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.
We met on that Wednesday night
I was down but you where so bright
I remember that Wednesday so well
We played guitar all those afternoons
Your records on the floor of your room
I knew that I would fall in love with you
When you told me by surprise
I looked and asked you:
"Why did you tell me now?"
We where sitting in the chair
You whispered in my ear:
"Let's go home now"
I'm thinking of the fourth of July
Holding hands, looking up at the sky
I remember the fourth of July so well
When you told me by surprise
I looked and asked you
"Why did you tell me now?"
We where sitting in the chair
You whispered in my ear
"Let's go home now"
I know that you're always with me
I feel the strength you're giving me
I know this love will never die . . .
I was down but you where so bright
I remember that Wednesday so well
We played guitar all those afternoons
Your records on the floor of your room
I knew that I would fall in love with you
When you told me by surprise
I looked and asked you:
"Why did you tell me now?"
We where sitting in the chair
You whispered in my ear:
"Let's go home now"
I'm thinking of the fourth of July
Holding hands, looking up at the sky
I remember the fourth of July so well
When you told me by surprise
I looked and asked you
"Why did you tell me now?"
We where sitting in the chair
You whispered in my ear
"Let's go home now"
I know that you're always with me
I feel the strength you're giving me
I know this love will never die . . .
Lyrics submitted by hotpinkbowtie
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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.
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Great version of a great song,
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Ah this song is so perfect. The lyrics.. her voice... I really want a 4th of july like this... -sigh-
i adore this song. azure ray, wow.
It reminds me of Mazzy Star the way that this song is sung all dreamlike. I absolutely love it. As far as the meaning, it's obvious that it's about a relationship where the speaker of the song fell in love with this person. The lines "When you told me my surprise I looked and asked you, 'Why did you tell me now'?" could mean that he told her that he wanted to end the relationship. So the last lines of the song are talking about the relationship in retrospect and saying that she will always look back on it positively and always care for him.
I'm not sure what the meaning of this song is. "we played guitar all those afternoons, your records on the floor of your room." Could either be about their boyfriends, or it could be about one of the girls talking about it to the other. Because when the girls met, they got together and started playing guitar together and stuff, so yeah. But other than that, it seems like a love song, and I don't think either girl loves the other in "that way." So yeah. Kinda confusing.
I had a 4th of July like that.
I think the end of the song is amazing. It reminds me of a smitten girl writing a love song about a not-so-smitten boy. Of course, she doesn't finish is, and then, when he told her her surprise, she couldn't finish it.
But she still recorded it.
i love this song, but she sounds so ...almost melancholy at times. it's a very bittersweet song to me.
i think it's vague on purpose. it gives it somewhat of a snapshot quality to it, lyrically and musically. the bells tolling in the background, the sliding guitars and ethereal voice falling over everything else in the song...
i think it's just looking back on a relationship she had with someone she shared a connection with, and memories of a certain 4th of july, snippets of conversation, deep emotion, etc...it's basically the way you remember things(bits and pieces, certain parts more than others) put to song... i think memories are often disjointed and wouldn't make much sense if you verbalized them the way you remember them.
a good comparison to me would be saying that this song is similar to a bunch of polaroids strewn about the room. to the person who took the pictures, they've got just enough information to bring back that whole event.. vivid memories will flood back into that person's mind by simply looking at one of them. to anyone else, though, it seems like odd snippets, and you can't truly know what really went on behind the photographs. i think that's why i like this song so much... it's almost like she's singing this song purely for the person she shares the memories with, because she knows each of these memory crumbs will bring back vivid memories for that person the same way it does for her.... for everyone else, all you can do is imagine what happened.
i think there's a great mysteriousness about it, and that's why it's one of my favorites.
I like to think that this song is about a person who falls in love with someone bound to die.
Yeah I agree with merovingian. When i first heard it I thought it was about people who fall in love then the guy tells her that he is terminally ill but she knows their love will never die, no matter if he physically does.
This song always makes me cry. I feel that it is definately about falling in love with someone with a terminal illness who has passed away. I think it's brilliantly written, recalling a handful of beautiful moments they shared. She leaves a lot of room to the listener's imagination
I myself have been in love with someone for a while who recently told me he has hiv. It's a tough situation to deal with. When I think about it, it brings an uneasy feeling like the music in this song brings. It feels like a bad dream and you wish it only were.
Her words and voice are comforting and true and even in a few verses you know they had a lot of love for one another. Even after his death it's enough to keep her strong. You can sense that he saved her and showed her how beautiful life can be.