The man of a thousand faces Sits down at the table Eats a small lump of sugar And smiles at the moon like he knows her And begins his quiet ascension Without anyone's sturdy instruction To a place of no religion Has found a path to our alikeness His words are quiet like stains are On a table cloth washed in a river Stains that are trying to cover, for each other Or at least blend in with the pattern Good is better than perfect Scrub til your fingers are bleeding And I'm crying for things that I tell others to do without crying He used to go to his favorite bookstores And rip out his favorite pages And stuff them into his breast pocket And the moon to him was a stranger Now he sits down at the table Right next to the window And begins his quiet ascension Without anyone's sturdy instruction To a place of no religion Has found a path to our alikeness And eats a small lump of sugar And smiles at the moon like he knows her
I think this song is about a man that feels he has to be something different for everyone he knows, he's never himself and wears a thousand faces, He's lost because he doesn't know who he really is because he's always being what other people want him to be. He feels everyone is a stranger, even the moon. Everyone is kept at a distance and he feels lost and alone because of it. The small lump of sugar, moon, and "quiet ascension" are obviously drug references.
I definitely sense that distance that you mentioned, very strongly. When he has eaten his small lump of sugar, he can even imagine that he knows the moon. The lyric that I feel stands out quite a lot, is probably "and I'm crying for things, that I tell others to do without crying" Gotta love regina and the beauty of her songwriting
George T. I didn't take it as a drug reference at all. There are many ways to ascend without getting stoned. He is alone when he ascends, so he could be doing anything like yoga or praying or meditating or just drinking coffee and building model planes, whatever, it doesn't matter what he's doing. Use your imagination, it really gives him character. Sometimes, sugar is just sugar and the moon is a long distance lover. Probably not literally since he can't skype with the moon. Smiling at the moon makes the scene more contemplative and romantic.
The way I see it Regi is telling a story about a man that is trying really hard to figure out the meaning of life and where he belongs. He would rip pages from books and stuff them into his pockets, he tried on a thousand faces and beliefs. But no matter how hard he’d try to understand no matter how many perspectives he’d look through, he still didn’t know where he fit in. I think the lump of sugar represents the sweet little things. “He eats a lump of sugar” he finally started taking in each bittersweet moment as they came to him. The moon represents the unknown all the places he will never get to see or things he’ll never understand. “He smiles at the moon like he knows her” He now knows he doesn’t have to understand the meaning of life or make some sort of mark. “Good is better than perfect” He’s finally happy with just being himself.. he has found his peace.
This song will always take me back to one of the most horrible moments. My son was dying, and I was fighting with the insurance company to save him. He's still here.
Did you know that your mind itself cannot create faces out of nowhere? That means every face you see in a dream is one you've seen in reality - even if it was for a split second at the store.
i dont know why but in drawn to her voice and image like a moth to a flame.i feel her music and come to tears in all she sings.godbless you regi for waking the me up emotionally
i am so ridiculously in love with this female its ridiculous. not in the crazy obsessive "im gonna hunt her down for myself way" or in a girl on girl way all you pervies that are gonna take it like that. but i have never found anyone with more raw inspiring music then her. she really reaches people.
Its sound like she is talking about a person who knows himself well and has made some decisions for himself knowing he can't go back. Someone who has accepted what is to come.
I love the schizophrenia idea behind this. This was the stimulus I used when creating my piece on schizophrenia for my drama production. Listened to it endlessly when producing my monologue. It's just so beautifully tragic and they way she sings it is just beautiful. It is hard not to get connected with these lyrics. It is like Regina performs it so effortlessly. Just...stunning.
....i really love this song!!!!!!! i want to meet regina spektor personally but i think it is impossible,,,i hope she will have a concert here in philippines!!!!!!i love you regina !!!!more power!!!!!! you breaks my heart , a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-art...
When I was little maybe 10 or so, I thought this song was about an old, dying God who literally had a thousand faces. People wanted to come help him but he refused every attempt
I like to think of this as an old man who is dying, reliving and reminiscing about his life in his final quiet days. Understanding so many things he can't explain but only knows. The thousands of faces he's worn, as a boy, as a teenager, as a young man. Protecting, working, building, playing. How much he's changed throughout his life, the people in it, the challenges, and he's accepted it. He spent his final moments acting out his daily life. Eating sugar, stealing pages and imagining without knowing how. Without any instruction. Only he did them with newfound beauty. That wonderful bliss of knowing. Of comprehending so many small truths that make all the difference in happiness. At the end he doesn't know the moon anymore because the days have passed, he no longer belongs here. He ascends with no instruction, this time into death, not thought, without any instruction because just as no one taught him how to dream, no one taught him how to die.
I think this song is a chalked full of metaphors and no one metaphor is right or wrong, being that its a very broad artistic masterpiece, however each specific person who hears this interprets it, would be correct for them. There's good fun in hearing each other theories and what we think she meant, but i think what it means for us specifically is very important. The broad metaphors allow for us to assign personal meaning to many of these phrases, and at different times in my life I've listened to this song and thought it meant many things. As my life experiences change, the meaning of the song changes for me as well.
I think everyone has conflicting, and sometimes contradictory emotions at times. People are complicated, and complex. It's not always life that makes us that way... it's just who we are. ~♥
People discussing what a song means to them on a youtube video and not trashing others? Only Regina is capable of causing this; such beauty and brilliance.
I didn't believe in favorites until I saw this music video. To this day it is my absolute favorite video I have ever seen. This song is great and so is Regina and her beautiful gift. :)
Thank you. Sometimes I think that I am the only one to see that. "his quiet ascension" "stains that are trying to cover, for each other; or at least blend in with a pattern"
Still some of the most beautiful words I have ever heard. Like a small lump of sugar, so sweet in your mouth until it quietly melts away, quiet like a stain on a table cloth. Regina is so good in many ways, but not perfect, no never perfect. Good is better than perfect. Stay good Regina...
As been said, Regina has been here in south america. She was in Brazil some weeks ago, and I couldn't go to the show, but I cried when I watched the videos of her performance. How can someone be so wonderful? You see, she's not dancing for the camera with some stupid non-meaning lyric, she write her songs by her essence, and having such a beautiful voice and such a pretty smile, it can't goes wrong. Absolutely amazing!
i love this song. "he used to go to his favorite bookstores and rip out his favorite pages and stuff 'em into his breast pocket..." i don't know why but i absolutely love that line. it puts an image in your head of who "the man of a thousand faces" is...and it just makes me think that he is putting his favorite words somewhere close to his heart...
I think this is about the devil, or the idea of evil. the stains metaphor, the sugar metaphor for pleasure,the scrubbing metaphor for when we try to get rid of our own evil. The devil's whispers are like stains. And good is better than perfect because you can scrub until your fingers are bleeding but you can never totally get rid of his effect, or the stains.
"Man Of A Thousand Faces" The man of a thousand faces Sits down at the table Eats a small lump of sugar And smiles at the moon like he knows her And begins his quiet ascension Without anyone's sturdy instruction To a place of no religion Has found a path to our alikeness His words are quiet like stains are On a table cloth washed in a river Stains that are trying to cover, for each other Or at least blend in with the pattern Good is better than perfect Scrub til your fingers are bleeding And I'm crying for things that I tell others to do without crying He used to go to his favorite bookstores And rip out his favorite pages And stuff them into his breast pocket And the moon to him was a stranger Now he sits down at the table Right next to the window And begins his quiet ascension Without anyone's sturdy instruction To a place of no religion Has found a path to our alikeness And eats a small lump of sugar And smiles at the moon like he knows her
It took a while for me to like songs from pretty good singers like Taylor Swift and Alicia Keys. I guess it was just a matter of getting used to them. But today, I stumbled across Regina Spektor's songs and immediately fell in love.
Nice diverse range of interpretations but to me it seems to be just a homage to Joseph Campbell who wrote "the hero with the thousand faces." Campbell struggled to put together a unifying mythology. During the Great Depression, he spent five years (1929-34) living in a rented shack on some land in Woodstock, New York. She's either referring to the "Hero", Campbell or both. So many of the references in the song seem to describe Campbell's spiritual and intellectual journey, which was largely in solitude and in nature. I'm not sure about the small lump of sugar.
Y es curioso cómo un video tan sencillo es tan agradable de observar. Es uno de mis favoritos. Y creo que la canción habla sobre eso: lo gustos simples en una vida tan complicada. Este video y está canción son como un hermoso sueño.
I see this song as: The man of a thousand faces is the Christ Spirit of man dwelling in man. He used to not know himself, and was a thief of inspiration; but now that he has grown to know thy Self, he sits. And begins his quite ascension, returning to the unity of spirit and man in the present. For such gives knowledge of the moon and what is beyond. This place where no religion (system of beliefs) has yet to find a path to or likeness, yet certain non-religious traditions have because such are not based on belief in ideologies, but knowledge of experience. i AM that man of truth, love & light, forevermore. Amen.
at first i didn't like the video, but now i really see different things about it that correlate well with the song. granted, that was from june to now, but still it grows on you.
![Regina Spektor - "Dance Anthem of the 80's" [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/-okd1I1V3q8/mqdefault.jpg)
![Regina Spektor - "Dance Anthem of the 80's" [Official Music Video]](/img/tr.png)
Regina Spektor should be nominated for a nobel prize of litterature. All her songs are just amazingly beautiful and throught-provoking.
Really though
yes totally agreed , i am super thankful for her existence
The man of a thousand faces
Sits down at the table
Eats a small lump of sugar
And smiles at the moon like he knows her
And begins his quiet ascension
Without anyone's sturdy instruction
To a place of no religion
Has found a path to our alikeness
His words are quiet like stains are
On a table cloth washed in a river
Stains that are trying to cover, for each other
Or at least blend in with the pattern
Good is better than perfect
Scrub til your fingers are bleeding
And I'm crying for things that I tell others to do without crying
He used to go to his favorite bookstores
And rip out his favorite pages
And stuff them into his breast pocket
And the moon to him was a stranger
Now he sits down at the table
Right next to the window
And begins his quiet ascension
Without anyone's sturdy instruction
To a place of no religion
Has found a path to our alikeness
And eats a small lump of sugar
And smiles at the moon like he knows her
I particularly LOVE the line that says "To a place of NO RELIGION"! I cry that line!
Magical song indeed
@@chrishernandez3729 ohhh probably you are right!!!!! thank you so much!!
"Good is better than perfect" Regina is amazing.
I think this song is about a man that feels he has to be something different for everyone he knows, he's never himself and wears a thousand faces, He's lost because he doesn't know who he really is because he's always being what other people want him to be. He feels everyone is a stranger, even the moon. Everyone is kept at a distance and he feels lost and alone because of it. The small lump of sugar, moon, and "quiet ascension" are obviously drug references.
Very awesome interpretation. I can see how the song would mean that and I agree.
I really like your interpretation! (And thank you for not mentioning Doctor Who, that's all anyone else comments about on this video)
I definitely sense that distance that you mentioned, very strongly. When he has eaten his small lump of sugar, he can even imagine that he knows the moon.
The lyric that I feel stands out quite a lot, is probably "and I'm crying for things, that I tell others to do without crying"
Gotta love regina and the beauty of her songwriting
George T. I didn't take it as a drug reference at all. There are many ways to ascend without getting stoned. He is alone when he ascends, so he could be doing anything like yoga or praying or meditating or just drinking coffee and building model planes, whatever, it doesn't matter what he's doing. Use your imagination, it really gives him character. Sometimes, sugar is just sugar and the moon is a long distance lover. Probably not literally since he can't skype with the moon. Smiling at the moon makes the scene more contemplative and romantic.
Wired Eek Right, I highly doubt Regina wastes her time on lyrics about drugs. You see what relates.
The way I see it Regi is telling a story about a man that is trying really hard to figure out the meaning of life and where he belongs. He would rip pages from books and stuff them into his pockets, he tried on a thousand faces and beliefs. But no matter how hard he’d try to understand no matter how many perspectives he’d look through, he still didn’t know where he fit in. I think the lump of sugar represents the sweet little things. “He eats a lump of sugar” he finally started taking in each bittersweet moment as they came to him. The moon represents the unknown all the places he will never get to see or things he’ll never understand. “He smiles at the moon like he knows her” He now knows he doesn’t have to understand the meaning of life or make some sort of mark. “Good is better than perfect” He’s finally happy with just being himself.. he has found his peace.
My interpretation too.
Yep.
THIS! My brain was trying to put this in words. Thank you!!! Saving a pic of your interpretation🩷
This song will always take me back to one of the most horrible moments. My son was dying, and I was fighting with the insurance company to save him. He's still here.
Im glad
Regina Spektor is one of my biggest inspirations. I love her.
Some find God in the stars and some the rain.
V
I think this is a more accurate route of interpretation
Did you know that your mind itself cannot create faces out of nowhere? That means every face you see in a dream is one you've seen in reality - even if it was for a split second at the store.
Who’s listening in 2020? I’ll still be here 10 years from now admiring this song...
Me, too.
I'm in 3071 and we still sing this song.
2021
2022 here
2024 even...
REGINA, WHY ARE YOU AMAZING?
This song is so dreamlike
She is one of the best artists I have ever heard!!!!!
Man of a Thousand Faces
i dont know why but in drawn to her voice and image like a moth to a flame.i feel her music and come to tears in all she sings.godbless you regi for waking the me up emotionally
I still love this song with all my heart.
Been a Regina fan for more than a decade but didn't know there's an official music video for this song.
Same gurl same
Her voice is Very Very Very Very Very very beautiful.
Girrrrrrl. Ever'body knows. The Grammies aren't about quality. They're about hype.
I don't know why either, one of Regina's pieces that always makes me cry.
This is my fave song by her, I always interpret something else whenever I listen...I love it
i am so ridiculously in love with this female its ridiculous.
not in the crazy obsessive "im gonna hunt her down for myself way"
or in a girl on girl way all you pervies that are gonna take it like that.
but i have never found anyone with more raw inspiring music then her.
she really reaches people.
Ik it's 13 years old and I was only 1yo when u wrote this but--wdym 'hunt her down' or 'female' 😂?
At 16 this song made me cry and now years later it still does ❤
Why
@@thrxwolf7039 emotions.
@@vvvvance oh ok
"And the moon to him was a stranger..."
Its sound like she is talking about a person who knows himself well and has made some decisions for himself knowing he can't go back. Someone who has accepted what is to come.
I love the schizophrenia idea behind this. This was the stimulus I used when creating my piece on schizophrenia for my drama production. Listened to it endlessly when producing my monologue. It's just so beautifully tragic and they way she sings it is just beautiful. It is hard not to get connected with these lyrics. It is like Regina performs it so effortlessly. Just...stunning.
....i really love this song!!!!!!!
i want to meet regina spektor personally but i think it is impossible,,,i hope she will have a concert here in philippines!!!!!!i love you regina !!!!more power!!!!!!
you breaks my heart , a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-art...
When I was little maybe 10 or so, I thought this song was about an old, dying God who literally had a thousand faces. People wanted to come help him but he refused every attempt
this interpretation is so adorable but also a little sad.
@@bettyshorts I agree.
That's actually sort of interesting
That is what it's about. Divinity is an invention of humans. It's the unattainable ideal.
I think its about a relationship.
This is hands-down my favorite Regina Spektor song. I don't even have words to describe how it makes me feel. 💙
...and i´m crying for things that i tell others to do without crying
I love ❤ the Anarcho-Bohemiana style of this Girl!
Regina is too smart, creative and well read for her songs to be interpreted
I like to think of this as an old man who is dying, reliving and reminiscing about his life in his final quiet days. Understanding so many things he can't explain but only knows. The thousands of faces he's worn, as a boy, as a teenager, as a young man. Protecting, working, building, playing. How much he's changed throughout his life, the people in it, the challenges, and he's accepted it.
He spent his final moments acting out his daily life. Eating sugar, stealing pages and imagining without knowing how. Without any instruction. Only he did them with newfound beauty. That wonderful bliss of knowing. Of comprehending so many small truths that make all the difference in happiness.
At the end he doesn't know the moon anymore because the days have passed, he no longer belongs here. He ascends with no instruction, this time into death, not thought, without any instruction because just as no one taught him how to dream, no one taught him how to die.
Her lyrics. Her music. Her talent. Her voice. oh my god.
You, my friend, are a mind reader. You have also pointed out all the whovians who are also fans of Regina Spektor. Thank you.
Obligatory: Feeeelllls.
I know and love this man dearly... Wake up.. I'm here waiting for you.
I think this song is a chalked full of metaphors and no one metaphor is right or wrong, being that its a very broad artistic masterpiece, however each specific person who hears this interprets it, would be correct for them. There's good fun in hearing each other theories and what we think she meant, but i think what it means for us specifically is very important. The broad metaphors allow for us to assign personal meaning to many of these phrases, and at different times in my life I've listened to this song and thought it meant many things. As my life experiences change, the meaning of the song changes for me as well.
If I could thumbs up this a million times I would.
And smiles at the moon like he knows her.... ♥
I think everyone has conflicting, and sometimes contradictory emotions at times. People are complicated, and complex. It's not always life that makes us that way... it's just who we are. ~♥
this is my favorite regina song.
This woman this song !!!
People discussing what a song means to them on a youtube video and not trashing others? Only Regina is capable of causing this; such beauty and brilliance.
This song makes me bawl.
there is no way to do justice to Regina's capabilities with mere words. She is a rare jewel in today's music world.
There's something eerie and otherworldly about this song. I don't know what it is but I love it.
This is God showing off. wow, just amazing. The talent packed into this girl could fill all of Asia and then some.
I didn't believe in favorites until I saw this music video. To this day it is my absolute favorite video I have ever seen. This song is great and so is Regina and her beautiful gift. :)
I think this song is my favorite out of all her songs.
I'm not sure how I feel about the album as a whole but I am absolutely in love with this song. Amazing.
And such a beautiful, whimsical video.
Thank you. Sometimes I think that I am the only one to see that. "his quiet ascension" "stains that are trying to cover, for each other; or at least blend in with a pattern"
Still some of the most beautiful words I have ever heard. Like a small lump of sugar, so sweet in your mouth until it quietly melts away, quiet like a stain on a table cloth. Regina is so good in many ways, but not perfect, no never perfect. Good is better than perfect. Stay good Regina...
lyrical spiritual emotional beauty at its finest
einfach nur wunderschön ...
omg.
I believe I have now officially lost the ability to be able to even. Thankyou. Thank. You.
Her voice literally makes me shiver in the best of ways.
regina is perfection.
why is this song so perfect?
it's unbelieveable
Regina Spektor changed my life.
Je ne connaissais pas du tout . j'adore.
As been said, Regina has been here in south america. She was in Brazil some weeks ago, and I couldn't go to the show, but I cried when I watched the videos of her performance. How can someone be so wonderful? You see, she's not dancing for the camera with some stupid non-meaning lyric, she write her songs by her essence, and having such a beautiful voice and such a pretty smile, it can't goes wrong. Absolutely amazing!
Regina is my inspiration and what I love...If she was the Doctor's companion, I would have that be my religion, eating sugar lumps!
* heavy breathing * WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MEEEE I SHIP THEM NOW (also which doctor?)
Every word she sings is golden. A record listening, an spriritual elevation from start to finish. She walks into my heart as if she lived there.
Smiles at the moon like he knows her....
OH HE KNOWS HER ALL RIGHT!!!!
Don't you, Doctor dearest?
holy fuck, i love your humor.. ♥♠
Yes happy Birthdayyy!!! We love you!
Congratulations from Germany!
i love this song.
"he used to go to his favorite bookstores and rip out his favorite pages and stuff 'em into his breast pocket..."
i don't know why but i absolutely love that line. it puts an image in your head of who "the man of a thousand faces" is...and it just makes me think that he is putting his favorite words somewhere close to his heart...
i'm in love with this song! regina is an amazing artist.
I think this is about the devil, or the idea of evil. the stains metaphor, the sugar metaphor for pleasure,the scrubbing metaphor for when we try to get rid of our own evil. The devil's whispers are like stains. And good is better than perfect because you can scrub until your fingers are bleeding but you can never totally get rid of his effect, or the stains.
So interresting
I just realised i've been watching Regina Spektor videos for about an hour now. She's beautiful, what'cha gonna do?
reminds me of Rorschach.
love this song!
To this day Regina is one of a very few that can hit notes that send chills up my spine and into my soul
I am head over heels in love with her voice!
her beautiful lyrics are painted by the brush that is her voice
To anyone who likes to wonder about Regina is singing about: Man of a Thousand Faces was the nickname of the silent movie star, Lon Chaney.
her voice is just so pretty
"Man Of A Thousand Faces"
The man of a thousand faces
Sits down at the table
Eats a small lump of sugar
And smiles at the moon like he knows her
And begins his quiet ascension
Without anyone's sturdy instruction
To a place of no religion
Has found a path to our alikeness
His words are quiet like stains are
On a table cloth washed in a river
Stains that are trying to cover, for each other
Or at least blend in with the pattern
Good is better than perfect
Scrub til your fingers are bleeding
And I'm crying for things that I tell others to do without crying
He used to go to his favorite bookstores
And rip out his favorite pages
And stuff them into his breast pocket
And the moon to him was a stranger
Now he sits down at the table
Right next to the window
And begins his quiet ascension
Without anyone's sturdy instruction
To a place of no religion
Has found a path to our alikeness
And eats a small lump of sugar
And smiles at the moon like he knows her
Her singing bypasses my ears and goes straight to my soul.
I love her brain!
Happy birthday Regina Spektor! Eternal love from Canada! ;)
To me, this song is about spiritual enlightenment.
thank you john for everything you did for me today:)
It took a while for me to like songs from pretty good singers like Taylor Swift and Alicia Keys. I guess it was just a matter of getting used to them. But today, I stumbled across Regina Spektor's songs and immediately fell in love.
Regina is better than perfect. She is GOOD!!!
Brilliant!
Hirlshavylegs
Nice diverse range of interpretations but to me it seems to be just a homage to Joseph Campbell who wrote "the hero with the thousand faces." Campbell struggled to put together a unifying mythology. During the Great Depression, he spent five years (1929-34) living in a rented shack on some land in Woodstock, New York. She's either referring to the "Hero", Campbell or both. So many of the references in the song seem to describe Campbell's spiritual and intellectual journey, which was largely in solitude and in nature. I'm not sure about the small lump of sugar.
Here, let me just clear my sinuses real quick-
*Plays this song*
Powerful song indeed!
"Good is better than perfect."
Man, I don't really believe in favorites but this music video is my favorite of all time.
favorite song by her thus far
This song makes me sad and peaceful at the same time
Y es curioso cómo un video tan sencillo es tan agradable de observar. Es uno de mis favoritos.
Y creo que la canción habla sobre eso: lo gustos simples en una vida tan complicada. Este video y está canción son como un hermoso sueño.
I see this song as: The man of a thousand faces is the Christ Spirit of man dwelling in man. He used to not know himself, and was a thief of inspiration; but now that he has grown to know thy Self, he sits. And begins his quite ascension, returning to the unity of spirit and man in the present. For such gives knowledge of the moon and what is beyond. This place where no religion (system of beliefs) has yet to find a path to or likeness, yet certain non-religious traditions have because such are not based on belief in ideologies, but knowledge of experience. i AM that man of truth, love & light, forevermore. Amen.
I always pictured more of a peaceful forest during a starry night when I heard this song.
This seemed more like a drug trip than a video
at first i didn't like the video,
but now i really see different things about it that correlate well with the song.
granted, that was from june to now, but still it grows on you.
the chills keep coming
Happy Birthday Regina!
i love you regina 3
That is so beautiful it hurts.
the most beautiful eyes i have ever seen.
"eats a small lump of sugar" , "begins his quiet ascension" , "has found a path to our alikeness"
LSD :)
.....found a path to, OR a likeness.......🎹✌️
Oh Regina you are the best