Alec Benjamin – Mind Is a Prison (Lyrics Review and Song Meaning)

For a 25-year-old artist from Arizona, Alec Shane Benjamin’s lyrics on “Mind Is a Prison” are quite deep. While the singer/songwriter has only two mixtapes under his name so far, boosted by this single, he would be posed for much bigger accomplishments soon. Let us get into the lyrics and meaning behind this song.

“Mind Is a Prison” has been performed live several times by Alec Benjamin during his tours surrounding his 2018 mixtape ‘Narrated For You.’ He sets the stage to this song by explaining that this song is “a lot about being stuck inside my head.”

In this song, Alec Benjamin is able to visualize himself inside in his head. He sees his physical body as a mere carcass for carrying the real ‘him’ inside. What makes a person who he is, is really the map of his mind. Exploring your own mind can be fun. But to see it as a prison, is quite the disaster.

Listen to “Mind Is a Prison” by Alec Benjamin

‘Mind’ is the weirdest object in this universe. It is also the most powerful weapon in this universe. However, if you do not attempt to understand the workings of your mind and its power, you just might see it as your own prison cell. This is the current premise of the singer.

Verse 1

Assuming a third-person narrative of his mind, Alec Benjamin says that he does not live in California. Or Arizona or in the United States for that matter. He lives in his head. His body is just the vessel that supports ‘him.’ As rent, he pays three meals of food and rest and exercise per day. But the real work happens inside his head, in his mind. That is where his current address is.

He calls his eyes as the windows that give his mind of the view outside his house. Eyes provide the most crucial data about one’s surroundings that eventually gets transformed into information for the mind to make decisions.

In the latter part of the verse, Alec Benjamin says that his mind is in control of him. He doesn’t really get to make any choices? But his mind does everything for him. While this is factual, the statement of not having free will is arguable.

Your mind is you! It is not another part of your body that you get to control. It is you, and whatever your mind does, is done by none other than yourself. Looking at your mind working inside your head from outside, does not help you understand this perspective.

Pre-chorus

In these lyrics, Alec Benjamin tries to escape the prison of his mind. What he is yet to realize is that the mind is you! And there is no escaping yourself.

Chorus

Continuing from the previous lines, Alec Benjamin narrates a nice story of an attempted breakout from his mind. He ties up some linen bedsheets and climbs down from it. He runs to the hills. But when he got there, his mind is already there waiting for him. As if a prison warden, Alec will be escorted back to his cell.

Attempting to break out from your own self is also a sugar-coated script for suicide!

Verse 2

In the second verse of “Mind Is a Prison,” Alec Benjamin says that he suffers inside his head. Reasons? We do not know yet.

The truth of the matter is that there is no purer bliss than the seclusion inside one’s own head. It only gets distraught when the ‘windows’ (eyes and other senses–ears, nose, tongue, touch) bring in ‘dirt’ from the physical world outside. So it is up to us to at least put a few filters on the ‘windows’ we have so that we stop polluting our own self.

Bridge

In the bridge of the song, Alec says he will not stop attempting to break out from this prison he is supposedly stuck in. This is an impossible thing to do, and the sooner everyone realizes that, the better off they will be.

“Mind Is a Prison” by Alec Benjamin is interesting and thought-provoking, to say the least. Let us know what you think this song means in the comments below.

Update:

Alec Benjamin dropped a music video for “Mind Is a Prison” on December 23, 2019. The singer uses a human-size fishtank to symbolize his entrapment in his own mind. Watch below.