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.
Hey Miss Murder, can I
Hey Miss Murder, can I
Make beauty stay if I
Take my life?
With just a look they shook
And heavens bowed before him
Simply a look can break your heart
The stars that pierce the sky
He left them all behind
We're left to wonder why
He left us all behind
Hey Miss Murder, can I
Hey Miss Murder, can I
Make beauty stay if I
Take my life?
Dreams of his crash won't pass
Oh, how they all adored him
Beauty will last when spiraled down
The stars that mystify
He left them all behind
And how his children cry
He left us all behind
Hey Miss Murder, can I
Hey Miss Murder, can I
Make beauty stay if I
Take my life?
What's the hook, the twist, within this verbose mystery?
I would gladly bet my life upon it
That the ghost you love, your ray of light will fizzle out
Without hope
We're the empty set, just flowing through, wrapped in skin
Ever-searching for what we were promised
Reaching for that golden ring we'd never let go
But who would ever let us put our filthy hands upon it?
Hey Miss Murder, can I
Hey Miss Murder, can I
Make beauty stay if I
Take my life?
Hey Miss Murder, can I
Hey Miss Murder, can I
Make beauty stay if I
Take my life?
Hey Miss Murder, can I
Make beauty stay if I
Take my life?
With just a look they shook
And heavens bowed before him
Simply a look can break your heart
The stars that pierce the sky
He left them all behind
We're left to wonder why
He left us all behind
Hey Miss Murder, can I
Hey Miss Murder, can I
Make beauty stay if I
Take my life?
Dreams of his crash won't pass
Oh, how they all adored him
Beauty will last when spiraled down
The stars that mystify
He left them all behind
And how his children cry
He left us all behind
Hey Miss Murder, can I
Hey Miss Murder, can I
Make beauty stay if I
Take my life?
What's the hook, the twist, within this verbose mystery?
I would gladly bet my life upon it
That the ghost you love, your ray of light will fizzle out
Without hope
We're the empty set, just flowing through, wrapped in skin
Ever-searching for what we were promised
Reaching for that golden ring we'd never let go
But who would ever let us put our filthy hands upon it?
Hey Miss Murder, can I
Hey Miss Murder, can I
Make beauty stay if I
Take my life?
Hey Miss Murder, can I
Hey Miss Murder, can I
Make beauty stay if I
Take my life?
Lyrics submitted by Imber
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This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
When We Were Young
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This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
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.
Page
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There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
It's about Jesus, Hitler, and many other things. Essentially Hitler saw himself as the savior of the German people, much as Jesus was said to have seen himself as the savior of the Judaen people. There are very strong elements of religion in contemporaraneous German art, in the ceremonies instituted by the national socialists, and even in the name they chose (third -Reich-, after the "Holy Roman Empire" of old).
The "golden ring" that we would never let go could easily be a reference to the ring in the saga of the Niebelungenlied, a symbol in pagan Germanic myth for the destiny of the German peoples and their place as favored of the gods.
Of course you'll agree that the Nazis should not have been able to "lay their filthy hands upon" the greatest secrets of the universe, but who among us truly would be worthy?
Miss Murder could be Kali, mistress of death and also of rebirth and reincarnation. I've read that suicides were held by some ancient traditions to be bound to the earth, forced to be reborn (seek to lose your life and gain it??).
"Empty set" is a mathematical concept. It would be used, for example, to answer the problem, "list all values of x for which x = x+1". The empty set is not "zero" or "nothing" in the common use of the word. To butcher a zen koan, "Once a student asked his master, 'Sir, what is it like to attain Buddhahood?' His master shouted, 'The empty set!'"
That said, perhaps a better question to ask than "What does this song objectively mean?" is "What can I subjectively learn from experiencing this song??
@untermenschfurimmer You are brilliant. Thank you for this analysis.
You are reading more into it then the words merit. But you then cover this by asking an existential question at the end as a cop out to keep people from analyzing your ideas. To your credit you are well read and I certainly can not say that all of your ideas are bogus. But if he throws enough darts even a blind man can get a bulls eye now and then. A better way to find meaning might be to see if the band has said something about the songs meaning on line. But I suspect they have not said much or someone else here would have more to say about this. Certainly the song has a not so veiled Anti-Religious message . A possible point of the song is that he is accusing religious people of giving people beliefs they are willing to die for. Of course he postulates that since it is likely in his opinion that the hope these people have is false that essentially they die prematurely for no good reason. So his question is can he remain beautiful by taking his own life as if he is trying to learn from her when he sees faith as ridiculous. That is just 1 possible explanation of the song but it is justified by the words here with out going too far away from the text. That said mant religions do address the question of who is worthy. Christianity is noteworthy for saying that none are but if you ask forgiveness for your sins. wickedness, whatever you call it That God allows you to grab it's brass ring of eternal life. This being America the songs argument is less with the faith then with those who believe. I suspect miss Murder is someone who tried to share their faith with one of the band members far too agressively. But until the Cliff note for Alternative music come out it is just a guess.
The song seems to be about spiritual dichotomy.
'Miss Murder' is death\inevitability. 'She' seduces, gives birth, serves as a vessel of transition, stalks, waits, forcibly kills, etc. 'Beauty' is a codeword for the aesthetic.. An ideal of perfection. The singer is therefore asking if his death will spare his ideals.
The bulk of the song is about the loss of a powerful figure of this ideal who both arrived and left with a 'crash' - vanishing from the world and leaving his followers behind.. Such that all we have left are stories and reflections of this ideal 'spiraling down' - immortalized through history.. but it's not enough, and it closes with the statement that the ghost of this ideal will fizzle out hopelessly because, although we search in our meaningless quandry, our leader has abandoned us.
The lyrics are obviously about Jesus (verse 31 is only relevent in that context) but not only Jesus. The video paints a very different picture: of another leader (Hitler) in his public and private life caught within the above dilemma. 'Miss Murder' is portrayed as a woman in red, and the 'Beauty' is portrayed by a rabbit (and writings of this rabbit), symbolising gentleness or innocence. (A lamb would have been obvious, expensive, and out of place.) Toward the end of the video the duality begins to solidify as the singer becomes gets closer to 'Miss Murder' and we witness the death of the rabbit(?) - Indicating that the beautiful vision has died and Murder is all that is left. The lyrics, then, contain a double-meaning of Hitler asking his enemies if they will spare his vision if he kills himself, and the aftermath of his suicide.
The overarching theme these leaders had in common is Arianism and that awkward alternation between Man and God, Secular and Divine, evidenced in both of their speeches. In the video we see this in the image of the rabbit 'issuing from the mouth' of the 'prophet', and in the transition from private to public (common in political manipulation). Even the layering of lyrics & video reflects this. (Lyrics\Video -> Words\Actions -> Ideal\Real -> Spirit\Body -> Heaven\Earth -> God\Man)
The actual singer is relating himself to Hitler in this sense while singing about this concept of Christ. Like those men, he is a public face with followers and suffering through a similar inner-struggle between two natures.. But with the realization that God is not here, and the consequences of that realization to the self, and to the world, he finds himself losing faith.. So he's asking if he can retain his ideals by killing himself - rather than suffer to watch himself become an anti-Christ. (and also asking if he will be saved for doing this.)
(Note also that the Jews suffered persection by the Romans in Jesus' time, by the Christians in the middle ages, and again under Hitler. The forgotten promise of abraham, and God's absence has been a repeated theme in Jewish history. The only problem with this is the allusion to suicide which doesn't quite fit.)
ok is it just me or when you saw the video u immediately though Hitler
@foogu2 <br /> Yea, for some reason a lot of people are like “the song is about Hitler!” I kinda wish AFI would just TELL US THE MEANING OF THE SONG. OR AT LEAST WHAT THE LYRICS MEANT TO THEM or if they were just writing the lyrics to confuse people for the heck of it. Still sounds good.
it really does refer to Jesus it talks about the last hour when he speaks about a shook and the heavens taking HIM he refers to Jesus having to leave to be a sacrifice i think maybe he feels alone God promised not to let us go maybe he walked away from God and feels forsaken and now he's so alone that he feels the need to commit suicide
"that ghost you love" God cant be seen but we believe in him and love him Davey must be truly hurt and feel forsaken he just doesn't know that Jesus had to die in order to free us and give us eternal life with our father in heaven
i think it is about jesus but wen he sayz the ghost of u he means how wen we think about him then we c him as a fairly young man. like he has a beard but he also still has brown hair. i think thatz the like meaning of the entire song bcuz wen he thinx about jesus itz just az he wuz remembered: young. and so he sayz well if i died right now then no one would kno wut i looked like wen i got old so they'd hav 2 remember me young and successful like even tho my body getz all decrepit in the mindz of my fans im eternally young
It's about the fall of Lucifer, Jesus doesn't make any sense at all...<br /> <br /> With just a look they shook<br /> And heavens bowed before him.<br /> ---> He was the anointed cherub, as strong as an arch angel, a prince in heaven<br /> Simply a look can break your heart.<br /> ---> The bible describes him as the most beautiful of God's creations<br /> (NOT a red dude with hornes and a tail, his appearance was the source of his pride)<br /> The stars that pierce the sky;<br /> He left them all behind.<br /> ---> This line should be obvious<br /> Dreams of his crash won't pass<br /> ---> Again, this part is obvious<br /> Or how they all adored him.<br /> ---> Even Michael the arch angel that defeated him wept at his banishment<br /> Beauty will last when spiraled down.<br /> ---> He was the only rebel to retain his beauty<br /> The stars that mystify<br /> He left them all behind.<br /> And how his children cry<br /> ---> The angels under him were simply distraught that he tried to overthrow God<br /> He left us all behind.<br /> We're left to wonder why<br /> He left us all behind.<br /> <br /> What's the hook, the twist<br /> within this verbose mystery?<br /> ---> Why even attempt such a feat?<br /> I would gladly bet my life upon it.<br /> That the ghost you love, your ray of light<br /> Will fizzle out without hope. (hope)<br /> ---> Lucifer is hoping for redemption that will never come<br /> We're the empty set just floating through, wrapped in skin,<br /> Ever searching for what we were promised.<br /> ---> From the point of view of the rebeling angels turned demons<br /> Reaching for that golden ring we'd never let go,<br /> Who would ever let us put their filthy hands upon it?<br /> ---> They want their Halos back, but they know it'll never happen
It seems to me there's some sort of powerful male figure here...
"With just a look they shook And heavens bowed before him Simply a look can break your heart"
In these next lyrics it seems as though, even though he is a powerful person, he avoids responsibility, and others had to pay the consequences; they were left alone.
"The stars that pierce the sky He left them all behind We're left to wonder why He left us all behind"
"Dreams of his crash won't pass Oh, how they all adored him Beauty will last when spiraled down"
and here ^ a "crash" is referred to...so in his running, he failed at some point and came crashing to death. Here theyre mourning his death and remembering him.
"The stars that mystify He left them all behind And how his children cry He left us all behind"
Now with his responsibility left behind...they are alone and there is no one to take care of them.
"What's the hook, the twist, within this verbose mystery? I would gladly bet my life upon it That the ghost you love, your ray of light will fizzle out Without hope We're the empty set, just flowing through, wrapped in skin Ever-searching for what we were promised Reaching for that golden ring we'd never let go But who would ever let us put our filthy hands upon it?"
Here is seems like davey is singing out to those hurting, those who were promised things then abandoned. he's stating his ignorance for why, but in his reference to a hook...he in confirming that there IS a reason for it all... "But who would ever let us put our filthy hands upon it?" is basically saying that we may not be good enough to know the answers, ever.
songmeanings.net/songs/view/3530822107858588589/ (If the link isn't doing what I want, it is to NobodyImportant's analysis. It should be on the 6th page after mine. I think it does well.)
Given that Davey, the singer and lyricist of AFI, went to a Catholic school, I don't find the presence of religious imagry odd. Given how much of his writing incorporates it, I consider it more of a metaphor for a part of the message he his trying to get accross. It is similar to how a word itself has history and stems, but what it means is only loosely related to each stem's meaning.
What I see in these lyrics is a person who is well regarded. Not nessicarily a superstar or a leader of many, but anyone with some kind of superficial favor or talent. This person does not believe they are all that they are percieved to be, and they will ultimately break the illusion. Out of a combination of self-loathing, fear (of both not being good enough and of it's consequences), and a desire to be viewed favorably, the speaker debates committing suicide. He likely percieves himself to have peaked. Metaphors in the song have to do with martyrs, and that is what he hopes to attain through his suicide in addition to freedom from his life.
I don't think the Nazi-esque imagry of the video is as significant as many have made it out to be. It is a very effective way of showing a detached leader held high above his mindless, rigid, stubborn and demanding followers. I find the banners to be more telling. They represent a mask and a barrier between the followers and leader. The followers may not even know Davey is on the roof. They certainly do not care what he has to say, as they go on roboticly.
(What I know about Davey swould suggest that he is the person debating suicide... but I may be wrong. It may be only a character.)
Another new direction for AFI... new album should be interesting. Anyone else notice how much the chorus sounds like Green Day?
to me the section<br /> "Hey Miss Murder, can I<br /> Hey Miss Murder, can I<br /> Make beauty stay if I<br /> Take my life?"<br /> reminds me of a song... forgot what it was, but the meaning of it was kill me now so people will remimber me as young insted of an old febla ma, also i think he might be talking about Jesus or God and how he thought he just left us after making everthing snd even later n the song he talk about the people who hold on to this hope but he thinks it is hopless<br /> <br /> thats my opinion and this is my first disipering of a song so i might be totaly wrong<br /> <br />
soryy added it to wrong place
i like it! davey sings lower than usual. if this is really afi...
It is AFI, and it's not GD like, the next person who says that, I'll hunt down! Very weird lyrics, the chorus is about 'Miss Murder' yet the keep refering to a he...
AFI is touring with Green Day LOL
AFI is touring with Green Day LOL
AFI is touring with Green Day LOL
AFI is touring with Green Day LOL
AFI is touring with Green Day LOL
Oops multiple post :/
It's still different though, good (don't get me wrong), but different. Catchier...it has a more lighthearted sound despite the material. And the he versus she thing's got me too...I don't really know all the conspiracy stuff so I can't really make a relevant comment on that. Does anyone who does have any comments?