Many societies used to have formal rites of passage where boys and girls were officially transformed into men and women. This coming of age in our society is not so cut and dry.
Just as many little girls play dress up wearing mom's old dresses and heels, so to do many young adults suddenly begin dressing, speaking and interacting with others in an adult manner. This is why the singer states that being an adult is acquired taste.
All the adults in society become mirrors for us to model ourselves after. Even as youngsters we were often able to perceive a persons social status, basic character and often their profession just by how they dressed, spoke and carried themselves.
In movies and on TV these caricatures and stereotypes were used as a form of shorthand to understand and anticipate the plot and story line by the typical actions of the characters we saw. We instantly spotted the empty headed beauty or the con man way before the characters in the show realized them.
How much of people is contrived, just a performance? Are we all actors in search of a play? In a life full of mirrors and actors playing a role how does one know authentic love?
While the singer asks these questions, he is quite confident that reflective thought is able to see and use the mirrors without becoming an actor fated to a scripted role.
Despite his confidence in our ability to be authentic in a relative sense, he is acutely aware that most scientific, spiritual and mystical Truth is nothing but a self-fulfilled prophecy. Which is why he says, "they look so pure, but what they see is nothing more than the way they choose to make the world".
For the singer life is neither arbitrary or completely fated. While he does his best to feel and be intimate with his own experience, he realizes that his listeners will always be free to interpret the meaning behind his words in many ways. He hopes they will be able to look beyond the simple stereotypes of all the mirrors and appreciate the uniqueness of his personal experience, as he strives to do the same with all his friends.
lyrics
They Do It With Mirrors 12/20/80
I say being an adult is an acquired taste
You can tell what they are
By the look on their face
They do it with mirrors
The lunatics grin
We’ve seen it in the harrowed night
Slave man’s walk
We have got it so memorized
If you feel like touching then call it love
If you feel like leaving then call it lust
They do it with mirrors
Argue now, or tell me how you disagree
Be my friend and
Find the terms on which we agree
Let’s talk facts and
Test our aging memory
If you think then
There’s truth for us to see
Yet those mirrors
Reflecting off the other ones
They look so pure but
What they see is nothing more than the very way they
Choose to make the world
I use words to feel and
Not to ascribe
Yet, my meaning is there for
You to devise
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