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.
Is it all in that pretty little head of yours?
What goes on in that place in the dark?
Well, I used to know a girl and I could have sworn
That her name was Veronica
Oh well, she used to have a carefree mind of her own
And a delicate look in her eye
These days I'm afraid she's not even sure
If her name is Veronica
Do you suppose that waiting hands on eyes
Veronica has gone to hide?
And all the time she laughs at those
Who shout her name and steal her clothes
Veronica
Veronica
Veronica (Veronica)
Do the days drag by? Did the favors wane?
Did he roam down the town all the while?
Will you wake from your dream with a wolf at the door
Reaching out for Veronica
Well, it was all of sixty-five years ago
When the world was the street where she lived
And a young man sailed on a ship in the sea
With a picture of Veronica
On the Empress of India
And as she closed her eyes upon the world
And picked upon the bones of last week's news
She spoke his name out loud again
Do you suppose that waiting hands on eyes
Veronica has gone to hide?
And all the time she laughs at those
Who shout her name and steal her clothes
Veronica
Veronica
Veronica (Veronica)
Veronica sits in her favorite chair
She sits very quiet and still
And they call her a name that they never get right
And if they don't then nobody else will
But she used to have a carefree mind of her own
With a devilish look in her eye
Saying, "You can call me anything you like
But my name is Veronica"
Do you suppose that waiting hands on eyes
Veronica has gone to hide?
And all the time she laughs at those
Who shout her name and steal her clothes
Veronica
Veronica
Oh (oh) Veronica
What goes on in that place in the dark?
Well, I used to know a girl and I could have sworn
That her name was Veronica
Oh well, she used to have a carefree mind of her own
And a delicate look in her eye
These days I'm afraid she's not even sure
If her name is Veronica
Do you suppose that waiting hands on eyes
Veronica has gone to hide?
And all the time she laughs at those
Who shout her name and steal her clothes
Veronica
Veronica
Veronica (Veronica)
Do the days drag by? Did the favors wane?
Did he roam down the town all the while?
Will you wake from your dream with a wolf at the door
Reaching out for Veronica
Well, it was all of sixty-five years ago
When the world was the street where she lived
And a young man sailed on a ship in the sea
With a picture of Veronica
On the Empress of India
And as she closed her eyes upon the world
And picked upon the bones of last week's news
She spoke his name out loud again
Do you suppose that waiting hands on eyes
Veronica has gone to hide?
And all the time she laughs at those
Who shout her name and steal her clothes
Veronica
Veronica
Veronica (Veronica)
Veronica sits in her favorite chair
She sits very quiet and still
And they call her a name that they never get right
And if they don't then nobody else will
But she used to have a carefree mind of her own
With a devilish look in her eye
Saying, "You can call me anything you like
But my name is Veronica"
Do you suppose that waiting hands on eyes
Veronica has gone to hide?
And all the time she laughs at those
Who shout her name and steal her clothes
Veronica
Veronica
Oh (oh) Veronica
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Light Up The Sky
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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"
No Surprises
Radiohead
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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.
Magical
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
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.
For me, "And they call her a name that they never get right and if they don't then nobody else will" is the absolute heartbreaker. Nobody else will get her name right because nobody else ever comes. She turned her back on the world after she lost her sailor - and has ended up forgotten and alone. "And as she closed her eyes upon the world and picked up the bones of last week's news She spoke his name out loud again" Now, at last, she has even mostly forgotten herself. That's the wolf at the door. All of us exist in a dream of youth and beauty, but there's a wolf waiting at the door, reaching out to snatch us away.
@Teletha the lyrics say nothing about turning "her back on the world", only that she's old and has dementia, and doesn't have the capacity to correct those saying her name incorrectly. Closing "her EYES on the world" just means she's dreaming/envisioning a sailor from years ago, maybe the one she married, maybe not. But he's fondly remembered.<br /> <br /> The "bridge" or middle section, THAT'S the heartbreaker, with the details of the name of his ship and the picture he carries. And "last week's news" either meaning that she last heard from him last week or the fact that by the time news got to her it was a week old... it is a masterful song, EC was well out of his Angry Young Man phase, and into his Old Master phase (evidenced by writing with McCartney!)
@Teletha ... The line "And they call her a name that they never get right and if they don't then nobody else will" is about the staff of the nursing home that "cares" for her of the nursing home doesn't even take the time to learn her name. I guess they are too busy stealing her clothes! To many people, including me the swipe against her nursing home is well deserved.