"Flowers on the Wall", also
known by some listeners as "Counting Flowers on the Wall", is a country song originally performed by the Statler Brothers. It gained widespread fame when it was used in the movie Pulp Fiction.
There are countless interpretations of the lyrics, though the one I have found to be most fitting has to do with the narrator passing time in a psychiatric ward.
"Counting flowers on the wall, that don't bother me at all. Playing solitaire 'til dawn, with a deck of 51. Smokin' cigarettes and watching Captain Kangaroo...now,
don't tell me I've got
nothing to do."
Back when this song was written, it was not uncommon for patients kept in psychiatric hospitals to have
absolutely nothing or very little to do. They were also allowed to smoke in their rooms and sometimes watch television, both activities that were desired by patients at the time.
"It's good to see you; I must go, I know I look a-fright. Anyway, my eyes are not accustom to this light..."
In the context of the meaning I outlined previously, the narrator is struggling with anxiety and reluctance for leaving the privacy of his hospital room, probably having to do with agoraphobia or some form of psychosis or social anxiety. The speaker is content being bored in his room because he wants
nothing to do with the outside world.
This song has been covered by several artists, though the most recent and most popular was performed by Eric Heatherly.
In Pulp Fiction,
Bruce Willis listened to this song while riding in his car.
Many people enjoy 'Flowers on the Wall'
because they can all relate to
the situation of being bored but are fine with it from time to time.
