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.
Daniel read the paragraph
He read until the words ran out
It said we're all in trouble now
Poison in the juice carafe
We drank until our thirst ran out
Oh no, we're in some trouble now
Everyone wants to be a perpetual motion machine
We all try harder as the days run out
We all try harder as the days run out
We all try harder as the days run out
With your teeth to your lips
And your hair to the ground
Well, you hear the fish and they're making this sound
Saying, "We just want to go on walking around
And feel what it's like to fall down"
Patrick ran the race
Yeah, he ran until the tire ran out
Oh no, I'm in some trouble now
Tried to kick it over
I tried until the juice ran out
Oh no, we want more trouble now
With your teeth to your lips
And your hair to the ground
Well, you hear the fish and they're making this sound
Saying, "We just want to go on walking around
And feel what it's like to fall down"
I saw
Everyone wants to be a perpetual motion machine
We all try harder as the days run out
We all try harder as the days run out
We all try harder as the days run out
He read until the words ran out
It said we're all in trouble now
Poison in the juice carafe
We drank until our thirst ran out
Oh no, we're in some trouble now
Everyone wants to be a perpetual motion machine
We all try harder as the days run out
We all try harder as the days run out
We all try harder as the days run out
With your teeth to your lips
And your hair to the ground
Well, you hear the fish and they're making this sound
Saying, "We just want to go on walking around
And feel what it's like to fall down"
Patrick ran the race
Yeah, he ran until the tire ran out
Oh no, I'm in some trouble now
Tried to kick it over
I tried until the juice ran out
Oh no, we want more trouble now
With your teeth to your lips
And your hair to the ground
Well, you hear the fish and they're making this sound
Saying, "We just want to go on walking around
And feel what it's like to fall down"
I saw
Everyone wants to be a perpetual motion machine
We all try harder as the days run out
We all try harder as the days run out
We all try harder as the days run out
Lyrics submitted by IceCuban06, edited by sheionizes
Perpetual Motion Machine Lyrics as written by Joe Plummer Isaac Brock
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
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Great version of a great song,
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To me this is one of Modest Mouse's most easily interpreted songs.
Perpetual Motion is movement that continues forever, which is physically impossible. A perpetual motion machine is something many people have tried to theorize or create, but never successfully.
This song is saying everyone wants to live forever. Infinite life, like perpetual motion, is long desired and quite impossible.
Living a Life until you die = Reading a paragraph until words run out = Running a race until time runs out
Agree with this comment :D
Similarities Modest mouse/ Pixies
Pixies:
With your feet in the air and your head on the ground Try this trick and spin it, yeah Your head will collapse When there's nothing in it And you'll ask yourself (...) Except the little fish But they told me, he swears Trying to talk to me, to me, to me
Modest mouse:
With your teeth to your lips And your hair to the ground Well, you hear the fish and they're making this sound Saying, "We just want to go on walking around And feel what it's like to fall down"
Anyone hear the gibberish in the background after "I Saw"? I love that part. That's old school mouse, and it's really trippy.
This song is meant to be played on a loop.
"Daniel read the paragraph He read until the words ran out It said we're all in trouble now
Poison in the juice carafe We drank until our thirst ran out Oh no, we're in some trouble now"
= Poison is alcohol, they're gonna have some fun
With your teeth to your lips And your hair to the ground Well, you hear the fish and they're making this sound Saying, "We just want to go on walking around And feel what it's like to fall down"
= Fish are people that enjoy alcohol. Falling down isn't a bad thing, just a different lifestyle. Watch Factotum by Bukowski.
Patrick ran the race Yeah, he ran until the tire ran out Oh no, I'm in some trouble now
Tried to kick it over I tried until the juice ran out Oh no, we want more trouble now
= Having fun with alcohol, hence juice.
Totally. Plus it sounds like a drinking song (plus Isaac and the others sound drunk.)
Heard this last night... have to say I'm pretty excited for aug.4th... I like it. reminds me of Steam engenius a little. But did anyone else notice the whole "blame yourself" "With your teeth to your lips And your hair to the ground Well, you hear the fish and they're making this sound Saying, "We just want to go on walking around And feel what it's like to fall down" ?
Blame yourself has to be one of my favorite songs of all time it was pretty cool to hear that line in a recorded song.
It would be amazing if they would release a professionally recorded version of blame yourself... but one can only dream.
Anyways I think the song is about just going on with life and experiencing things before you die.
It is a great song, but it is actually a studio version of an old Ugly Casanova song that was just played live called "Here Comes Trouble" or "More Trouble". It has the same exact lyrics, and similar music, besides the addition of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band.
I love the fish part, how they want to feel what it's like to fall down. I kind of long ago gave up on any complete understanding of any modest mouse song, but I think I actually have a good grasp on what this ones about. I think it's kind of like Dashboard, about global warming and the end of the world or whatever, and how people end up wasting their time until they're running out of it. I think the fish part is a morbid curiosity about the end of the world and how we want to "feel what it's like to fall down."
I have to say guys, I listened to No One's First last night and I'm liking it. I don't know why, but it seems a lot better than We Were Dead somehow. August 4th <333
I, too, appreciate the surfacing of one of my favorite lines from one of my favorite songs appear on this song. It's nice to see it on a legitimate release. This EP is so good.
Hey, "Perpetual Motion Machine" has the lyric: "With your teeth to your lips and your head to the ground/You hear the fish and they're making this sound/Saying, "We just wanna go and walk around and feel what it's like to fall down." which he has incorporated into songs during shows (namely, Trailer Trash & Blame Yourself) some time ago. He must have felt the need to incorporate said lyric into a studio recorded tune as he thinks they're quite good and I have to say, along with "You'll See" (a piece that a live version of Trucker's Atlas transitions into) the aforementioned lyrics is probably my favorite MM lyric that has not appeared on an actual studio recorded version of a song (until now of course...)
I went to a modest mouse concert a few years ago and they mixed this in at the end of ocean breaths salty which sounded a little bit better but still a great song
I like the resurfacing of lyrics, this was originally an Ugly Casanova song 'Here Comes Trouble'.