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.
Oh girl I don't know all the reasons why
I found the answer lookin' in your eye
I go out walking all day long
Take away this lonely man soon he will be gone
Cause I'll tell you everything about being free
Yes I can see you girl can you see me
You don't need to know what I do all day
It's as much as I know watch it waste away
Cause I'll tell you everything about being free
Yes I can see you girl can you see me
Go and see the sorcerer look into a ball
You may find the answer written on the wall
The left one was a dancer can you see the answer, oh
Put her in a mansion on top of the hill
Please don't make her do things against her will
I found something special I don't know why
Looking into her pretty little eye
Cause I'll tell you everything about being free
I found the answer lookin' in your eye
I go out walking all day long
Take away this lonely man soon he will be gone
Cause I'll tell you everything about being free
Yes I can see you girl can you see me
You don't need to know what I do all day
It's as much as I know watch it waste away
Cause I'll tell you everything about being free
Yes I can see you girl can you see me
Go and see the sorcerer look into a ball
You may find the answer written on the wall
The left one was a dancer can you see the answer, oh
Put her in a mansion on top of the hill
Please don't make her do things against her will
I found something special I don't know why
Looking into her pretty little eye
Cause I'll tell you everything about being free
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
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"
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.
Magical
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
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.
From whatever perspective Wolfmother was adopting, he was taking on first-person of being a Vagabond. At the beginning of the song when he says "this is a song about innocence lost", he is referring to the girl he is love with. No, she wasn't raped. Trust me; if she was raped, we would know by the tone of the song, which doesn't suggest that at all. He seems to refer most frequently to the connection he feels when he looks "into her pretty little eye" or "Yes, girl I can see you, can you see me?" Maybe they have known each other for a long time and have felt a long-life connection until they grew parted their ways? He saying he can still feel the connection by saying "I can see you". He recognizes her for entirely what she is and nothing else, and he's wondering if she can see him too. He has found wisdom ("Go and see the sorcerer look into the ball, you might the answer written on the wall, the left was a dancer, can you see the answer") and freedom ("I'll tell you everything about being free") in being a vagabond, and he wants the same kind of freedom for the girl he loves. But by the lack of response from her in the song, he seems to insinuate that is her response. Maybe this entire song is only what he wishes he could say to her? When he says, "put in a mansion on top of the hill, please don't make her do things against her will", it sounds like he's telling someone what to do. Maybe her lover/husband? At this point, the song has taken a swing; at the beginning it sounded like he was talking to her, and at the end it sounds like he's giving someone advice for how to take care of her...
Well, whatever this song means, it has inspired me to become a vagabond! You may never hear from me again! :D
Beautiful answer<br />