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 stood in this sun sheltered place
'Til I could see the face behind the face
All that had gone before had left no trace
Down by the railway siding
In our secret world, we were colliding
All the places we were hiding love
What was it we were thinking of?
So I watch you wash your hair
Underwater, unaware
And the plane flies through the air
Did you think you didn't have to choose it
That I alone could win or lose it
In all the places we were hiding love
What was it we were thinking of?
In this house of make believe
Divided in two, like Adam and Eve
You put out and I receive
[Chorus]
Down by the railway siding
In our secret world, we were colliding
In all the places we were hiding love
What was it we were thinking of?
Oh the wheel is turning spinning round and round
And the house is crumbling but the stairways stand
With no guilt and no shame, no sorrow or blame
Whatever it is, we are all the same
Making it up in our secret world [x3]
Shaking it up
Breaking it up
Making it up in our secret world
Seeing things that were not there
On a wing on a prayer
In this state of disrepair
[Chorus]
Shh, listen
'Til I could see the face behind the face
All that had gone before had left no trace
Down by the railway siding
In our secret world, we were colliding
All the places we were hiding love
What was it we were thinking of?
So I watch you wash your hair
Underwater, unaware
And the plane flies through the air
Did you think you didn't have to choose it
That I alone could win or lose it
In all the places we were hiding love
What was it we were thinking of?
In this house of make believe
Divided in two, like Adam and Eve
You put out and I receive
[Chorus]
Down by the railway siding
In our secret world, we were colliding
In all the places we were hiding love
What was it we were thinking of?
Oh the wheel is turning spinning round and round
And the house is crumbling but the stairways stand
With no guilt and no shame, no sorrow or blame
Whatever it is, we are all the same
Making it up in our secret world [x3]
Shaking it up
Breaking it up
Making it up in our secret world
Seeing things that were not there
On a wing on a prayer
In this state of disrepair
[Chorus]
Shh, listen
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This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
When We Were Young
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Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
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.
Gabriel has explained that this song is about "when a couple becomes so close, that bits of them disappear, into a place called the secret world." So that makes me think that it's about, no matter how close you can be with someone, there is still a part of you that is hidden, secret.
peter gabriel denies the album this is from, "Us", is about coping with his failed marriage, but the whole album sums up breaking up beautifully, especially in this track, the last one.
it's essentially recalling no matter how hard the narrator and his lover tried to make the relationship work, it was doomed from the very start.
perhaps if both people could have seen past themselves and just loved each other it might have worked.
perhaps...
yep
obviously about an affair
"I stood in this sun sheltered place Till I could see the face behind the face"
this line hits hardest
the sun is representing all the opprotunities he could've taken with other women, but didn't just to prove right a suspicion that turned out to be sadly true, showing how desperately he tried to hold onto the relationship.
I don't cry over songs, but if I did.....this would most definitely be one
Time goes on, the earth revolves around the sun. The sun goes around....?
Civilizations fall but the double helix ladder of DNA remains.
Secret World is that which is hidden from sight - The Occult. Gnosis.
An exhilarating experience in Milwaukee last night -- the final performance of the New Blood Tour, with the 46-piece orchestra. Please don't miss the DVD, folks...
A superb song, with a ominious undercurrents. When seen performed live on the Secret World DVD it a joy to watch. Seeing things that were not there' On a wing on a prayer' In this state of disrepair' Great Lyrics. I believe like llowell the song is about the secrets we keep from our loved ones. Secrets we keep in our own secret worlds.
most definately the keystone to US. It sums the whole melancholy, hopeless feeling of loss in a delicate web of absolution..."In this house of make believe/divided in two, like adam and eve" i love those lyrics so much...
Superb song.
Well, what I've heard him say in concert is that it's about how two people can be so deep in love, that parts of them break off. It's about the way that they love each other when no one else is around. It's a love that's not supposed to be seen by others(and no, not in a sexual way, although I suppose it could be). In other words, it's about the secret world of love they've created for each other.
Surely this song is about the secret world created by a couple in love ? A world that only they are aware of and that no-one else can understand or be a part of, a great tune, I'm just not a fan of the loud bit! The version on Secret World live is the best, the keyboards in the mid, quiet section take some beating !