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.
4x
If a picture's worth a thousand words I'll paint a thousand pictures
If a picture's worth a thousand words I'll paint a thousand pictures
To symbolize the decibel levels bred of a thousand whispers
To mummify useless unknown poems spit a shower with gold glitter
Pressure increase unleash the catacomb splitters
And for some reason you wonder why your puzzle is a jigsaw
When you fail to decipher the mores code to simply avoid the pitfalls
If need be I can get raw - just pocket the latex
But that's like asking why the man with no legs crawls to see the apex
Or why the young planet's seeds won't blossom into a garden
Parallel to your search for stardom where you leave breadcrumbs and jargon
That you can't even feel. So how's that for surface tension?
Every step shows you're a worthless henchman itching to meet your maker
I'd rather finger-paint than take a tainted pen and curse the paper
Voice box turns cauldron, saliva boils, then thoughts are vapor
If seeing foremost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades
Then a thoroughbred's accuracy isn't the focal point of perfection
Therefore you trudge through waist-high sludge and caramelized paints where
Prints left, taint every breath
Inhale - golden oxygen, then step graciously over landmines shallow beneath the soil surface
Take a small step for man and ascend a stairway to heaven on pegs
To take a giant leap for mankind to stand and keep your legs
What a dilemma to hold hands with
Sanity's a steep cliff of gift
And it seems because of your fork-tongued dreams your hands slipped
Rip your canteen of get-rich schemes and set sail on the seven seas
Hooker left that envy to drown in greed
Before you swallow your pride and wash it down with a glass of formaldehyde
I'll preserve the day the Earth fell, to symbolize how Atlas died
I've tried to rush the wormhole to deliver a eulogy
But the other eight planets follow me to stage a silent mutiny
No more - dodging shooting stars
No more - lashing of asteroid belts
No more - avoiding supernovas and fear of android wealth
If science and religion is the building block for a laughing stock
Then the foundation should crumble at the epicenter of the aftershock
The bow breaks at the vinyl spots
The cradle of all this crime rate drops
I've timed hate crops harvest to see if records of frisbees flop hardest
Well that would depend on the trajectory
And the way the projector projected me
I was a hologram waiting for wind to inherit merit discrepancy
Is it time for lift off?
I think go-go gadget propellers are prepared
Is it time for lift off?
The rocket fuel was at peak in mid-week
I think it's time for lift off
The structural integrity seems to be holding
But three astronauts were found in a cockpit falling asleep
So will these thousand whispers ever hold a cleft note to sing?
Or will these blisters become targets of the scorpion king's sting?
Because the poison invades the veins to the stages of Hume
I'll take a rain check in the same breath of a checkmate - in three moves
I know everything is everything and nothing's still something else
So I cleared my shelves of any signs of wealth to impress the elves
My neck it holds bricks that weighs down my liftoff
As a precaution I replaced the wood in the loft with something soft
Your windows - they look clear but my pane's a stained glass
To dampen the impression of expression anything has
Do the hues you use, do they capture the pain my frame has?
Or are you caught in the faces we weave, scared to changes masks?
I'm the lawnmower man on a mission to slaughter the strange grass
But first I must erase cyberspace and rape the track before train pass
You strain cash
Well I take the root of evil, make tea
Patiently holding hands with anxiousness, I can already taste it
There's the kettle whistle, interrupting my vision of rainbow bands
The steam scolding my hand
The mug shattered and I wasted it
Now if a picture's worth a thousand words I painted a thousand pictures
On the beautiful backdrop of butterfly kisses
3x
If a picture's worth a thousand words I painted a thousand pictures
If a scream is worth a thousand dreams I dreamed a thousand whispers
I'll scream a thousand whispers ..
If a picture's worth a thousand words I'll paint a thousand pictures
If a picture's worth a thousand words I'll paint a thousand pictures
To symbolize the decibel levels bred of a thousand whispers
To mummify useless unknown poems spit a shower with gold glitter
Pressure increase unleash the catacomb splitters
And for some reason you wonder why your puzzle is a jigsaw
When you fail to decipher the mores code to simply avoid the pitfalls
If need be I can get raw - just pocket the latex
But that's like asking why the man with no legs crawls to see the apex
Or why the young planet's seeds won't blossom into a garden
Parallel to your search for stardom where you leave breadcrumbs and jargon
That you can't even feel. So how's that for surface tension?
Every step shows you're a worthless henchman itching to meet your maker
I'd rather finger-paint than take a tainted pen and curse the paper
Voice box turns cauldron, saliva boils, then thoughts are vapor
If seeing foremost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades
Then a thoroughbred's accuracy isn't the focal point of perfection
Therefore you trudge through waist-high sludge and caramelized paints where
Prints left, taint every breath
Inhale - golden oxygen, then step graciously over landmines shallow beneath the soil surface
Take a small step for man and ascend a stairway to heaven on pegs
To take a giant leap for mankind to stand and keep your legs
What a dilemma to hold hands with
Sanity's a steep cliff of gift
And it seems because of your fork-tongued dreams your hands slipped
Rip your canteen of get-rich schemes and set sail on the seven seas
Hooker left that envy to drown in greed
Before you swallow your pride and wash it down with a glass of formaldehyde
I'll preserve the day the Earth fell, to symbolize how Atlas died
I've tried to rush the wormhole to deliver a eulogy
But the other eight planets follow me to stage a silent mutiny
No more - dodging shooting stars
No more - lashing of asteroid belts
No more - avoiding supernovas and fear of android wealth
If science and religion is the building block for a laughing stock
Then the foundation should crumble at the epicenter of the aftershock
The bow breaks at the vinyl spots
The cradle of all this crime rate drops
I've timed hate crops harvest to see if records of frisbees flop hardest
Well that would depend on the trajectory
And the way the projector projected me
I was a hologram waiting for wind to inherit merit discrepancy
Is it time for lift off?
I think go-go gadget propellers are prepared
Is it time for lift off?
The rocket fuel was at peak in mid-week
I think it's time for lift off
The structural integrity seems to be holding
But three astronauts were found in a cockpit falling asleep
So will these thousand whispers ever hold a cleft note to sing?
Or will these blisters become targets of the scorpion king's sting?
Because the poison invades the veins to the stages of Hume
I'll take a rain check in the same breath of a checkmate - in three moves
I know everything is everything and nothing's still something else
So I cleared my shelves of any signs of wealth to impress the elves
My neck it holds bricks that weighs down my liftoff
As a precaution I replaced the wood in the loft with something soft
Your windows - they look clear but my pane's a stained glass
To dampen the impression of expression anything has
Do the hues you use, do they capture the pain my frame has?
Or are you caught in the faces we weave, scared to changes masks?
I'm the lawnmower man on a mission to slaughter the strange grass
But first I must erase cyberspace and rape the track before train pass
You strain cash
Well I take the root of evil, make tea
Patiently holding hands with anxiousness, I can already taste it
There's the kettle whistle, interrupting my vision of rainbow bands
The steam scolding my hand
The mug shattered and I wasted it
Now if a picture's worth a thousand words I painted a thousand pictures
On the beautiful backdrop of butterfly kisses
3x
If a picture's worth a thousand words I painted a thousand pictures
If a scream is worth a thousand dreams I dreamed a thousand whispers
I'll scream a thousand whispers ..
Lyrics submitted by BillyPilgrim
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there are two versions of this song, one I heard on pandora & the other one which is the album one, with the who sample. I personally like the one not on the album the faster beat sounds way siicker with the lyrics