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.
Hypnotized by mirrors
You should look out your window
Beneath cracked panes of ice
A sky's on fire
Drowned by the screams of decadence
A call to arms
Too busy working out to
Work it out
It's not gonna matter what you chose
It's too late when everything goes
Da ya ya yark
Da ya ya yark
It's creeping up on you
Tt knows your name
All that you left behind
Will never be the same
It's come for all that you hold dear
She starts to cry
And hears a song to break your heart
You're looking in the dark
I can't see
It's getting late
In the night we made mistakes
Da ya ya yark
Da ya ya yark
Da ya ya yark
Da ya ya yark
Would you leave yourself alone?
If everything goes dark
Would you lighten up your town?
Once everything goes dark
Everything goes dark
Everything goes dark
Da ya ya yark
Da ya ya yark
Da ya ya yark
Da ya ha ha
Da ya ha ha
Da ya ha ha
Da ya ha ha
Da ya ha ha
Da ya ha ha
Everything goes dark
Everything goes dark
Everything goes dark
Da ya ya yark
Da ya ya yark
Da ya ya yark
You should look out your window
Beneath cracked panes of ice
A sky's on fire
Drowned by the screams of decadence
A call to arms
Too busy working out to
Work it out
It's not gonna matter what you chose
It's too late when everything goes
Da ya ya yark
Da ya ya yark
It's creeping up on you
Tt knows your name
All that you left behind
Will never be the same
It's come for all that you hold dear
She starts to cry
And hears a song to break your heart
You're looking in the dark
I can't see
It's getting late
In the night we made mistakes
Da ya ya yark
Da ya ya yark
Da ya ya yark
Da ya ya yark
Would you leave yourself alone?
If everything goes dark
Would you lighten up your town?
Once everything goes dark
Everything goes dark
Everything goes dark
Da ya ya yark
Da ya ya yark
Da ya ya yark
Da ya ha ha
Da ya ha ha
Da ya ha ha
Da ya ha ha
Da ya ha ha
Da ya ha ha
Everything goes dark
Everything goes dark
Everything goes dark
Da ya ya yark
Da ya ya yark
Da ya ya yark
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Light Up The Sky
Van Halen
Van Halen
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
Ebba Grön
This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
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.
Amazing
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran tells a story of unsuccessfully trying to feel “Amazing.” This track is about the being weighed down by emotional stress despite valiant attempts to find some positivity in the situation. This track was written by Ed Sheeran from the perspective of his friend. From the track, we see this person fall deeper into the negative thoughts and slide further down the path of mental torment with every lyric.
I think instead of getting light, it should be guiding lights... but that's just me. It probably is about death.