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 no not now
Please not now
I just settled into the glass half empty
Made myself at home
And so why now
Please not now
I just stopped believing in happy endings
Harbors of my own
But you had to come along didn't you
Tear down the doors, throw open windows
Oh if you knew just what a fool you have made me
So what do I do with this?
This stray Italian greyhound
These inconvenient fireworks
This ice-cream-covered screaming hyperactive thought
God I just want to lay down
These colors make my eyes hurt
This feeling calls for everything that I am
Not
I'm not that kind
I'm so good at shooting down any notion
This tired world could change
It's all been bought
Or at least that was my line
No use in spending all that emotion
When there's someone else to blame
But you had to come along didn't you
Rev up the crowd, rewrite the rule book
Where do I go when every 'n' turns into 'maybe'
So what do I do with this?
This sudden burst of sunlight
And me with my umbrella
Cross-indexing every weatherman's report
I was ready for the down slide
But not for spring to well up
This feeling calls for everything I can't afford
To know
Is possible now
What do I do
With a love that won;t sit still
Won't do what it's told
What do I do
With a love that won't sit still
Please not now
I just settled into the glass half empty
Made myself at home
And so why now
Please not now
I just stopped believing in happy endings
Harbors of my own
But you had to come along didn't you
Tear down the doors, throw open windows
Oh if you knew just what a fool you have made me
So what do I do with this?
This stray Italian greyhound
These inconvenient fireworks
This ice-cream-covered screaming hyperactive thought
God I just want to lay down
These colors make my eyes hurt
This feeling calls for everything that I am
Not
I'm not that kind
I'm so good at shooting down any notion
This tired world could change
It's all been bought
Or at least that was my line
No use in spending all that emotion
When there's someone else to blame
But you had to come along didn't you
Rev up the crowd, rewrite the rule book
Where do I go when every 'n' turns into 'maybe'
So what do I do with this?
This sudden burst of sunlight
And me with my umbrella
Cross-indexing every weatherman's report
I was ready for the down slide
But not for spring to well up
This feeling calls for everything I can't afford
To know
Is possible now
What do I do
With a love that won;t sit still
Won't do what it's told
What do I do
With a love that won't sit still
Lyrics submitted by sheela_l, edited by TrickyTea, Typhoneus, alpacameron
Stray Italian Greyhound Lyrics as written by Vienna Teng
Lyrics © BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, 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 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"
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Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
Without knowing it was inspired by attending one of Obama's rallies, I thought this song was about someone cynical that completely lost faith in humanity when the unthinkable happens: she falls in love! And she doesn't know what to do with this positive feeling--she doesn't understand it. I thought that was pretty funny :)
But knowing that it was inspired by the "hope" and "change" that Obama's been talking about, I can imagine Vienna at the rally, full of screaming fans, vibrant colors, fireworks, and promises of hope. After eight difficult years in America, I think Vienna couldn't bring herself to understand the optimism, for two reasons: 1) It's been so long, and 2) If change doesn't happen, she'll be disappointed and hurt, thus her trying to convince herself otherwise. ("This feeling calls for everything that I am... not.")
She was probably thinking, "Yeah, way to get my hopes up, Obama!" Haha.