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.
How, how can it be
That a love carved out of caring
Fashioned by fate could suffer so hard
From the games played once too often
But making mistakes is a part of life's imperfection
Born of the years
Is it so wrong to be human after all?
Drawn into the stream of undefined illusion
Those diamond dreams, they can't disguise the truth
That there is something about you, baby, so right
I wouldn't be without you, baby tonight
If ever our love was concealed
No one can say that we didn't feel
A million things and a perfect dream of life (gone) fragile but free
We remain tender together
If not so in love
And it's not so wrong, we're only human after all
These changing years, they add to your confusion
Oh and you need to hear the time that told the truth
That there is something about you, baby so right
Don't want to be without you, baby tonight
Because there's something about you, baby, so right
I couldn't live without you, baby, tonight
And that there's something about you, yeah
And I couldn't be without you, tonight
That a love carved out of caring
Fashioned by fate could suffer so hard
From the games played once too often
But making mistakes is a part of life's imperfection
Born of the years
Is it so wrong to be human after all?
Drawn into the stream of undefined illusion
Those diamond dreams, they can't disguise the truth
That there is something about you, baby, so right
I wouldn't be without you, baby tonight
If ever our love was concealed
No one can say that we didn't feel
A million things and a perfect dream of life (gone) fragile but free
We remain tender together
If not so in love
And it's not so wrong, we're only human after all
These changing years, they add to your confusion
Oh and you need to hear the time that told the truth
That there is something about you, baby so right
Don't want to be without you, baby tonight
Because there's something about you, baby, so right
I couldn't live without you, baby, tonight
And that there's something about you, yeah
And I couldn't be without you, tonight
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More Featured Meanings
Light Up The Sky
Van Halen
Van Halen
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
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"
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
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
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.
I find it very moving, as well, and a beautiful song. But, I've always thought of it as a song between a still-together couple; maybe he's singing to a long-time mate, saying, "maybe we're not so in love anymore, but it's ok, we're together and I can't be away from you." Sweet, though not the popular, happily-ever-after view of love.
I suppose I'm the only one moved by this one...it is so evocative to me of a former love, someone about whome you once cared deeply, and how love can pass yet affection and pleasant memories can linger... one-hit wonders, sure... but I still like this song.
@mollena Not really a one hit wonder as the follow up charted as well.
I think it is about a couple who are still together. They may have grown apart ,gone thru ups and downs and the years have changed them but he still find there is something about her that keeps him in the relationship.Something about her that despite all the wrongs is right.
Great song about a couple that is still together. Even though the "spark" is gone, they still love each other, and he stays. It's a truly beautiful song, because instead of all the phony "happily ever after" songs out there.... this one paints a more realistic picture of love in real life. Sometimes drab, and boring, but still real, and that's what matters.
This is a great song with its deep lyrics and and catchy tune. I think the story of this song has to do with neither an ex nor a couple who have been in a long relationship, even though the lyrics aren't inconsistent with either of those readings.
Rather, I read it as a referring to a pair who have maintained a "platonic" relationship for the duration of their having known each other, but the speaker recognizes that, for him at least (and likely for both), the relationship was and is much more. I take the verse that mentions being "...tender together, if not so in love..." as indicating a barrier that prevents the two from realizing a romantic relationship (perhaps his object of affection is now married). Yet after all these "changing years," he decides that it's time he "told the truth," where in the (correct) lyrics he finally makes his bombshell confession to her, in the second round of the chorus, "Don't want to be be here without you," and not just "Couldn't be here without you" which he acknowledges in the first round of the chorus.
@dane106920 awesome
@dane106920 I can totally relate to your interpretation as this applies to me. Yet our relationship is not exactly platonic, there is a barrier keeping us from being together and falling deeper in love as it should be. Thank you Dane!
@dane106920 I agree with your interpretation.
I think this is about a man and a woman who have been friends for a long time, perhaps too shy or afraid to admit their feelings for each other. So he continues on, spending time with her when they can, sort of dying inside that he can't bring himself to tell her face-to-face how he feels. I can imagine fights and fallings out at times, both knowing how they feel but hampered by the inability to express their true feelings.
Beautifl, thought-evoking song with a wonderful message. This came up in my Pandora rotation and it reminded me of my first love (always has because we broke up around the time it was released) though I never paid attention to the lyrics until now. This song is definitely about a couple that's still together after a period of time has passed. The relationship dynamics have changed but there is still fondness and caring, and a longing for what was, which is "human." Here's what they're saying...
"If ever our love was concealed No one can say that we didn't feel A million things and a perfect dream of life Gone, fragile but free We remain tender together If not so in love It's not so wrong We're only human after all
These changing years They add to your confusion Oh and you need to hear The time that told the truth
Because there's something about you, baby, so right I couldn't live without you, baby, tonight"
Most songs are really nothing but metaphors or parables. if you can find the meaning to then, it is then a deeper conclusion. i like to write poems in metaphors or parables. and test those that can find the meaning to them. there are always clues to them, although some faint. this one is not so faint. yes... there is a love but with troubles, mishaps -after all we are only human. but that "something about you" is real and there that is why i am with you. something, about you that i love.
Apparently, this guy is not over his ex, who's already with another man. He still has feelings, although he made a mistake and now wants her back but can't have her. It is tearing him apart basically.
Its a song about a couple who once were deeply in love and planned to live a life together but later the girl left the guy because the guy was not stable financially. Many years later , in her luxurious life with another man, she discovers she's still longing for her ex. And the ex knows this and also finds it hard to resist her now despite him having a new relationship. . If to err is human, then doing the wrong thing (affair) now which feels so right, is it then forgiven? is the question.