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.
Well, I wonder
"Do you hear me when you sleep?"
I hoarsely cry (why?)
Well, I wonder
Do you see me when we pass?
I half-die
Please, keep me in mind
Please, keep me in mind
Gasping, but somehow still alive
This is the fierce last stand of all I am
Gasping, dying, but somehow still alive
This is the final stand of all I am
Please, keep me in mind
Well, I wonder
Well, I wonder
Please, keep me in mind
Oh, keep me in mind
Keep me in mind
"Do you hear me when you sleep?"
I hoarsely cry (why?)
Well, I wonder
Do you see me when we pass?
I half-die
Please, keep me in mind
Please, keep me in mind
Gasping, but somehow still alive
This is the fierce last stand of all I am
Gasping, dying, but somehow still alive
This is the final stand of all I am
Please, keep me in mind
Well, I wonder
Well, I wonder
Please, keep me in mind
Oh, keep me in mind
Keep me in mind
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Light Up The Sky
Van Halen
Van Halen
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Little Feat
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Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
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 one of my all time favourites. what makes it even sadder is that he says ' do you see me when we pass' which suggests to me that the person whom he desperately loves does not even know he exists... thats the killer and also what makes it so pathetic...
unrequited love. simple as that.
Totally agree. It's plain, direct and beautiful. It captures everything about wanting somebody but being unable to tell the person. Passively hoping. Dreaming, but doubting.
gasping - dying - but somehow still alive this is the final stand of all i am
thank God for elizabeth smart, urging young morrissey on to write these words down and toy with the idea of throwing them into a song with a beautiful melody. please don't forget me, keep me in mind. oh how wish they would look back on us like we do them when we sit in our room and play this song over and over, tossing and turning in our bed, wiping the tears from our face, hoping the world would just swallow us and forget us. but they can't forget us. our obsession musn't forget us. please keep us in mind. keep us in mind.
oh God, it's raining outside.
Most likely one of the best songs of all time - So straight and to the point... The lyrics in combination with the music just refuses to leave me alone. Wonderful.
A not so well known or celebrated SMITHS Song, but quite possibly their best. The true SMITHS aficionados know its a gem. A perfect fusion of music and lyric. Simple, but raw. The Song is so beautiful, haunting, it never leaves you.. The last 30 seconds of Marr's guitar just get me, and Morrissey rarely sings better. Wonderful.
to me it is the saddest smiths-song... together with asleep, i guess. i don't know how many times i lay there listening to it and being depressed in a so sweet way.
To me. The lyrics sound like its about someone you were with and deeply in love with. And whenever you see them they seem like they have moved on. and you wonder if they still think of you.
This song never fails to make me teary-eyed. Beautiful music, and Morrissey singing mellifluously about unrequited love...the kind of thing that made the Smiths great.
Indescribably sad this one, this seems to be the fierce last stand of his attempt to force his will and his love on another person. I kinda get the sense too that his is a love that is not responded to or welcomed. the possibility that he might be remembered at least is the only thing keeping him slightly alive. so sad tears well up in my heart every time.
Yeah. If I was an actor I would listen to this or "Asleep" before doing a crying scene, . So sad.