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.
It's the bird, it must have been the bird
Disgusting critter, it must
We should have known better then to trust
This disease infested ball of lust and carnage
Piece of garbage with wings and she has the guts to sing
Get the bird, catch her shoot her, I don't care
Get the bird, bring her down to the ground from out the air
Gotta tear her apart, let me at her first
Sink her to the level of the rest of us that inherit the earth
What's she thinking? does she really believe
That she's above the creatures that work the dirt and the streets
See her up in the tree, looking down at you and me
Like she's chosen over those who walk around on two feet
The bird, the melodys she play
The music she make, rubbing our faces in the feces of the daybreak
Trying to remind us, its time to awake
Antaganizing and instigating my hate
The chirps, I turn them into screams
My feathered friends end will justity the means
Disturbed, I'll grab her by her beak
And swing her in circles until she's too dizzy to speak
Well I'll shake her from her branch, tear apart her nest
Break her skinny legs and fry her eggs up for breakfast
(she's a snake that can fly) she's just food for the fleas
She thinks she's better then me just because she's free?
I'll shake her from her branch, tear apart her nest
Break her skinny legs and fry her eggs up for breakfast
(she's a snake that can fly) she's just food for the fleas
She thinks she's better then me just because she's free?
My beautiful bird has gone away [x12]
Disgusting critter, it must
We should have known better then to trust
This disease infested ball of lust and carnage
Piece of garbage with wings and she has the guts to sing
Get the bird, catch her shoot her, I don't care
Get the bird, bring her down to the ground from out the air
Gotta tear her apart, let me at her first
Sink her to the level of the rest of us that inherit the earth
What's she thinking? does she really believe
That she's above the creatures that work the dirt and the streets
See her up in the tree, looking down at you and me
Like she's chosen over those who walk around on two feet
The bird, the melodys she play
The music she make, rubbing our faces in the feces of the daybreak
Trying to remind us, its time to awake
Antaganizing and instigating my hate
The chirps, I turn them into screams
My feathered friends end will justity the means
Disturbed, I'll grab her by her beak
And swing her in circles until she's too dizzy to speak
Well I'll shake her from her branch, tear apart her nest
Break her skinny legs and fry her eggs up for breakfast
(she's a snake that can fly) she's just food for the fleas
She thinks she's better then me just because she's free?
I'll shake her from her branch, tear apart her nest
Break her skinny legs and fry her eggs up for breakfast
(she's a snake that can fly) she's just food for the fleas
She thinks she's better then me just because she's free?
My beautiful bird has gone away [x12]
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Light Up The Sky
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Fast Car
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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.
Mountain Song
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Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
No Surprises
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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
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I like the idea that the bird is a metaphor for politics. The bird looks down upon the workers and talks or "chirps" often but doesn't do anything (much like a politician). The bird could even be a metaphor for America itself or the government as a whole because Slug states in the last line "My beautiful bird has gone away," meaning that the idea of government of the United States isn't prevalent.