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.
I heard a sound
when I was a child
someone was walking through the pillow that night
the snow muted
the pitch of night
a shadow approached across a field in white
it's only me
it's only me
and the sound of my heart it startled me
as I drifted
from the dark room
face lifted from the paper moon
reflected in the orbit bath
he manages to say before he starts to laugh
you can't always trust
the darkness and the dust
but me, I'm just a man
it's more than I can understand
it's only me
the white noise
falls away
to reveal the perfect day
where roses bloomed
out of thin air
and music rose from down the buried stairs
it's only mine
it's only mine
I grew it in the shade
when the sun couldn't shine
and at times I don't know why
the tears come to my eyes
and what if I go blind
as they flow out of my mind
it worries me
it worries me
that there's someone on my mind
who I don't see
I close my eyes to disappear
into the fields of stars between my ears
the dark
as they overlap
we follow one another
as we fade to black
it's only night
it's only night
an ultrasound when I was alive
the shadows go spying on the ones in the wild
they dip their arrows
into the sea
they wash their arms
as they wait for me
they wait for me
they wait for me
hey wait for me
hey wait for me
when I was a child
someone was walking through the pillow that night
the snow muted
the pitch of night
a shadow approached across a field in white
it's only me
it's only me
and the sound of my heart it startled me
as I drifted
from the dark room
face lifted from the paper moon
reflected in the orbit bath
he manages to say before he starts to laugh
you can't always trust
the darkness and the dust
but me, I'm just a man
it's more than I can understand
it's only me
the white noise
falls away
to reveal the perfect day
where roses bloomed
out of thin air
and music rose from down the buried stairs
it's only mine
it's only mine
I grew it in the shade
when the sun couldn't shine
and at times I don't know why
the tears come to my eyes
and what if I go blind
as they flow out of my mind
it worries me
it worries me
that there's someone on my mind
who I don't see
I close my eyes to disappear
into the fields of stars between my ears
the dark
as they overlap
we follow one another
as we fade to black
it's only night
it's only night
an ultrasound when I was alive
the shadows go spying on the ones in the wild
they dip their arrows
into the sea
they wash their arms
as they wait for me
they wait for me
they wait for me
hey wait for me
hey wait for me
Lyrics submitted by rightawaynow
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"Fast car" is kind of a continuation of Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run." It has all the clawing your way to a better life, but in this case the protagonist never makes it with her love; in fact she is dragged back down by him.
There is still an amazing amount of hope and will in the lyrics; and the lyrics themselve rank and easy five. If only music was stronger it would be one of those great radio songs that you hear once a week 20 years after it was released. The imagery is almost tear-jerking ("City lights lay out before us", "Speeds so fast felt like I was drunk"), and the idea of starting from nothing and just driving and working and denigrating yourself for a chance at being just above poverty, then losing in the end is just painful and inspiring at the same time.
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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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This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
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@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday".
I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
This song is just amazing!!! I can't believe nobody has said it yet. What a sad/beautiful song!!!
about one's imagination, perhaps
As kids, we all get scared by the creepy noises and shadows at night. But here, instead of being scared like most kids, the narrator actually wants to be haunted. There's someone he's lost that he longs to see.
Whereas most people would be relieved that "it's only me" (i.e. there's no monster in the closet, no ghost in the yard), the narrator is pained by this realization. "It's only me" -- he's alone.
The song is about conception and an abortion. the snow muted the pitch of night a shadow approached across a field in white it's only me
The song is clearly about repressed homosexuality.
The song is clearly about repressed homosexuality.
The song is clearly about repressed homosexuality.
The song is clearly about repressed homosexuality.
incredible song!
i agree with zxcvb99. what the person in this song is saying is that when we are young we create our own fear. he's saying, what he is being haunted by, or what most people are haunted by are themselves. most people would think that you would be relieved to find out that it is only yourself that is haunting you, but the person in this song is saying that it frightens him that he is the only one there, and he is alone. which scares him to know that he is alone in this world, and he would rather be haunted by something, then being haunted by only himself. "it's only me" is referring to the fact, that it actually is only him there, and the way he says this in the song shows disappointment.
"it worries me that there's someone on my mind who I don't see" this shows that he would much rather find something like a ghost, haunting him, rather then just realizing that it is only him. it worries him, that there's someone he's thinking of (the thing that should be haunting him) that he doesn't see. it's just him, alone in the world.
The song is clearly about repressed homosexuality.