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.
Oh, oh, oh brother totem pole
I saw your legends lined up
And I never felt more natural
Apart, I just came apart
Please, please, please sister Socrates
You always answer with a question
Show some kindness to a petty thief
Forgive, you did forgive
Watch the migrants smoke in the old orange grove
And the red rocket blaze over Cape Canaveral
You've been a father to me
In 1960's speak
In the comatose joy that we're on TV
While the mountain's side was shining
Wild colors of my destiny
I watched your face age backwards
Changing shape in my memory
You told me victory's sweet
Even deep in the cheap seats
Hey, hey, hey mother interstate
Can you deliver me from evil
Make me honest make me wedding cake
Atone, I will atone
Wait, wait, wait mighty outer-space
All that flying saucer terror
Made me lazy drinking lemonade
A waste, it just went to waste
Like the Freon cold out the hotel door
Or the white rocket fade over Cape Canaveral
You've been a daughter to me
Your buried shoe-box grief
I felt your poltergeist love like Savannah heat
While the waterfall was pouring
Crazy symbols of my destiny
I watched your face die backwards
Little baby in my memory
You told me victory's sweet
Even deep in the cheap seats
And you don't judge me
That's not your style
But I won't see you for a little while
And there's no worries
Whose got time
All these changes are going to fill your mind
Like the citrus glow off the old orange grove
Or the red rocket blaze over Cape Canaveral
It's been a nightmare to me
Some 1980's grief
Gives me parachute dreams
Like old war movies
While the universe was drawn
Perfect circles form infinity
I watched the stars get smaller
Tiny diamonds in my memory
I know that victory is sweet
Even deep in the cheap seats
I saw your legends lined up
And I never felt more natural
Apart, I just came apart
Please, please, please sister Socrates
You always answer with a question
Show some kindness to a petty thief
Forgive, you did forgive
Watch the migrants smoke in the old orange grove
And the red rocket blaze over Cape Canaveral
You've been a father to me
In 1960's speak
In the comatose joy that we're on TV
While the mountain's side was shining
Wild colors of my destiny
I watched your face age backwards
Changing shape in my memory
You told me victory's sweet
Even deep in the cheap seats
Hey, hey, hey mother interstate
Can you deliver me from evil
Make me honest make me wedding cake
Atone, I will atone
Wait, wait, wait mighty outer-space
All that flying saucer terror
Made me lazy drinking lemonade
A waste, it just went to waste
Like the Freon cold out the hotel door
Or the white rocket fade over Cape Canaveral
You've been a daughter to me
Your buried shoe-box grief
I felt your poltergeist love like Savannah heat
While the waterfall was pouring
Crazy symbols of my destiny
I watched your face die backwards
Little baby in my memory
You told me victory's sweet
Even deep in the cheap seats
And you don't judge me
That's not your style
But I won't see you for a little while
And there's no worries
Whose got time
All these changes are going to fill your mind
Like the citrus glow off the old orange grove
Or the red rocket blaze over Cape Canaveral
It's been a nightmare to me
Some 1980's grief
Gives me parachute dreams
Like old war movies
While the universe was drawn
Perfect circles form infinity
I watched the stars get smaller
Tiny diamonds in my memory
I know that victory is sweet
Even deep in the cheap seats
Lyrics submitted by Scifi Saint
Cape Canaveral Lyrics as written by Mark Eitzel
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
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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"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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The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
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Saw the migrants smoke in the old orange grove And the red rocket blaze over Cape Canaveral You’ve been a father to me In 1960’s speak In the comatose joy that we’re on TV
Is actually:
And watch the migrants smoke in the old orange grove And the red rocket blaze over Cape Canaveral You’ve been a father to me In 1960’s speak Give me comatose joy that we’re on TV
You told me victory’s sweet Even deep in the cheap seats
is actually:
You taught me victory’s sweet Even deep in the cheap seats
Later in the song:
A lonely victory sweet is actually: You told me victory’s sweet
All these changes are going to fill your mind is actually: All these changes gunna fill your mind
It’s been a nightmare to me is actually: It’s been a nightmare for me
Saw the stars get smaller is actually: I watched the stars get smaller
Great song!!