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.
Crying back to consciousness,
The coldness grips my skin.
The sky is pitching violently,
Drawn by shrieking winds.
Seaspray blurs my vision,
Waves roll by so fast,
Save my ship of freedom
I'm lashed, helpless to the mast.
Remembering when first I held
The wheel in my own hands,
I took the helm so eagerly
And sailed for distant lands.
But now the sea's too heavy
And I just don't understand
Why must my crew desert me
When I need a guiding hand?
Call out for direction
And there's no one there to steer.
Shout out for salvation
But there's no one there to hear.
Cry out supplication
For the maelstrom is near.
Scream out desperation but
No one cares to hear.
The coldness grips my skin.
The sky is pitching violently,
Drawn by shrieking winds.
Seaspray blurs my vision,
Waves roll by so fast,
Save my ship of freedom
I'm lashed, helpless to the mast.
Remembering when first I held
The wheel in my own hands,
I took the helm so eagerly
And sailed for distant lands.
But now the sea's too heavy
And I just don't understand
Why must my crew desert me
When I need a guiding hand?
Call out for direction
And there's no one there to steer.
Shout out for salvation
But there's no one there to hear.
Cry out supplication
For the maelstrom is near.
Scream out desperation but
No one cares to hear.
Lyrics submitted by Vozzy
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In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
The Night We Met
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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"
Blue
Ed Sheeran
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“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
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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.
To me, it's about the fact that when it really comes down to it, you are alone in this world. You are your own captain and there's no one who is going to save you. So lash yourself to the mast if you must (a reference to The Odysseus being tied to the mast of his ship in order to avoid the Sirens' song. In other words, avoid the distractions that waste your life away). Don't count on others to take your journey for you. Live your own life no matter how frightening it may be without a safety net.
This is about death and re-incarnation.
To me its talking about a fierce independence being an illusion.The author comes to a realisation that he needs guidance.A life of complete indepence of others has become a heavy burden.
I think the title of this song, coupled with the last verse, is the key to what this song means. All the poetic imagery about ships and crews aside, this is about someone who is at the end of his rope, wants to end it all. He is ready to take that finall jump off the bridge...and there is no one there to care enough to stop him...not God, not any other human being.
Overall, this is pretty fucking depressing song. And an expression of Peart's agnosticism.
I think a reading of the Rime of the Ancient Mariner can offer some insight into this lyric.
In a time when adult children did age in their parent's basements, older kids and young adults dreamed of the day they could leave the nest only to discover, being an adult and away from your support group wasn't as imagined.