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.
Inside my fertile mother, the egg fertilized
And from one egg, two individuals originated
A pair of identical twins began to grow
But in an unnatural quirk the embryos fused
And I absorbed my embryonical sibling into me
From my earliest fetal stages into adulthood
His displaced cells grew as I did
We matured together in the oddest ways
Together as one we were born to be
I grew up as a freak, a walking monstrosity
A living abnormality for scientific study
Tumorous growths on and in my body cause me pain
Of dermoid origins, these tumors are pieces of my brother
These teratomas sprout across my body
As my fragmented sibling develops from my torsos
My brother lives within
Inside lays the internal twin
My stomach contains rows of his teeth
Molars and incisors grow from the organ walls
And scalp hair clumps from external teratocarinomas
His bulbous eyeballs protrude from my right temple and ear
They twitch inside misshapen sockets
Sightless they roll and gaze into black
A toothless cartilage mouth opens from my chest
Its rubbery spasms will never speak a word
And his retarded raging thoughts I hear
He bellows and cries inside of my skull
His berserk, confused substratum shrieks drive me mad
His underdeveloped brain grows from mine
And his retarded raging thoughts I hear
He bellows and cries inside of my skull
Always he has shared my vital organs
My heart, my lungs, and pulsing blood
Since birth his survival has depended on me
His nurturing has me to thank
I am sorry brother I can no longer live like this
It is time to finally set you free
Subconscious echoes as my twin horrifically scrams
The surgeons' scalpels cut him out piece by piece
And from one egg, two individuals originated
A pair of identical twins began to grow
But in an unnatural quirk the embryos fused
And I absorbed my embryonical sibling into me
From my earliest fetal stages into adulthood
His displaced cells grew as I did
We matured together in the oddest ways
Together as one we were born to be
I grew up as a freak, a walking monstrosity
A living abnormality for scientific study
Tumorous growths on and in my body cause me pain
Of dermoid origins, these tumors are pieces of my brother
These teratomas sprout across my body
As my fragmented sibling develops from my torsos
My brother lives within
Inside lays the internal twin
My stomach contains rows of his teeth
Molars and incisors grow from the organ walls
And scalp hair clumps from external teratocarinomas
His bulbous eyeballs protrude from my right temple and ear
They twitch inside misshapen sockets
Sightless they roll and gaze into black
A toothless cartilage mouth opens from my chest
Its rubbery spasms will never speak a word
And his retarded raging thoughts I hear
He bellows and cries inside of my skull
His berserk, confused substratum shrieks drive me mad
His underdeveloped brain grows from mine
And his retarded raging thoughts I hear
He bellows and cries inside of my skull
Always he has shared my vital organs
My heart, my lungs, and pulsing blood
Since birth his survival has depended on me
His nurturing has me to thank
I am sorry brother I can no longer live like this
It is time to finally set you free
Subconscious echoes as my twin horrifically scrams
The surgeons' scalpels cut him out piece by piece
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Light Up The Sky
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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"Fast car" is kind of a continuation of Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run." It has all the clawing your way to a better life, but in this case the protagonist never makes it with her love; in fact she is dragged back down by him.
There is still an amazing amount of hope and will in the lyrics; and the lyrics themselve rank and easy five. If only music was stronger it would be one of those great radio songs that you hear once a week 20 years after it was released. The imagery is almost tear-jerking ("City lights lay out before us", "Speeds so fast felt like I was drunk"), and the idea of starting from nothing and just driving and working and denigrating yourself for a chance at being just above poverty, then losing in the end is just painful and inspiring at the same time.
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
Ebba Grön
This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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.
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.