"Help Me Rhonda" please explain to Ken Levine

[astroray]

http://kenlevine.blogspot.com/2015/10/help-me-rhonda-or-anybody.html

[bonnie bella]

Well ,where I come from it means the same as driving you crazy, or not being able to think about anything else.  In saying that, I don't think they would have picked such an obscure phrase.   No help at all, huh?

[marcusb]

I always thought it meant making yourself crazy by thinking about it too much, and probably drinking to get over it ("I come in late at night... ").

[Bicyclerider]

I thought  "out doin in my head" meant he's been out (late as in the next line) going over in his head the breakup and the relationship and generally obsessing over it and making himself feel bad - so he needs Rhonda to get her out of his heart AND "head."

[Lee Marshall]

Well since she put me down I've been out gettin' blasted, wrecked, hammered...trying to forget.  Anything to eradicate the pain inflicted by that cold hearted Bee....oops.  I've been self medicating...trying to make the memories and the pain disappear.

He hasn't been going over it in his head.  He's hiding from it.  Doin' in his head.  Likely with booze.  [but not necessarily]

Women!!!

[sockittome]

I've always interpreted the line as meaning he was going out and getting drunk.  Ya know...killing ("doing in") brain cells ("my head").  Simple as that.  

Maybe I'm overthinking it a little here (yeah, I probably am), but I find the subtle bit of wordplay in this first line interesting.  "Well since she put me down..." has two meanings, the obvious being that she broke up with him (blues music has used the phrase "put you down" numerous times), while the second meaning implies that she may have put him down by insulting him.

So he goes out drinking to deal with the situation, and the next part of the line has the "opposites" motif that songwriters like to use at times ("OUT" doing "IN" my head).  Literally, it has a cool little flow to it even if the general public might not understand the meaning.

And of course, the second line is pretty obvious: "I come in late at night and in the morning just lay in bed".  Um, yeah cause he's hungover!  And probably depressed over his whole situation.

Time for some rebound sex!    

[adamghost]

I've always interpreted the line as meaning he was going out and getting drunk.  Ya know...killing ("doing in") brain cells ("my head").  Simple as that.  

Maybe I'm overthinking it a little here (yeah, I probably am), but I find the subtle bit of wordplay in this first line interesting.  "Well since she put me down..." has two meanings, the obvious being that she broke up with him (blues music has used the phrase "put you down" numerous times), while the second meaning implies that she may have put him down by insulting him.

So he goes out drinking to deal with the situation, and the next part of the line has the "opposites" motif that songwriters like to use at times ("OUT" doing "IN" my head).  Literally, it has a cool little flow to it even if the general public might not understand the meaning.

And of course, the second line is pretty obvious: "I come in late at night and in the morning just lay in bed".  Um, yeah cause he's hungover!  And probably depressed over his whole situation.

Time for some rebound sex!    

Sums up the choon pretty well!

[SenorPotatoHead]

"Out doing it in my head" - thinking about it too much, obsessing over it, i.e. He's upset that she dumped him.  
Is this really that difficult to understand?  
Maybe ought to take this up with the songs lyricist, who at one time was Brian, but since the 90's
has been Mike Love - so what about it, Love?   What does this line mean?   It's about drugs, isn't it?  Acid alliteration!  

[Emily]

I've always interpreted the line as meaning he was going out and getting drunk.  Ya know...killing ("doing in") brain cells ("my head").  Simple as that.  

Maybe I'm overthinking it a little here (yeah, I probably am), but I find the subtle bit of wordplay in this first line interesting.  "Well since she put me down..." has two meanings, the obvious being that she broke up with him (blues music has used the phrase "put you down" numerous times), while the second meaning implies that she may have put him down by insulting him.

So he goes out drinking to deal with the situation, and the next part of the line has the "opposites" motif that songwriters like to use at times ("OUT" doing "IN" my head).  Literally, it has a cool little flow to it even if the general public might not understand the meaning.

And of course, the second line is pretty obvious: "I come in late at night and in the morning just lay in bed".  Um, yeah cause he's hungover!  And probably depressed over his whole situation.

Time for some rebound sex!    

Concur. My dad spent 1960-64 stationed in Long Beach and, much like Brian Wilson, never moved on from the slang of that time and place. My dad used this term to mean getting drunk enough to forget your troubles. In a bad way.

[SenorPotatoHead]

[removed by self] 

[hideyotsuburaya]

no, I say nobody's got the reading of that lyric line right yet -

"OUT DOIN' IN MY HEAD"  means the guy has been trying to 'out-do' her put-down of him, mentally of course.  Think of a good come-back line, top her in other words (preparing of their next encounter)

[Ron]

What's so strange about this is, to me, this is one of their best lyrics!  They came up with a clever phrase that perfectly sums up what he's doing (getting drunk).  The whole song really has really strong lyrics in my opinion, with a good rhyme scheme and nice cohesive ways of describing what he's talking about.   I've heard other people use the phrase 'doin' in my head' to mean getting drunk, doing drugs, whatever.... I guess maybe in some places it's a strange phrase but I've always known it as common...


MUCH better than most of their other lyrics.