Album: I Just Can't Stop It (1980)

Charted: 4

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• Mirror in the bathroom
  Please talk free
  The door is locked
  Just you and me
  Can I take you to a restaurant
  That's got glass tables
  You can watch yourself
  While you are eating
  
  Mirror in the bathroom
  I just can't stop it
  Every Saturday you see me
  Window shopping
  Find no interest in the
  Racks and shelves
  Just a thousand reflections
  Of my own sweet self, self, self
  
  Mirror in the bathroom
  You're my mirror in the bathroom
  You're my mirror in the bathroom
  You're my mirror in the bathroom
  
  Mirror in the bathroom
  Recompense
  For all my crimes
  Of self defense
  Cures you wiser
  Make no sense
  Drift gently into
  Mental illness
  
  Mirror in the bathroom
  Please talk free
  The door is locked
  Just you and me
  Can I take you to a restaurant
  That's got glass tables
  You can watch yourself
  While you are eating
  
  Mirror in the bathroom
  Mirror in the bathroom
  Mirror in the bathroom
  Mirror in the bathroom
  Mirror in the bathroom
  Mirror in the bathroom

Comments: 11

• KatMaybe I'm just self-projecting, but I always thought this song was about Bulimia and eating disorders in general. Staring at your own reflection is very common for people with EDs, often when eating. I think this also works with the line about 'mental illness'
• Johnboy from UkWhy are people still insisting it's about cocaine? The actual songwriter says it isn't...
• Short Haired Rnr from NzerI have always loved this song. Grew up in a house with a couple of shouse narcissists... guess it was nice to know someone else understood. Also loved Stand Down Maggie. Urgh, thanks for nothing, neoLibs. This band dealt with real issues; they were more than just a pretty face! LOVE and thanks to The Beat
• Spiff from St. Paul, Minn., Usa"Wakeling did lots of real work before becoming a full time musician."
  
  Hmmm. I wonder if that can be re-phrased?
  
  As every person trying to earn a living as a musician can tell you, being a musician is definitely "real work"! Plus, the way it's phrased feeds into the unfair stereotype that choosing an artistic career, such as music, is merely a hobby and doesn't deserve to be compensated for in real wages and somehow contributes less to society than does, say, the construction work that Wakeling did in his youth.
  
  Of course nothing could be further from the truth: Artistic careers add great value to society and deserve to be treated as "real work" and paid accordingly.
  
  Also, if the editors don't take any of my suggestions to re-phrase the quote above, at least please add a hyphen and change "full time" to "full-time" -- thanks.
  
  And "genré" is not a word.
  
  Spiff out. [Point taken. We rephrased. -editor]
• Macy from Los Angeles CaI still think this song is about doing coke in a bathroom. He goes into the Bathroom. Locks himself in the stall. He takes out his mirror and puts lines on it. I always thought the lyrics said "Please don't freak", as in don't freak out not "please talk free." He tells himself he is safe the door is locks just himself and his mirror. He is afraid of discovery and he has to calm his nerves by telling himself its safe, don't panic before he does the lines. Then he dreams about taking a girl to a restaurant with glass tables meaning its probably a metaphor for more cocaine, maybe a glass pipe? Every Saturday he goes window shopping to look at the clothes in the store windows in London's shopping districts, but when he sees himself in the reflection he is more concerned with checking out his own appearance then any of the clothes for sale.
• Keith from Aylesbury, UkThere's an error in the lyrics of the third verse. The line should be "Cures you WHISPER", not "wiser".
• Robert from Chicago , IlTo me it wasnt the lyrics "mirror in the bathroom" that made me think of cocaine .
  It was the lyrics about glass tables what can you do on a glass table circa earlys 1980
• Vince from Salisbury, MdThis song appears in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" and "Grosse Pointe Blank". The band was known simply as "The Beat" until they learned of an American band of the same name, so they added the "English" to set themselves apart.
• Synchpedro86 from Edinburgh, EuropeThis song has a really groovy bassline. It's by the same bass player from Fine Young Cannibals.
• Jim from Seattle, Wai used to think the song was about narcisissm. the dude wants to take himself out. the ska beat in this song and on the whole album is awesome. reggae/ska rocks
• Steve from Chino Hills, CaIt was the mid 80's and a fraternity at a large California campus had a problem. There was a two way mirror that was installed in the women's bathroom. Actually, it had been there for years and brothers would pass down the dirty secret to the new brothers who took over the room the following years. The mirror was hidden by hanging towels in the room. Eventually, some gal figured it out and it became a huge scandal that made headlines in the local media. This song had been out for a few months proir to the scandal and it was an ongoing gag that the song was written about the incident.

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