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.
The first time I saw you was the day that I hit puberty,
Played a beautiful girl, shunned by society,
It wasn’t your fault, you just smoked one laced dubie,
That after-school special made me want to never do PCP.
Helen Hunt, Helen Hunt,
You make my heart do acrobatic stunts,
You stand and face the brunt of the twister of my burning want,
Helen Hunt, you know I’m Mad About You.
I saw you naked in The Waterdance,
It was As Good As It Gets in my pants,
And for that I really want to thank you,
Your husband’s name was Hank, right?, well my name is Hank too.
Helen Hunt, Helen Hunt,
You make my heart do acrobatic stunts,
You stand and face the brunt of the twister of my burning want,
Helen Hunt, you know I’m Mad About You.
Once an ex-best friend of mine said he couldn’t see,
How an old and ugly actress could mean so much to me.
Well a minute later looking down at him bleeding in the snow,
I asked him who was Best Comedy Actress four years in a row.
Helen Hunt, Helen Hunt,
You make my heart do acrobatic stunts,
You stand and face the brunt of the twister of my burning want,
Helen Hunt, you know I’m Mad About You.
Helen Hunt, you know I’m Mad About You.
Edward Spoonhand
Edward and Edwina Spoonhands
Have a pretty hard time of it
They can hardly eat cerea
And they can only type about three words a minute
But they both agree
It’s not as bad as it could be
So they clack their big ol’ fingers
And they sing a little song for you and me
Played a beautiful girl, shunned by society,
It wasn’t your fault, you just smoked one laced dubie,
That after-school special made me want to never do PCP.
Helen Hunt, Helen Hunt,
You make my heart do acrobatic stunts,
You stand and face the brunt of the twister of my burning want,
Helen Hunt, you know I’m Mad About You.
I saw you naked in The Waterdance,
It was As Good As It Gets in my pants,
And for that I really want to thank you,
Your husband’s name was Hank, right?, well my name is Hank too.
Helen Hunt, Helen Hunt,
You make my heart do acrobatic stunts,
You stand and face the brunt of the twister of my burning want,
Helen Hunt, you know I’m Mad About You.
Once an ex-best friend of mine said he couldn’t see,
How an old and ugly actress could mean so much to me.
Well a minute later looking down at him bleeding in the snow,
I asked him who was Best Comedy Actress four years in a row.
Helen Hunt, Helen Hunt,
You make my heart do acrobatic stunts,
You stand and face the brunt of the twister of my burning want,
Helen Hunt, you know I’m Mad About You.
Helen Hunt, you know I’m Mad About You.
Edward Spoonhand
Edward and Edwina Spoonhands
Have a pretty hard time of it
They can hardly eat cerea
And they can only type about three words a minute
But they both agree
It’s not as bad as it could be
So they clack their big ol’ fingers
And they sing a little song for you and me
Lyrics submitted by Xayide
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It's about how he wants to do Helen Hunt
It's the deep, throbbing passions pent up in a man since puberty; the forbidden preteen and teenaged thoughts swirling through a dark mind, the story of a boy who gazed from afar a the dim-lit screen dreaming, for a brief moment, of something more.
So basically, it is about how he wants to do Helen Hunt.
In juxtaposing the struggles of teenagehood and the beauty of actress Hunt, the song Helen Hunt by Hank Green evokes powerful emotions of longing and passion. Through the anaphora of the name "Helen Hunt," the powerful nature of the song is highlighted and emphasized with the rhyming scheme. The metaphor of the narrator's heart doing "acrobatic stunts" (5:2 Green) emphasizes this.
The sixth stanza departs in line 3 departs from the narrator's first person perspective to an alternate persona "Edward and Edwina Spoonhand" (6:4 Green). By departing from the narrator's perspective, the narrator's personal feelings are juxtaposed with the wider lens of perspective. This combination of viewpoints lets the listener truly understand the depth of the narrator's love for Helen Hunt.
"Helen Hunt" by Hank Green evokes powerful emotion and feeling as it juxtaposes repeated anaphora and rhyming as well as the juxtaposition of narrative viewpoints to create a piece of art unlike any other. Truly, this piece of music is as revolutionary as it is a masterful analysis of passion and longing.