Lyrics: In my room

In my room, program for the Guided Tour of 1982
In my room, program for the Guided Tour of 1982

In my room

[sounds of prayer and quarreling voices]

I stand alone and watch the clock
I only wait for it to stop
And in the room locked up inside me
The cutout magazines remind me
I sit and wait alone in my room

And in my room against the wall
There is a picture very small
A photograph I took some years ago
It shows a picture of the room I know
I sit and wait alone in my room

[chorus]
The walls are white and in the night
The room is lit by electric light

I stand alone and watch the clock
I only wait for it to stop
The doors are shut and all the windows lock
The only sound is from the clock
I sit and wait alone in my room

[chorus]

[credit: Clarke]

Note: The lyrics to ‘In my room’ are complemented with the Lord’s prayer echoing in the background, especially the line ‘deliver us from evil’. Also there are voices shouting among other things ‘boy can you hear me?’ They give the song a slightly sinister feel, especially because it is not immediately clear what the lyrics are about.

Most likely, there are two rooms. A person is sitting in a bare room with white walls, shut doors and locked windows. He concentrates on a picture of another room and its image in his head. This second room has cutout magazines. It’s probably the childhood room of someone who has ended up in a hostile environment.

‘In my room’, then, is a song about longing for a sense of security, as found in a childhood room, but in the Lord’s protection as well. The music is among the more experimental on the album, adding to the sense of loss the lyrics convey.

Video on Youtube (live at BBC, 1982)