The Invisible Girl - Rick Springfield

The Invisible Girl
(Rick Springfield)

You call the priest and come bury me
cause I think I'm already dead
I wish, I wish somebody
would bring you back to me
or take you out of my head
I think you said that you love me
I must have missed the inflection
I put a band aid on a bullet wound
and ignored the infection

I see her everywhere the invisible girl
And everything's alright
she's dancing by the fire and she's looking at me

It's six o'clock in your little town baby
As you get ready to go out for the night
Some pretty stranger's going to take you down
but I can't, I can't make that feel alright
I was in love with the ghost in you
You were my apparition
It doesn't matter if it goes the way you want it to
cause life's a suicide mission

I see her everywhere, the invisible girl
yea and everything's alright
She's dancing by the fire and looking at me
I see her on the stairs the invisible girl
Yea she's with me tonight
she's aching with desire
but she loves only me

I guess you did what you had to do to survive
I'm pretty sure I'm not angry anymore, baby
Hey, Invisible girl

I'm not angry anymore, baby

I see her everywhere the invisible girl
yea, she's with me tonight
she's dancing by the fire and she's looking at me
I see her on the stairs the invisible girl
and everything's alright
she's dancing with the boys
but she loves only me
I wish I was invisible

(total playing time 2:53)

Song Facts: This can be found on shock/denial/anger/acceptance.

More Reviews

This is one of my favorites on the album. I really like how he's examined this person's personality and gotten it dead on. I think we all know people like this, who "give themselves away because it makes you feel beautiful" but who, in the end, will never have that endless neediness fulfilled. You can use this for a metaphor for all sorts of things...how much of a wonderful thing can you be given before you stop needing that hole filled over and over again. I think Rick nails this down so well because he knows a bit what that's like himself.

The biggest hurdle for me was the meaning behind "invisible" because I think the song hinges on that. The three meanings behind invisible I was wrestling with were

(a) lost relationship
(b) lost loved one/death - but also a tortuous relationship to begin with
(c) idealized relationship but one that isn't real

I've talked myself into and out of them equally I was really going with the lost loved one for the most part, as in:

He wants someone to bring her back - or take the memories of her out of his head. So that tells me that she did exist and perhaps losing her is what is causing him to already believe he's dead too. Missing the inflection - missing the meaning of her words. This is where I think it shows that the relationship wasn't perfect. And I *love* the "band aid on a bullet wound and ignored the infection" line. That's great imagery for whenever we try to solve a major problem as if it's minor and then making it worse in the end. This could speak to the problems in the relationship or his dealing with the loss -- it hurt him more than he thought it would/did. Then, since he didn't deal with it properly at the outset it just got worse (which he also ignored). Then in his despair/hope he still sees her everywhere - looking and acting like she always did. The "little town" line ....ok this is where I start to pull away from this theory... but in his mind he could be assuming she's living "on the other side" in much the same way she did before. So in her "little town" she's still the crazy girl around town - but he's not there. So he sees her everywhere, wishes she was still with him and convinces himself that she would be if she were. It just seems very tragic - as if she killed herself or something else very tragic happened. Like he's trying to understand why she did what she did and he's frustrated yet in love with her all at the same time.

OK so it's either all that - or just a horrible break-up, but the relationship wasn't out-in-the-open so even the hurt cannot be acknowledged. And they live in a small town or travel in the same circles thus they see each other a lot and yet cannot acknowledge the situation. Well at least that was shorter.

But I love two other lines in this song: "It doesn't matter if it goes the way you want it to/cause life's a suicide mission" .... the words, the tone, love it! And then the end "I wish I was invisible"... for me this line goes back to "Ordinary Girl" where he calls himself ordinary. I don't know why... but for all the pain and anguish in the song he just wants to be like her / with her.

This is one of a couple songs on this album that I had a hard time accepting when I first got the CD. I found it depressing. For me, the storyteller in this song has come to the realization that the person he's with isn't the person he thought she was. The one he's come to know and love is really someone who lives in his head, not within this person he believed he was in love with.

There's no happy ending, just the sad last line of I wish I was invisible

Though this was oftentimes a skipper for me, I have grown fond of it and while the story doesn't blow me away, the expressive storytelling and the melody do.

"You call the priest and bury me, cause I think I'm already dead."

What a great opening line! Leave it to Rick! That line alone has a way of snagging the listener immediately, wanting to know "why" he's already dead. Is that some of his usual sarcasm I hear when he says that!? The echoes he uses in this song are perfect. I feel it combines well with this song. I gives me a feeling of something ghostly, or like an inner voice that's talking back. And the clarity and crisp sound of his voice are AWESOME. I think the restaurant sounds in the very beginning add a nice touch too!

When I first got SDAA, this song was not one that I hit repeat on very often. I liked it, but was not "into it" as much as some of the others. Maybe I wasn't really getting any meaning out of the song right off, and that's why. Now, I am totally hooked on the Invisible Girl! I play it over and over at times. Something just clicked with me and this song one day, out of the blue. I do not see a Jessie's Girl resemblance to this song as some have said in other reviews. I've tried to hear it, but I just don't. About the only thing I can come up with that is even close, would be the "longing" aspect of the lyrics. I wonder if there's something in the guitar chords I'm not hearing.

Rick's voice in these opening lines just melts me to butter! The desperation in his voice is so raw, "I wish, I wish somebody would bring you back to me, or take you outta my head." Obvious pain and longing here. Heartbreaking in fact.

"I think you said that you loved me, I must have missed the inflection." That is vocally one of my favorite lines in the whole song. His voice is sheer perfection! And then to top off the loneliness he's already feeling----"I put a band-aid on the bullet wound, and ignored the infection." (DENIAL for sure!)

Intelligent songwriting if you ask me.

"I see her everywhere the Invisible Girl. And everything's alright. She's dancing' by the fire and she's looking at me." The feeling I get when he sings these lines, is that everything is NOT alright he's just in denial and trying to convince himself that the love is okay. Or maybe it's just the sexual paranoia that Rick says he has the jealousy eating at him, and causing him suspicion.

"I was in love with a ghost of you, you were my apparition" Back to that clear, yet breathy, sexy voice like in the 1st verse. The ghost thing she's there in spirit or in his heart, but not physically. Oh and the classic line: "It doesn't matter if it goes the way you want it to, cause life's a suicide mission." Wow, now that's profound! I love that quavering thing in his voice when he says "to," and the way he says "suicide mission." Too cool! Sometimes I wonder if life really is a suicide mission, in a sense. With the mental and emotional torment we often bring upon ourselves, the physical damages to our bodies, and then with the larger picture the wars we've had in the world.

The music and the guitar blends are sweet in this song! I like that distinct drum symbol right before the chorus kicks off again towards the end! Maybe I do hear a slight similarity to Jessie's Girl in some of the guitars, toward the end of the song. Again, I'm not sure it's the same. Either way, this song has a life of it's own for me. I think it's another peek at a man who wants so much to be needed and loved, and who, as so many of us has fears of losing that love to someone else. I think he ended the song as beautifully as he started it---"I wish I was invisible."

This song feels very basic musically, but when I look to the deeper meaning of the lyrics, this song just touches my heart! Rick, you did it again!

Fan Reviews

This is definitely one of my favorite songs on the CD. There is so much about this song that I connect with, and, then again, there is so much about this song that I just haven't come to terms with yet.

Is this girl really real? Is she just an image of the perfect girl that he's got in his mind? Is she the sole mate that he thinks is still out there and he hasn't connected with yet? I've even wrestled with the idea of maybe it's about fans who admire him from afar. It seems every time I hear this song, I think of a different angle.

The line I put a band aid on the bullet wound and ignored the infection, I love the denial in his voice. I guess I connect with this line! And the line I'm pretty sure I'm not angry anymore, baby, I get the idea that he trying to convince himself he's not angry anymore.

With this song, I don't think it's about a girl, I think it's about the memory of someone. When Rick says "I think I'm already dead, I wish somebody would bring you back to me or take you out of my head", I think he's talking about his father. We know he was very close to his father and he took it hard when his father passed away (as anyone would). He makes reference to the pain that he feels "I put a band aid on the bullet wound and ignored the infection", meaning he may look like he's okay on the surface, but down deep inside he isn't okay. Rick also says "I see her everywhere the invisible girl", which to us means that he continues to have memories of his father daily. By placing the guitar riff of "Jessie's Girl" in the song, it serves as a reminder to Rick of what was occurring in his life when his father passed away. This song could be another song paying tribute to his father.

Over the last few months, I've come to love this song more and more, and I always listen to this one if I'm skimming through to play a few select songs off several different cds. I can't remember anymore what my initial impression of this song was, but I don't think I appreciated it as much when I first heard it as I do now.

As upbeat as the music is, this song tells a sad tale of someone who's looking at the one they love, and being unable to see the person they fell in love with. Longing for the way it was, remembering how this person used to be (I was in love with the ghost in you), and trying to ignore what they've become.

A very poignant and beautiful song that I'm sure will always be among my (loooooooong) list of favorite songs by Rick.

I like this song a lot, and I've been stuck on the review for months because when you like a song a lot, you want to have something brilliant to say about it, or at least be able to convey why you like it so much, and I just don't know. A lot of the songs I like on SDAA are that way. Usually when I really like a song, it's because I identify with it in some way, or it really paints a picture to make you feel it and I don't know what half the songs on this cd really mean. I always think of this song as "Invisible Girl" without the "the". I actually thinking having "The" in the title seems to make it less personal - "The Invisible Girl" as opposed to "Invisible Girl". "The" creates a distance. (am I wigging out, or what?).

I really love the first verse. It has that sarcastic bite that I love so much. And it starts to paint the picture of someone being miserable over lost love. Then it goes to the chorus and kind of switches gears, we go away from him, and focus on her. What makes her invisible? She's invisible, but he sees her everywhere. A contrast. And she's focused on him, but is she really or is it what he wants to believe.

The second verse, completely different from the first. She sleeps around with a lot of guys she doesn't know, that's what I get from it. He was in love with the person she used to be or he wanted her to be, or who he thought she could be. Ending with one of the most brilliant lines ever - Life's a suicide mission. I like that so much, I had it put on a shirt. I just don't really know how it fits into the song. When a line is that good, it doesn't really matter though, you can somehow let it slide.

Even though she's with a lot of people, she loves only him, or at least he thinks so. He wishes he was invisible. Everything could come together for me if I knew what invisible meant. He wants to be like her? I kind of don't think so.

I love this song, I just have no clue what it means.

I have no idea what Rick meant by invisible, but this is my interpretation.

I see her everywhere the invisible girl
I always took that line to mean that though she wasn't "invisible" by definition, she's invisible in the sense that she doesn't stand out in a crowd... very plain and ordinary to most people, but to him she's everything... others don't necessarily see (or don't take the time to know) her, but to him she's everything (faults and all).

I wish I was invisible
I took this line to be both literal (that he wouldn't be seen... be able to do and see anything he wanted with no one seeing him), and in the sense that he's actually visible but not noticed (just blending in like your average Joe... being able to come and go without his every move being noted by his public).

I know Rick stated in an interview that the song Jessie's Girl healed Jessie's Girl, but I think she is still showing up in this song. I don't think the song is entirely about her, but I do think she is there, especially the line I wish somebody would bring you back to me or take you out of my head.

The lines I guess you did what you had to do to survive and she's dancing with the boys but she loves only me reminds me of a prostitute. My guess is that this song is about more than one person.

This is one of a couple songs on this album that I had a hard time accepting when I first got the CD. I found it depressing. For me, the storyteller in this song has come to the realization that the person he's with isn't the person he thought she was. The one he's come to know and love is really someone who lives in his head, not within this person he believed he was in love with. There's no happy ending, just the sad last line of I wish I was invisible.

Though this was oftentimes a skipper for me, I have grown fond of it and while the story doesn't blow me away, the expressive storytelling and the melody do.

This is one of my favorite songs on the cd. I really love the music- the jazzy feel of it, the Jessie's Girl bit, the changes in tempo. It all makes for an interesting song before you even think about the lyrics. There are a lot of great lines in this one, but I really can't figure out what it's about. The echo before some of the words (guess it's not really an echo if it's before but I don't know what to call it) seems almost like a voice inside the head. I love the sarcasm in the line "I think you said that you loved me, I must have missed the inflection". She's not the person he thought she was. But he can't stop thinking about her and has accepted the way she is. She means more to him than she thinks she does. Maybe she thinks she's invisible to him?

This is one of my favorites on SDAA, and I've listened to it more times than I can probably count. I love the lyrics. I love the music. I love the voice. I can totally relate to the subject matter. It took me a long time to not be an Invisible Girl, but speaking as a former person who was afraid to speak out in a crowd - I'm glad I'm not there anymore. I know I'm seeing this song from a different perspective than others, but the more I listen to it, the more it just makes sense to me in my way, ya know?

The first stanza makes you believe this is another relationship song. It probably is. Rick feels "dead" because he can't get this girl out of his mind. Another classic line for the history books here: "I put a band-aid on a bullet wound and ignored the infection." Fabulous! Put a quick fix on something, anything, and hope it goes away. I can admit to trying that a time or two.

The song kicks up the beat a notch, and I'm so glad he's noticing the Indivisible Girl over there dancing by the fire. I tried to always go off on my own in places, and never thought anyone noticed me. Rick notices girls like me! (my review, my fantasy)

"It's 6 o'clock in your little town baby, as you get ready to go out for the night." Yep that's me. Born in a small town, and I live in a small town, probably die in a small town. (sorry Mr. Mellencamp for the plagiarism there) Listening to Rick tunes, getting the vibe - will I meet THE guy tonight? But as Rick says, "it doesn't matter if it goes the way you want it to 'cause life's a suicide mission." Oooh...heavy meaning and imagery there. There's that darn depression rearing it's ugly head again, and yet another suicide mention. I thank my lucky stars I never got to that point in my life.

"I guess you did what you had to do to survive" Leave him? Sounds that way in this song. For me, to survive was to blend...into the crowd...into the furniture...into a nothing-ness existence. Being an Invisible Girl.

"I see her on the stairs the invisible girl and everything's all right. She's dancing with the boys but she loves only me. I wish I was invisible." Sigh.... I get the feeling he wants to be invisible to be like her, or more like her. Yes, I love only him. :-)

I love the little *blurb* of the JG notes in this one. It makes me wonder if Jessie's Girl was an Invisible Girl as well.