The song lyrics were written by the band Van Halen, as they were asked to write a song for the 1979 movie "Over the Edge" starring Matt Dillon. The movie (and the lyrics, although more obliquely) are about bored, rebellious youth with nothing better to do than get into trouble. If you see the movie, these lyrics will make more sense. It's a great movie if you grew up in the 70s/80s you'll definitely remember some of these characters from your own life. Fun fact, after writing the song, Van Halen decided not to let the movie use it.
I started a joke which started the whole world crying
But I didn't see that the joke was on me oh no
I started to cry which started the whole world laughing
Oh If I'd only seen that the joke was on me
I looked at the skies running my hands over my eyes
And I fell out of bed hurting my head from things that I said
'Till I finally died which started the whole world living
Oh if I'd only seen that the joke was on me
I looked at the skies running my hands over my eyes
And I fell out of bed hurting my head from things that I said
'Till I finally died which started the whole world living
Oh if I'd only seen that the joke was on me
Oh no that the joke was on me
But I didn't see that the joke was on me oh no
I started to cry which started the whole world laughing
Oh If I'd only seen that the joke was on me
I looked at the skies running my hands over my eyes
And I fell out of bed hurting my head from things that I said
'Till I finally died which started the whole world living
Oh if I'd only seen that the joke was on me
I looked at the skies running my hands over my eyes
And I fell out of bed hurting my head from things that I said
'Till I finally died which started the whole world living
Oh if I'd only seen that the joke was on me
Oh no that the joke was on me
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Light Up The Sky
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This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
Just A Little Lovin'
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I don't think it's necessarily about sex. It's about wanting to start the day with some love and affection. Maybe a warm cuddle. I'm not alone in interpreting it that way! For example:
"'Just a Little Lovin’ is a timeless country song originally recorded by Eddy Arnold in 1954. The song, written by Eddie Miller and Jimmy Campbell, explores the delicate nuances of love and showcases Arnold’s emotive vocals. It delves into the universal theme of love and how even the smallest gesture of affection can have a profound impact on our lives." https://oldtimemusic.com/the-meaning-behind-the-song-just-a-little-lovin-by-eddy-arnold/
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
Amazing
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran tells a story of unsuccessfully trying to feel “Amazing.” This track is about the being weighed down by emotional stress despite valiant attempts to find some positivity in the situation. This track was written by Ed Sheeran from the perspective of his friend. From the track, we see this person fall deeper into the negative thoughts and slide further down the path of mental torment with every lyric.
This is a very hard song to read, and we will try to comment on it in a way that does not detract from the meaning. At any rate, we are the "listeners themselves" who "have to try to interpret it themselves." The inspired song came to him following a bit of nervous collapse, and he heard the melody in the four engines of a plane he was riding in. Were he not a wealthy songwriter, he might be considered abnormal and drugged. The reaction to things said is like things said in awakened states, and the way these things can grate one as they come back later upon reflection. Socrates would say he had a little man at home with a stick who would beat him for his errors in speech. Prudence in speech is a high virtue. The things he said, in line four, is the joke that opens the song in line one. That the joke started the "whole world" crying is difficult, and in trying to understand the universal effect, people have mentioned Jesus, the Devil and Hitler. Another possibility is that the Joke is this song, which everyone in the world has now heard. In 1967-8, he may be introducing a new kind of despair into the expression of ballads, as such things were not said in public previously. But in what way is the Joke on him? He had gone into a fit where he could not stop crying, after being in a train wreck, and the joke being on him would fit with the sorrow expressed by inspiration in the song shattering his soul a bit, as it does to see the deeply sad things covered over so we can just get through our days. If one will look at the skies and run their hands over their eyes, one will see the meaning of this line a bit: it is an involuntary gesture of anguish universal to man, as is waving and such. It means that we look to the highest things for an explanation one does not expect to find, and clear our eyes as though they must be blurred over, given what we are seeing. They had just done the song about the mining disaster, for example, then he saw the train wreck and was unable to help the injured on the scene. Mary Lee Foote, at NaPathon.net, mentioned above, reads his falling out of bed to mean "out of his dream state into reality." Has he seen the principle of tragedy, that Providence upholding the just is not what the world is about, or is not quite what is going on here ? That his death starts the whole world living is indeed like Jesus, but is also like the poet, whose "words trickle down from a wound" he has "no intention to heal" (Simon). The alienation of one whose joke makes everyone else cry, and whose death to live. The "schizophrenic" can be that alone, that alienated from human community, which makes even parrots pull out their feathers. That the joke is on him, though, is that the sorrow he saw brings him down, and this is part of the principle of tragedy that he has seen.
@mmcdonald <br /> Sorry the above is a bit too long! Mary Lee Foote's interpretation is better! But we still don't get it. "Looked at the sky" might go with "fell out of bed," as a reaction to things he'd said, rather than in general anguish, as I have above. How can we understand the joke that turns back on the joker in combination with the universal effect, his ability to see and regret it, and the extreme isolation from everyone else in the world? Is it like a childish statement of an adolescent reaction to embarrassment, as when people say "I could have just died," as a figure of speech?
@mmcdonald <br /> Or is there a sense in which we are all living this? And it could be said of Jesus on the cross, when he was forsaken, and not thinking of the things he would later show to John. So, can we understand the song by considering the sense in which we are living this thing? We make jokes about the world, which has mankind crying, and then the world takes our lives, but like the saints in the third secret of the Fatima vision, their blood is gathered in crystal aspersoriums to be sprinkled on the pilgrims making their way up the hill. Before you make fun of me, go read the read the vision!