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.
All hope abandon, ye who enter here
Said the sign I read that was hangin' above her bed
And the sirens all were wailin', but a man can ignore the signs
Gotta keep a good eye on the windin' road ahead
And my first sin was a young American girl
My first sin was a young American girl
And I spent time 'neath the trestles
With the punks and the dime store saints
Kept faith and a switchblade stuffed beneath my coat
And I ran with dirty angels, slept out in the rain
We were scared and tired and barely 17
And my first sin was a fear that made me old
My first sin was a fear that made me old
Now I walk down by the shipyards
Near the place where I was born
Sayin' "Oh, Maria, if you'da known me when"
But she only smiles
By the light on the Navesink banks
Sayin' "Listen baby, I know you now"
Then she steps into the river
And I just stand by the moon
Thinkin' 'bout a ghost I hear at night
And she says "Your first sin was a lie you told yourself"
"Your first sin was a lie you told yourself"
Said the sign I read that was hangin' above her bed
And the sirens all were wailin', but a man can ignore the signs
Gotta keep a good eye on the windin' road ahead
And my first sin was a young American girl
My first sin was a young American girl
And I spent time 'neath the trestles
With the punks and the dime store saints
Kept faith and a switchblade stuffed beneath my coat
And I ran with dirty angels, slept out in the rain
We were scared and tired and barely 17
And my first sin was a fear that made me old
My first sin was a fear that made me old
Now I walk down by the shipyards
Near the place where I was born
Sayin' "Oh, Maria, if you'da known me when"
But she only smiles
By the light on the Navesink banks
Sayin' "Listen baby, I know you now"
Then she steps into the river
And I just stand by the moon
Thinkin' 'bout a ghost I hear at night
And she says "Your first sin was a lie you told yourself"
"Your first sin was a lie you told yourself"
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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.
Fast Car
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Tracy Chapman
"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.
The Night We Met
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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"
Blue
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“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
By saying that the inscription from the gates of Hell was hanging over her bed, he implies that sleeping with her was the beginning of his proverbial "descent into Hell," which is consistent with the line, "my first sin was a young american girl."
Also, I've seen other versions of the lyrics that say "and the sirens over wailing, but a man can't ignore the signs" and I thought that version made more sense, but after considering the Dante's Inferno reference, it makes more sense for it to say that he did ignore the signs, since he slept with her anyway.