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.
Decided
To sneak off away
From your stomach
And try your pulse
And captured
What seemed all
Unknowing and candid
But they suspected
It was false
She's playful
The boring would
Warn you be careful
Of her brigade
In order to tame
This relentless marauder
Move away from the parade
And she was walking on the tables
In the glass house
Endearingly bedraggled in the wind
Subtle in her method of seduction
The twenty little tragedies begin
And she would throw
A feather boa in the road
If she thought
That it would set the scene
Unfittingly dipped
Into your companions
Enlighten them to make you see
And there's affection to rent
The age of the understatement
Before the attraction ferments
Kiss me properly and pull me apart
Affection to rent
The age of the understatement
Before this attraction ferments
Kiss me properly and pull me apart
And my fingers scratch at my hair
Before my mind can get too reckless
The idea of seeing you here
Is enough to make the sweat grow cold
To sneak off away
From your stomach
And try your pulse
And captured
What seemed all
Unknowing and candid
But they suspected
It was false
She's playful
The boring would
Warn you be careful
Of her brigade
In order to tame
This relentless marauder
Move away from the parade
And she was walking on the tables
In the glass house
Endearingly bedraggled in the wind
Subtle in her method of seduction
The twenty little tragedies begin
And she would throw
A feather boa in the road
If she thought
That it would set the scene
Unfittingly dipped
Into your companions
Enlighten them to make you see
And there's affection to rent
The age of the understatement
Before the attraction ferments
Kiss me properly and pull me apart
Affection to rent
The age of the understatement
Before this attraction ferments
Kiss me properly and pull me apart
And my fingers scratch at my hair
Before my mind can get too reckless
The idea of seeing you here
Is enough to make the sweat grow cold
Lyrics submitted by indiebopper
The Age Of The Understatement Lyrics as written by Miles Kane Alex Turner
Lyrics © CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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It def sounds like its about a guy who leaves his girlfriend, "Sneak away from your stomach and try your pulse" and goes to either a stripper or a prostitute "she would throw her feather-boa in the road, If she thought that it would set the scene", though he is attracted to her, he knows that his attraction is false and that she is merely seducing him "My fingers scratch at my hair before my mind Can get too reckless". You also know that he feels guilty because he says "The idea of seeing you here is enough to make the sweat go cold" at the end which is referring to his girlfriend
i always thought the sneaking from your stomach to your pulse was when your with a chick and you put your and on her stomach and then you go touch her breast.. and sneak cause its like your trying to make a move on her.. isnt that shit common? whatevss
To be honest it really isn't as much about the lyrics as the sound of the words with the strings and the choral type parts.
I think the kind of chorus part could be about the way, in our current society, it's all about the sex and not really feeling. There's this trend of not really feeling intensely, it's all about the understatement.
This girl is a bit of a maneater but she does not really care about any of them, while the guy tries to genuinely attract her by being apathetic, 'stepping away from the parade' when really all this guy wants is for her to 'kiss [him] properly' so that he can fall apart. He’s itching to show how he’s attracted to her but knows that if he did he’d lose her like all the others.
Or at least those are my initial thoughts. I’ll probably change my mind by tomorrow =)
the "dumm du-d-dum du-d-dum du-d-dum" is actually a fairly common chord progression for up-tempo musical styles inspired by Westerns. Which both this and knights of cydonia are.
Beyond that, there really isn't much of a similarity. Knights has a single verse, followed by several progressively complex variations of the same refrain. The inspiration is clearly 80s power metal - with its epic declarations of freedom and so forth.
Age of Understatement is more in keeping with a thematic poem you would normally see accompanying this kind of music post 1960s.
One thing about this song is the lyrics are surprisingly layered and non-obvious in their intent. Aside from Tool and a couple Indie singers, you really don't see that very often.
Please look under 'The Meeting Place' for my take on this song and the whole album.
Basically I think the whole album is about a relationship break-up where he was more serious than her (that is pretty obvious and has been noted by many other people). But in a way this song, even though its first on the album, is a 'hindsight' song. He could see it wouldn't work in the first place ('Move away from the parade') but did it anyway and ended up broken ('kiss me properly and pull me apart') and 'The Meeting Place' kind of tells the end part of the story....and we end up back here and has he learned his lessons for next time?!
awesome song, to say the least
this song kicks ass
yeah i agree with batesy predator that its about the strings and stuff but also i think the lyrics are really important too. this song is brilliant, i cant wait for the album
this song is real great does anyone else think that Alex and Miles look a helluva lot like the Beatles in the video clip??
ive always liked Alex's lyrical kinda style, and this song hasn't let me down can't wait for the album!!!
i don't know if miles helped write the lyrics but alex is definetly my favourite lyricist ever. the videos amazing and it also helps that the boys are both quite attractive :).
I minute I heard this song, I loved it. It kinda reminds me 'Brianstorm', partly cos of the fast beat.
At first I really had no clue what the tune meant, but Batesy predator has a point. So, what she said! :)