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, where are you now
Pussy willow that smiled on this leaf?
When I was alone
You promised the stone from your heart
My head kissed the ground
I was half the way down, treading the sand
Please, please lift a hand
I'm only a person whose armbands beat
On his hands, hang tall
Won't you miss me?
Wouldn't you miss me at all?
The poppy birds way
Swing twigs coffee brands around
Brandish her wand with a feathery tongue
My head kissed the ground
I was half the way down, treading the sand
Please, please please lift the hand
I'm only a person with Eskimo chain
I tattooed my brain all the way
Don't you miss me?
Wouldn't you miss me at all?
Oh, where are you now
Pussy willow that smiled on this leaf?
When I was alone
You promised the stone from your heart
My head kissed the ground
I was half the way down, treading the sand
Please, please lift a hand
I'm only a person whose armbands beat
On his hands, hang tall
Won't you miss me?
Wouldn't you miss me at all?
Pussy willow that smiled on this leaf?
When I was alone
You promised the stone from your heart
My head kissed the ground
I was half the way down, treading the sand
Please, please lift a hand
I'm only a person whose armbands beat
On his hands, hang tall
Won't you miss me?
Wouldn't you miss me at all?
The poppy birds way
Swing twigs coffee brands around
Brandish her wand with a feathery tongue
My head kissed the ground
I was half the way down, treading the sand
Please, please please lift the hand
I'm only a person with Eskimo chain
I tattooed my brain all the way
Don't you miss me?
Wouldn't you miss me at all?
Oh, where are you now
Pussy willow that smiled on this leaf?
When I was alone
You promised the stone from your heart
My head kissed the ground
I was half the way down, treading the sand
Please, please lift a hand
I'm only a person whose armbands beat
On his hands, hang tall
Won't you miss me?
Wouldn't you miss me at all?
Lyrics submitted by TargetAudience_
Wouldn't You Miss Me Lyrics as written by Syd Barrett
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
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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"
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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.
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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.
"Oh where are you now Pussy willow that smiled on this leaf? When I was alone you promised the stone from your heart My head kissed the ground"
Perhaps he's expressing confusion about the loss of something or someone beautiful and delicate in this opening.
"When I was alone you promised the stone from your heart My head kissed the ground"
In a time of solitude, someone offered him solid, unchanging affection but when it was taken away, he suffered ann emotional collapse and was hurt.
"I was half the way down, treading the sand Please, please, lift a hand"
Floundering and trying to regain his composure he begs for help.
"I'm only a person whose armbands beat On his hands, hang tall Won't you miss me? Wouldn't you miss me at all?"
Hmm. This reminds me of when one wears water wings or has a sphygmomanometer cuff on tightly and the pressure makes your hands throb. Hang tall is an odd phrase. Could it be a slangy way of saying "stay strong"? Then, obviously, he's asking, with a quavering sense of doubt, whether this other person cares enough about him to notice his absence or the disappearance of his inner essence.
"The poppy birds way"
Is he considering the use of opiates to numb his angst?
"Swing twigs coffee brands around"
A quite thought-disordered line. No idea at all about this one.
"Brandish her wand with a feathery tongue"
Could this fianally be the help and gentleness that he needs? Perhaps not, the struggling and plea for help comes again with the repeated line...
"I was half the way down, treading the sand Please, please, please lift the hand"
"I'm only a person with Eskimo chain I tattooed my brain all the way..."
An eskimo chain implies a cold, hard restraint. Is he then frightened that he's caused a permanent change to his brain with something? LSD, anxiety, unrequited love?
All this 6th form rubbish I've just written goes to prove that one can't use the clumsy 'crossword solving approach to Syd's impressionistic lyrics. The