The Jazz Butcher, also known as The Jazz Butcher Conspiracy and The Jazz Bu… Read Full Bio ↴The Jazz Butcher, also known as The Jazz Butcher Conspiracy and The Jazz Butcher And His Sikkorskis From Hell, is a blackly humorous and (until the early nineties) prolific British musical group founded by Pat Fish, a philosophy major from Oxford. Their oeuvre boasts such topics as Thomas Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49, an unrequited crush on Shirley Maclaine, and an ode to SF writer Harlan Ellison.

Current and Former Members include: Pat Fish aka The Butcher (founder), Max Eider (founder), Steve Valentine, Owen Jones, Curtis E. Johnson, Pat Beirne, Gabriel Turner, Dooj Wilkinson, Dave Henderson, Paul Mulreany, Richard Formby, Alex Green, Alex Lee, David J, Graham Fudger aka Felix Fudger, Julian Poole, Kevin Haskins, Kizzy O'Callaghan, Laurence O'Keefe, Nick Burson, Rolo McGinty, Colin, Sonic Boom, Alice Thompson, Peter Astor, Peter Crouch, Rodney Allen, and Joe Allen.

Official Website: http://www.jazzbutcher.com/htdb

Mind Like A Playgroup
The Jazz Butcher Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

I have a mind like a playgroup with kiddies on the carpet
Toys on the table and lots and lots of noise
People leave their thoughts here
Like they'd leave their kids there
While they go out drinking and chasing boys.

I don't care, even if they do stare
I don't care, I don't mind at all

I don't care, even if they do stare
I haven't got a mind at all.
(La la la la la la la)

People wouldn't leave their kiddies on the M1
Might get run over, splish splat dead
So why do they assume that I've got any room for
All their stuff inside my head?

I don't care, even if you do stare
I don't care, I don't mind at all
I don't care, even if you do stare
I haven't got a mind at all.
(La la la la la la la)

Mind like a bathroom, splishy splashy bathroom
Mind like a bathroom with little rubber ducks
Mind like a bathroom with soap and talcum powder
Mind like a bathroom with little rubber ducks

I don't care, even if I do stare
I don't care, I don't mind at all
I don't care, I might as well not be there
I haven't got a mind at

I haven't got a mind at
I haven't got a mind at all.

Overall Meaning

The Jazz Butcher's song Mind Like A Playgroup is a commentary on the modern world's constant bombardment of sensory and emotional input. The singer's mind is compared to a playgroup, filled with toys and noise, where people leave their thoughts behind like they would leave their children in daycare. This overwhelming mental clutter leaves the singer feeling numb and detached from the world around them. They do not care about the superficial judgments of others who might see their mental state as abnormal or lacking. In fact, they embrace the idea of having no mind at all, as this frees them from the exhausting and distracting nature of daily life.

The verses and chorus of the song repeatedly emphasize the idea that the singer's mind is like a playgroup or a bathroom, both spaces filled with random objects and clutter. The reference to rubber ducks in the bathroom suggests that even in spaces where we go to clean ourselves, the outside world has managed to intrude through the accumulation of unnecessary objects. The repetition of the phrase "I don't care, even if you do stare" underscores the singer's desire to distance themselves from judgment and the societal pressure to conform to certain mental or emotional states. In many ways, this song is a meditation on the value of mental emptiness as a kind of liberation from the chaos of modern life.

Line by Line Meaning

I have a mind like a playgroup with kiddies on the carpet
My mind is like a place where children play and make a lot of noise.

Toys on the table and lots and lots of noise
There are toys on the table and lots of noise in my mind.

People leave their thoughts here
People leave their thoughts in my mind.

Like they'd leave their kids there
People leave their thoughts in my mind like they leave their children in a playgroup.

While they go out drinking and chasing boys.
While people go out to have fun, they leave their thoughts in my mind.

I don't care, even if they do stare
I don't care if people stare at me.

I don't care, I don't mind at all
I don't care and it doesn't bother me at all.

I haven't got a mind at all.
I feel like I don't have a mind at all.

People wouldn't leave their kiddies on the M1
People wouldn't leave their children on a busy highway.

Might get run over, splish splat dead
They might get hit and die.

So why do they assume that I've got any room for
If they wouldn't leave their children on a dangerous road, why do they think I have room for their thoughts in my mind?

All their stuff inside my head?
Why do they think they can dump all their thoughts and ideas into my mind?

Mind like a bathroom, splishy splashy bathroom
My mind is like a bathroom, where things get cleaned and washed away.

Mind like a bathroom with little rubber ducks
My mind is like a bathroom with toys, like little rubber ducks.

Mind like a bathroom with soap and talcum powder
My mind is like a bathroom with cleaning products, like soap and talcum powder.

I might as well not be there
I feel like I'm not even there, like I don't exist.

I haven't got a mind at all.
I still feel like I don't have a mind at all.

Contributed by Victoria B. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

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