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.
Brother in tears
Look at this chain of sorrows
Stretching all the way from here and now to hell and gone
I was Kid Clean
She was Anne de Siecle
Just a thrill away from punching through to the cosmic wow
It started out good
Then it got lots better
Makin' up the rules as we went along
But with a business like this
There's an gnarly downside
[Chorus]
I'm way deep into nothing special
Riding the crest of a wave breaking just west of Hollywood
Swingin' so hard
We burned right through the summer
Till the axis of pain/pleasure sheared the arc of desire
From the Rebus affair
To the streets of Culver City
Places and events slip below the horizon line
Now at this time
Into our pretty story
The truth compels us
To bring a certain name
Meet if you will
Doctor Warren Kruger
[Chorus]
She reached out for my hand
While I watched myself lurch across the room
And I almost got there
Look in my eyes
Can't you see the core is frozen?
You can't ask me to access the dreams I don't have now
Sadly for us
Our little talk is over
So together we'll endure the tyranny of the disallowed
Don't you love Port Blanc
When Hooterie is over
When the girls get easy and the crowds are gone
A weekend of bliss
Then the rainy season
[Chorus]
Look at this chain of sorrows
Stretching all the way from here and now to hell and gone
I was Kid Clean
She was Anne de Siecle
Just a thrill away from punching through to the cosmic wow
It started out good
Then it got lots better
Makin' up the rules as we went along
But with a business like this
There's an gnarly downside
[Chorus]
I'm way deep into nothing special
Riding the crest of a wave breaking just west of Hollywood
Swingin' so hard
We burned right through the summer
Till the axis of pain/pleasure sheared the arc of desire
From the Rebus affair
To the streets of Culver City
Places and events slip below the horizon line
Now at this time
Into our pretty story
The truth compels us
To bring a certain name
Meet if you will
Doctor Warren Kruger
[Chorus]
She reached out for my hand
While I watched myself lurch across the room
And I almost got there
Look in my eyes
Can't you see the core is frozen?
You can't ask me to access the dreams I don't have now
Sadly for us
Our little talk is over
So together we'll endure the tyranny of the disallowed
Don't you love Port Blanc
When Hooterie is over
When the girls get easy and the crowds are gone
A weekend of bliss
Then the rainy season
[Chorus]
Lyrics submitted by blackiswhite
West of Hollywood Lyrics as written by Walter Becker Donald Fagen
Lyrics © Wixen Music Publishing
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Light Up The Sky
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Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
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I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
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.
Just A Little Lovin'
Dusty Springfield
Dusty Springfield
I don't think it's necessarily about sex. It's about wanting to start the day with some love and affection. Maybe a warm cuddle. I'm not alone in interpreting it that way! For example:
"'Just a Little Lovin’ is a timeless country song originally recorded by Eddy Arnold in 1954. The song, written by Eddie Miller and Jimmy Campbell, explores the delicate nuances of love and showcases Arnold’s emotive vocals. It delves into the universal theme of love and how even the smallest gesture of affection can have a profound impact on our lives." https://oldtimemusic.com/the-meaning-behind-the-song-just-a-little-lovin-by-eddy-arnold/
Head > Heels
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“Head > Heels” is a track that aims to capture what it feels like to experience romance that exceeds expectations. Ed Sheeran dedicates his album outro to a lover who has blessed him with a unique experience that he seeks to describe through the song’s nuanced lyrics.
This is story of lost love told to a friend (or shrink) by a man in the TV industry, which is based in Culver City, California The speaker, the man, who is and has always been emotionally inhibited, talks about a torrid affair with an actress who was older than he was, a wildly uninhibited one, that burnt out. The reasons are obscure, but the reference to a Dr. Warren Kruger, indicates that it was medical -- possibly the actress's death from cancer (a real cancer doctor) or a drug overdose (it doesn't really matter).
The speaker indicates that the woman was thawing him out emotionally, possibly by drugs (he says he was "Kid Clean): she brought him close to a "Cosmic Wow!" -- but not all the way there.
Now that she's out of his life, he's depressed. He knows that his life in television is empty, that trends ("crests of waves") in TV production are vapid "nothing special", but it's his job.
So, now his social life is limited to gazing at hot chicks in bars and restaurants, who are easy to pick up but do nothing to inject a sense of meaning or personal fulfillment to his life. (I read "Hooterie" as sexual dalliances). Port Blanc is white port wine, very sweet desert wine. It is a metaphor for the empty sweetness of sex without love, with someone who can never be your soul mate.
The "tryanny of the disallowed" is the brutal finality of being closed off by death or breakup from a deeply meaningful relationship.
I'm Kid Clean.... ;-)
WOW! Brilliant break down of the song!
Lots of word inaccuracies, throughout.
Port Blanc is not wine, it's a restaurant that used to be in the yacht harbor in Palma, Mallorca, Spain. portblancmallorca.com/en
Dr. Warren Kruger and his shrink vacation in the Mediterranean. "Hooterie" is what he calls breast enhancement surgery.
She dies... That's all that's important. Kruger is a cancer doctor.
It's not "brother in tears", it's "mother in tears"...