo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Demo)\
**Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-particle-man-about/25271/27 "2000-07-13T06:48:54Z")

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I disagree Homer. Why would they make the antagonists be so forceful with their “changing the mind” technique? I think it’s about being yourself and not caring what anyone else thinks about it. Even if what you do is inane.

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**Author:** ![Spiritus\_Mundi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c68b51/32.png) [@Spiritus\_Mundi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiritus_Mundi)\
**Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-particle-man-about/25271/28 "2000-07-13T14:17:08Z")

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Back befor ethey discovered the joys of travelling with large backup bands they published a number for their fans. The number basically got you an answering machine on which they would record various things. Sometimes you would hear bits of songs in progresss. Sometimes you would hear obscure/inane ramblings. And sometimes they would even give hints with which to interpret their songs. “Birdhouse in Your Soul” is about a nightlight that one of them had as a child. I never got any scoop on :Whistling in the Dark", but my own interpretation is closer to Homer’s than Demo’s, though I tend to think that _all_ of the characters in the song are prisoners of their own preconceptions.

Now, to respond to the OP.  
**Partivle Man** == subatomic partcle  
**Universe Man** == macroscopic universe  
**Person Man** == Life, especially human life  
**Triangle Man** == Entropy

In that context, it is about the inevitable process of entropic decay and the ultimately fruitless and yet somehow heroic anti-entropic struggle of life.

Or else it’s the fat wrestler thing. It’s a toss up, really.

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**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\
**Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-particle-man-about/25271/29 "2000-07-13T15:25:21Z")

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**Falcon** , you fucking ROCK, woman!!! Of course, _Flood_ IMHO is their best album but that song - man, I love it!

Y’know, this whole thread has revived a dream of mine - I gotta go buy all the TMBG albums now. Having a taped copy of _Flood_ just won’t cut it any more. Thanks, guys. I needed this!

In 1844 the Democrats were split  
The three nominees for Presidential candidate  
Were Martin Van Buren, a former President  
And an abolitionist  
James Buchanan, a moderate  
Lewis Cass, a general and expansionist -  
From Nashville came a dark horse riding on:  
It was **James K. Polk** , Napoleon of the South!

Austere, severe, he held few people dear;  
His oratory filled his foes with fear.  
The factions soon agreed:  
“He’s just the man we need  
To bring about victory,  
Fulfill our manifest destiny -  
And annex the lands the Mexicans command!”  
And when the votes were cast the winner was  
Mister **James K. Polk** , Napoleon of the South!

(heroic music interlude)

In four short years he met his every goal:  
He seized the whole Southwest from Mexico,  
Made sure the tariffs fell,  
And made the British sell  
The Oregon Territory.  
He built an independent Treasury.  
Having done all this, he sought no second term!  
Yet precious few have mourned the passing of  
Mister **James K. Polk** , our eleventh President -  
Young Hickory, Napoleon of the South!

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**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\
**Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-particle-man-about/25271/30 "2000-07-13T15:31:39Z")

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Oh, just as an aside. I’ve been to Lincoln-Sudbury High School in Sudbury, Massachuetts where, as I understand it, John and John spent their formative teenage years. Only 'cos my granddad went there in 1930 and I was trying to find his high school transcripts. But I thought the connection was cool.

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**Author:** ![Bolo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@Bolo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bolo)\
**Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-particle-man-about/25271/31 "2000-07-13T16:01:39Z")

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Until now I was certain that Birdhouse in your soul was a love song, “Say I’m the only bee in your bonnet.” Now after listening again, I am totally crestfallen. It is a damn nightlight! Sheesh.

I never had so much trouble explaining song lyrics to my kids until TMBG came along with that;

I have a secret to tell,  
From my electrical well

bit in that song. My son (a very literal individual, even at 6) demanded to know what this electrical well reference meant. To this day, I have no satisfactory explanation.

The OP part (lest I hijack)  
As for Particle Man, I haven’t the foggiest. It ceratinly is about some conflict of some importance, but beyond that I am blissfully lost. Even so I frequently sing this song to myself.

Flood is one of my favorite albums, and I can quote most of the lyrics even though most of it is insrcutable to moi.

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**Author:** ![Spiritus\_Mundi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c68b51/32.png) [@Spiritus\_Mundi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiritus_Mundi)\
**Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-particle-man-about/25271/32 "2000-07-13T16:55:07Z")

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**electrical well** == light socket

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**Author:** ![Falcon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/49beb7/32.png) [@Falcon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Falcon)\
**Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-particle-man-about/25271/33 "2000-07-13T17:12:38Z")

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Olent -

I know the feeling…this thread forced me to finally go get the albums on CD, instead of my crappy taped copies.

And YOU rock! I love “James K. Polk”!!!

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**Author:** ![Erika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/47e85d/32.png) [@Erika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erika)\
**Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-particle-man-about/25271/34 "2000-07-13T17:18:01Z")

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I tend to go with the “we didn’t mean anything by much of any of it” theory. It is remarkably cool, however, how many different, conflicting, and mostly-making-sense interpretations there are. That’s part of what makes it cool.

And being about a night-light doesn’t mean it can’t be a love song!

And I really must expand my collection beyond Flood . . .

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**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\
**Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-particle-man-about/25271/35 "2000-07-13T18:22:06Z")

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What finally clued me in to the nature of this song:

There’s a picture opposite me  
Of my primitive ancestry  
Which stood on rocky shores  
And kept the beaches shipwreck-free

After several years of listening to that song it finally dawned on me that they were talking about a lighthouse.

Though I respect that a lot  
I’d be fired if that were my job  
After killing Jason off  
And countless screaming Argonauts

“What the hell?” I thought to myself. What do John and John have against Greek mythology? Then it hit me - well, if you put a damn nightlight up on the rocky point of the narrows it wouldn’t work very well, would it?!

Then… then it all made sense.

So -

All the room must listen to me  
Filibuster vigilantly…

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**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\
**Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-particle-man-about/25271/36 "2000-07-13T19:13:21Z")

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## Weep Day

I never went to the tropical island  
Though everybody said they saw me there  
And it wasn’t me you punched a hole in  
At the West German protest march

Simultaneous events don’t happen  
We are isolated temporally  
And a part is never called the whole thing  
Though it bothers us to know it’s so

Every man is made of two opinions  
Every woman has a second half  
And it’s samba time for Tambo and Weep Day for Urine Man

I didn’t write the words you hear me singing  
I didn’t sing the line before this one  
You are not the one I was addressing  
That person took a train to Africa

Where he met the consulate from Belgium  
Who is now a Buddhist in a cave  
Who is pitching for the Oakland Raiders  
Striking out the batter she became

Every man is made of two opinions  
Every woman has a second half  
And it’s samba time for Tambo and Weep Day for Urine Man

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**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\
**Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-particle-man-about/25271/37 "2000-07-13T20:03:21Z")

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I always thought “from my electrical well” was a a reference to the electrical potential well bounding the probability function of an electron.

SenSurround

When I was only a zygote,  
I still remember the time,  
When there was nothing to know or to think about  
Except the sound of my mind,  
And the sound from outside.

Sensurround, down at the bottom,  
Sensible to ear and sternum,  
And the world first spoke to me in Sensurround.

If Mom had known she was expecting  
She might have gone to see “Jaws”,  
Instead of picking a film where the sound effect  
Came right up through the floor,  
And I’d be differently formed.

Sensurround, down at the bottom,  
Sensible to ear and sternum,  
And the world first spoke to me in Sensurround.

Accidently in a coal mine it was found,  
When they accidently dug too far down and found the Sensurround.

I still don’t know who conceived it,  
Or where they got the idea,  
But there it was in the aisle by the exit sign,  
A woofer covered in wood,  
To shake the room when it should.

Sensurround, down at the bottom,  
Sensible to ear and sternum,  
Make the fakeness realistic  
When the action went ballistic,  
One degree shy of sadistic,  
And the world first spoke to me in Sensurround.

If I could swim under the water  
Without having to breathe,  
If I could follow the trail to the ocean floor,  
I think I know what there’d be,  
Down there waiting for me.

Sensurround, down at the bottom,  
Sensible to ear and sternum,  
Make the fakeness realistic  
When the action went ballistic,  
One degree shy of sadistic,  
And the world first spoke to me in Sensurround.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Bolo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@Bolo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bolo)\
**Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-particle-man-about/25271/38 "2000-07-13T20:20:27Z")

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Well now I have a plausible explanation for the electrical well. My son thanks all of you!

On another level, it will always be a love song for me.

Check out my new sig… Ahh egotism

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**Author:** ![Bolo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@Bolo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bolo)\
**Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-particle-man-about/25271/39 "2000-07-13T20:22:18Z")

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Like I said, check out my new sig…

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**Author:** ![MamaGeph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a587f6/32.png) [@MamaGeph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MamaGeph)\
**Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-particle-man-about/25271/40 "2000-07-13T21:48:30Z")

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[QUOTE]  
\*Originally posted by Spiritus Mundi \*  
\*\*Back befor ethey discovered the joys of travelling with large backup bands they published a number for their fans. The number basically got you an answering machine on which they would record various things.

That’s still up. Their dail-a-song is: 718-387-6962

Just a long distance call to Brooklyn. 🙂

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