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.
The dawn has come
And the wine will run
And the song must be sung
And the flowers are melting
In the sun
I feel I want to be up on the roof
I feel I gotta get up on the roof
Up, up on the roof
Up, up on the roof
Oh the dawn has come
And the song must be sung
And the flowers are melting
What kind of language is this?
What kind of language is this?
I can't hear a word you're saying
Tell me what are you singing
In the sun
All of the birds are laughing
All of the birds are laughing
Come on let's all join in
Come on let's all join in
I want to be up on the roof
I've gotta be up on the roof
Up, up high on the roof
Up, up on the roof
In the sun
And the wine will run
And the song must be sung
And the flowers are melting
In the sun
I feel I want to be up on the roof
I feel I gotta get up on the roof
Up, up on the roof
Up, up on the roof
Oh the dawn has come
And the song must be sung
And the flowers are melting
What kind of language is this?
What kind of language is this?
I can't hear a word you're saying
Tell me what are you singing
In the sun
All of the birds are laughing
All of the birds are laughing
Come on let's all join in
Come on let's all join in
I want to be up on the roof
I've gotta be up on the roof
Up, up high on the roof
Up, up on the roof
In the sun
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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Aerial's Secret Tenth Track: Waving or Drowning?
At precisely 7:00 minutes into the 'Aerial' track, Aerial transforms into 'Pianissimo', the secret tenth track. Pianissimo even has its own lyric page featuring silhouetted crows and blackbirds and soundwave of blackbird song. Aerial is about escape and communion, energy and release, and maybe crazy and hysterical desire. But with Pianissimo, has KaTe transformed herself into a beautiful blackbird? Or has she jumped off the roof, into a sea of honey, or into the sun, a sky of honey?
I can’t hear a word you’re saying Tell me what are you singing...
There is a lot of broken and distressed singing on the Aerial track, from 5:36, and it is hard to make out exactly what is being sung. Mansonian Subliminal Messaging? ...
Then towards the end of Aerial, a murder of cawing crows joins in, seemingly enticing her to get up high on the roof and join in with them.
Then eerie, absent silence before Pianissimo's soft and spiritual meditation on the SOUNDWAVE OF BLACKBIRD SONG... The Golden Dawn Chorus...
I love the big heartbeat rhythm, the breathtaking chord shifts, it's just a huge emotional rush. The whole suite is totally hot emotionally... I am so pleased Kate has written this gorgeous thing! Thankyou.
Only...one...comment?? Wow!
Ok, this song is utterly amazing and mind blowing. The opening bar grabs and shakes me every time without fail. The ambient yet pulsating beat, Kate's mad voice, the laughing birdsong...it's so impressive and powerful. One of the best album closers I have ever heard. I can't believe I am the second person to comment on this.
swoons
Okay, I love the extremes of The Dreaming… But THE SKY OF HONEY is just exquisitely beautiful…
From the opening ‘Prelude’/‘Prologue’, we are in “communion with nature” and with what must really matter to us, away from everyday stresses and absurdities… (we’re gonna be laughing about this…) ... ‘An Architect's Dream’… the album becomes a beautiful meditation… observing life’s light and dark contrasts, and how it all runs into a reassuringly wonderful ‘Sun-set’! Great voice, lyric and tempo… The day writes the words right across the sky…
‘Somewhere is Between’ is just so beautiful… It evokes that very special ‘window’ moment between people, nature and spirits… Somewhere in between, there is a moment of perfect truth… a communion better than words…
The car/driving is an important theme in Kate’s work… that road movie need to get away… And ‘Nocturn’ is an euphoric escape into nature… Let go of longing and become panoramic! … (But how we long!) … The ‘sunrise’ ending is too beautiful! … Look at the light, all the time it’s a changing…
‘Aerial’ continues the theme of escape and communion… And introduces a tribal gathering of energy to meet the everyday… The blackbird seems to have the answer! And Kate’s hysterical laughing evokes a longing to change into a blackbird… and to sing merrily up high on the roof in the sun!
A mature, gentle and exquisite album.
I listened to a 'Sea of Honey' and was disappointed to the point of embarassment at some of the sentimentality, then I put a Sky of Honey on.
Like all the above comentators... I was blown away, I can't recommend it to enough people. If there is a definition of a masterwork this is it, everything works so perfectly, I detect the hand of God in its composition. When does Kate get her knighthood?
I think this song is amazing, but the 3 minutes of laughing in the middle kind of bothers me. It would have been OK for like 40 seconds, if even, but 3 minutes is too much, it gets to sound completely phony. I get a mental image of the hummingbird tickling her. But the loudness and the belting of this song is fantastic. Great melody.
everything you just said here? DITTO.<br /> <br /> the first time I heard that part of the song, I sat there the whole time, scratching my head in puzzlement and waiting for it to get back to the awesomeness that is the entirety of the rest of the song.<br />
"Birds are known for their songs, chattering away to their kind and talking to us too... if only we could understand them! In fact, there exists in mythology something known as 'The Language of the Birds' which is a text that contains the original language spoken by humanity. It is said that anyone who can decipher the Language of the Birds will have complete understanding not only of other languages, but of the mysteries of life itself... The Language of the Birds is also known as the Angelic Tongue, supposedly being the language the angels themselves speak..." (bellaonline.com).
Ah! Now I know... Kate Bush is a Botticelli angel!
Amazing song.
For me it's about being drunk and letting yourself go.
I think Kate actually turns into a bird a flies away in this song.
She's up on the roof, cherishing the dawn (just like the birds), she does a call-and-response with laughter and birdsong, and in the end you can't even understand her singing anymore because she's turned into a bird!
The guitar work at the end definitely sounds like flight.
Only thing is, I'm not sure what's going on with that evil-sounding ha-ha-ha-ha-ha that comes in towards the end - is a falcon chasing her? If so, it sounds like it catches her at the end.