Song Meaning
The lyrics paint a picture of deliberate emotional suppression. The repeated phrase "In the back of my mind" acts as a mental holding cell, a place where something or someone has been intentionally hidden away. This isn't a passive forgetting; the verb "buried" suggests an active, forceful act of concealment. The narrator has taken steps to ensure this presence remains out of sight, out of conscious thought.
The central tension lies in the contrast between this act of burying and the persistent, albeit suppressed, presence. "All this time" implies a prolonged struggle, a continuous effort to keep this buried thing down. The repetition of "In the back of my mind" underscores the narrator's ongoing, perhaps exhausting, commitment to this internal act of denial. It’s a space that is both hidden and yet, by its very mention, acknowledged.
The effectiveness of these few lines comes from their stark simplicity and the potent imagery of "buried." It’s a visceral word that conveys a sense of finality and weight, yet the very act of burying something implies it still exists beneath the surface. The chorus doesn't offer resolution, but rather captures the ongoing, internal labor of pushing something significant away, leaving the listener to ponder what has been so forcefully hidden and why.