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.
this is
my best friend's locker
without hooks, still catching metal.
crossing ponds with no plans for return.
air-conditioned hum
and 60% glass.
milking fangs into
baby food jars.
you were never mine
picking flowers
black + white bathing suit
curious of a bee
dear diary,
i've become part of the problem.
stroking automatic voice with shaking hands
in the most trustworthy tin cans,
on the way going anywhere but here,
with a caravan of picketeers.
this is
my best friend's locker
without hooks, still catching metal.
crossing ponds with no plans for return.
travelling with bread crumbs in the company
of dogs falling in and out of the comfort of our
favorite chairs.
you were never mine
picking flowers
black + white bathing suit
curious of a bee
dear diary,
i've become part of the problem.
my best friend's locker
without hooks, still catching metal.
crossing ponds with no plans for return.
air-conditioned hum
and 60% glass.
milking fangs into
baby food jars.
you were never mine
picking flowers
black + white bathing suit
curious of a bee
dear diary,
i've become part of the problem.
stroking automatic voice with shaking hands
in the most trustworthy tin cans,
on the way going anywhere but here,
with a caravan of picketeers.
this is
my best friend's locker
without hooks, still catching metal.
crossing ponds with no plans for return.
travelling with bread crumbs in the company
of dogs falling in and out of the comfort of our
favorite chairs.
you were never mine
picking flowers
black + white bathing suit
curious of a bee
dear diary,
i've become part of the problem.
Lyrics submitted by vulgar
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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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I agree with all of your observations, sam, but I have a diferent take on the "tin cans". I feel that this is yet another instance of airplane imagery -- coming from the slang usage of "tin can" to refer to an airplane. And perhaps the caravan of picketeers refers to the rebellious nature of the person who's leaving's departure.
I percieve it to be punctuated as "This is my best friend's locker without. Hooks still catching metal," as well. In this case the first sentence uses "without" to tell us that the locker is without any contents. And the only thing on the coat hooks is their own metal.
And then, of course, we have the imagery, in the block starting at "you were never mine" (which itself is fairly blatant), where Dave tells us of all the good times spent with this last person.
The song is so crushingly sad, though, because instead of being angry at the person who left for leaving when dave is finished describing the concrete circumstances at hand, he sings defeatedly about how the entire thing is his fault in the end. "Dear diary, I've become part of the problem now."
Still very curious to know what "milking fangs into baby food jars" is all about. Perhaps a metaphor using the imagery of the defeated and 'used' predator, but I have no idea how that relates, exactly.