Lyrics to
Don’t Tell Them You’re Sane

This version of Don’T Tell Them You’Re Sane was released by The Jam in 1977.

Our Decade Lyrics The Jam profile has all of the Don’T Tell Them You’Re Sane lyrics from 1977 and many more songs from the The Jam discography that we have on file.

Here's more interesting things in songs and lyrics tied to The Jam or about the 1970s in general.

A boy I know is sick in his head
At least that’s what the doctors say he is
Shut in his room for hours on end
Looks like he’s forgotten, but is he

His mind it ticks, more than you know
One day something in his head will click
Warders fill him full of lies, he fights he knows
They’ll never convince him that he’s mad!

At breakfast he is strapped in a chair (won’t go far)
Just a word out of place, he’s sent to his room
Don’t tell them you’re sane
They’ll laugh and put you to sleep
Don’t tell them you’re sane, but you are

Tell me what you did today, was it good
What was it like and who was it with
Don’t think I’m prying I’d just like to know
Why it is you do things so slow
Take him to the doctor, see what he says
I don’t know why he bothers, he’s in for good

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The Jam has released many songs over the years besides Don’T Tell Them You’Re Sane. The Jam released songs from 1977 to 1992 spanning across albums like This Is The Modern World, In The City, All Mod Cons, Setting Sons, Sound Affects, Dig The New Breed, The Gift, and Extras. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by The Jam.

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About Lyrics and Don’T Tell Them You’Re Sane by The Jam

The lyrics to Don’T Tell Them You’Re Sane are just the words, phrases, verses and chorus that The Jam used when the song was created in 1977. The lyrics to Don’T Tell Them You’Re Sane have both easy-to-spot meanings and hidden metaphors that have been discussed by the music press and fans, but only The Jam and any collaborators know all of the inspirations for the song.

If you like etymology or breaking apart phrases and words, it is easy to understand the lyrics to Don’T Tell Them You’Re Sane by The Jam. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to Don’T Tell Them You’Re Sane" means the words set to the music of Don’T Tell Them You’Re Sane, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by The Jam. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to Don’T Tell Them You’Re Sane and the lyrics to Don’T Tell Them You’Re Sane are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of The Jam who came here looking just for the lyrics to Don’T Tell Them You’Re Sane, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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