Is It In My Head?

Yesterday, when we left Jimmy he was questioning the world and thinking that it was all messed up, and today we head into the part of the story where Jimmy is feeling a bit paranoid. Mods took pills and in Quadrophenia they are referred to as leapers. I don’t know anything about drugs so I’m not really sure what sort of high you get when you take leapers, but Jimmy had about 200 in his possession and I can imagine that they were probably messing with his already crazy brain.

I think that the combination of the thoughts that Jimmy was having and the pills led him into the state that he was in at the time. He was questioning issues within the world and then when he took the pills and he brought the questions closer to home.

I love the chorus where Jimmy asks if it is in his head or in his heart. I think that the head means that everything that he is thinking is not real and that if it is in his heart then it must be true. It is an interesting concept that because his head is so messed up Jimmy relates fake with his head. The heart part is easy to make out; people are always giving advice to follow your heart. In the end Jimmy is having a real trip and I don’t think that he really knows what is going on.

It’s hard to write about Helpless Dancer, Is It In My Head, and the next song I’ve Had Enough because it all could be describe in one sentence: Jimmy is having a breakdown. Yes that is probably an over simplification of the situation, but that is what it all boils down too. This is what you need to remember when you are listening to these three songs. This isn’t just teenage angst, although that is part of it, this is a full on mental breakdown.