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.
I know a ghost,
And when doubted his truth reveals incredible vengeance
Vanity is a sepulcher
Do as you please, shame, will follow
Languages rot and insects lose interest
Mountains of plastic
Melting Away.
As long as these struggles are aimless
We will all be standing still.
When worded correctly, truth is never a cliche
This is because so many are attached to their deaf ears
Collect the leaves
Count them
Name them
Study each and every single one of them
As long as these struggles are aimless
We will all be standing still
When worded correctly, truth is never a cliche
This is because so many are attached to their deaf ears
All mistakes can be marked by borders
All of love can be traced to a maker
It seems as if what is most important, isn't noticed when forgotten.
Do as you please, shame will follow
The sun and the moon
You'll always take them for granted
What's delicate is lost.
As the selfish forgot what is the sacred.
The humble forget themselves
When worded correctly, truth is never a cliche
This is because so many are attached to their deaf ears.
And when doubted his truth reveals incredible vengeance
Vanity is a sepulcher
Do as you please, shame, will follow
Languages rot and insects lose interest
Mountains of plastic
Melting Away.
As long as these struggles are aimless
We will all be standing still.
When worded correctly, truth is never a cliche
This is because so many are attached to their deaf ears
Collect the leaves
Count them
Name them
Study each and every single one of them
As long as these struggles are aimless
We will all be standing still
When worded correctly, truth is never a cliche
This is because so many are attached to their deaf ears
All mistakes can be marked by borders
All of love can be traced to a maker
It seems as if what is most important, isn't noticed when forgotten.
Do as you please, shame will follow
The sun and the moon
You'll always take them for granted
What's delicate is lost.
As the selfish forgot what is the sacred.
The humble forget themselves
When worded correctly, truth is never a cliche
This is because so many are attached to their deaf ears.
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i personally think this song is kind of about humanity's selfishness as a whole.
"vanity is a sepulchre" a sepulchre is a grave (i looked it up haha) so it's kind of self-explainatory.
"do as you please shame will follow" basically saying continue partying and sinning, but the shame will always be there.
"languages rot and insects lose interest / mountains of plastic melting away" kind of explaining how everything will end eventually, there'll come a day when we no longer have language, when even insects are gone, and all man-made things (plastics) will eventually be destroyed.
"as long as these struggles are aimless we will all be standing still" as long as humanity doesn't have a clear goal in mind, all the science and organizations, etc etc, won't move us forward because we don't know where we're going.
"when worded correctly truth is never a cliche / this is because so many are attached to their deaf ears" this is definitely my favourite line :) i think it's pretty obvious.
"all mistakes can be marked by borders / all of love can be traced to a maker" i think this means all our mistakes have an ending, they can't go on forever, and that God is the source of all love.
"the sun and the moon / you'll always take them for granted" kind of, again, showing how selfish we've become, that we can't even appreciate our sources of light.
"what's delicate is lost" this could be saying that in today's generation of people who didn't learn manners, it's kind of less important to be diplomatic.
"as the stupid forget what is sacred / the humble forget themselves" as the stupid people have forgotten the things we should hold higher than everything else (family, love, spirituality, etc) the humble forget themselves in the love of God and in the grandness of nature.
this is just my own interpretation, however, i absolutely love this song no matter what it means! :)
I think you pretty much hit the mark on this one
@venza "i think this means all our mistakes have an ending, they can't go on forever, and that God is the source of all love." I think this line is meant to be facetious or as pointing out the stupid beliefs of the ones being talked about in this song, as the entirety of Born To Lose is about how people NEED to worship gods and how that's wrong in their eyes. Excellent analysis though! :)