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.
Can't you see, my dear, what you create is greater than great
It's beautiful and valid
Go tell the false friend, who doubts your art
"Hey, toss my caustic salad"
Their noise pollution is a one-night stand
A closet corporate ballad
Compose the theme, compose the theme
That seems to haunt the sultan's dreams
Yes their truth is a lie, a sickly, sober sky
Don't you dare lie down your sword and die, oh small fry
Crime of the century, know what it meant to me
They'll label us what they can never be
Hate me but I am in your heart pulling it apart
Burning up a black hole
All those magazines and stifled teens
Whose trite teething is outdated
Have minuscule minds of clay in need of chiseling away
This war's been reinstated
So spit a wad in the face of their fucking flawless race
And all they've consecrated
I won't believe the twisted web they weave
They can stitch you silent now, or bitch the violence out
I'm disavowed, I'm proud to shun their know-how
The wolf beget the lamb, now it's in his hands
I'm reeling from a feeling that they've banned
Our last stand goes, hallelujah, love lost
I've got an empty wallet and a record cover
The stage, hot and worn like an aging lover
So I spew a comet of verbal vomit
Sac religious, of Christ or Islamic
It's full of piss and they'll never stop
Come on and kill the kindly ones
The ever blinding ones
We stand and face you now, we will not run
Just you wait and see where your lemming line leads
It's beautiful and valid
Go tell the false friend, who doubts your art
"Hey, toss my caustic salad"
Their noise pollution is a one-night stand
A closet corporate ballad
Compose the theme, compose the theme
That seems to haunt the sultan's dreams
Yes their truth is a lie, a sickly, sober sky
Don't you dare lie down your sword and die, oh small fry
Crime of the century, know what it meant to me
They'll label us what they can never be
Hate me but I am in your heart pulling it apart
Burning up a black hole
All those magazines and stifled teens
Whose trite teething is outdated
Have minuscule minds of clay in need of chiseling away
This war's been reinstated
So spit a wad in the face of their fucking flawless race
And all they've consecrated
I won't believe the twisted web they weave
They can stitch you silent now, or bitch the violence out
I'm disavowed, I'm proud to shun their know-how
The wolf beget the lamb, now it's in his hands
I'm reeling from a feeling that they've banned
Our last stand goes, hallelujah, love lost
I've got an empty wallet and a record cover
The stage, hot and worn like an aging lover
So I spew a comet of verbal vomit
Sac religious, of Christ or Islamic
It's full of piss and they'll never stop
Come on and kill the kindly ones
The ever blinding ones
We stand and face you now, we will not run
Just you wait and see where your lemming line leads
Lyrics submitted by sheslikeohsoemo
In Defense of the Genre Lyrics as written by Max Bemis
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
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 one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
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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.
this is prolly my least fave song on the album
i love gerard way and my chemical romance's music but he really fucks up the song the whole rythym and sound of the song is changed for like less than thrirty seconds