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.
Walk out before you make it worse on yourself
Now's not the time for that elegant laugh
Digress from the people
Once by your side
Once by your side
But now that it's over
You have to pick up
And just start again, start again
Falling to earth
And you're calling it out
You're burning yourself and your challenge to winter
Gotta clip the lines and move for yourself
Just move for yourself, love
Now that it's over
You have to pick up
And just watch your back, watch your back
And close your eyes to us
Fight fire
Trap doors to endless wisdom
Young lad, have we grown too tired
Longing to find
Learned that in time
You want it to end
Your life at this temperature
Life under water
You gotta let these fools all trample themselves
They trample themselves, just dying to enter
You're preaching to the choir
So turn around, turn around
And close your eyes to us
Fight fire
Trap doors to endless wisdom
Young lad, have we grown too tired
Longing to follow
And close your eyes to us
And fight fire
Trap doors to endless wisdom
Young lad, have we grown too tired
Longing to follow
Now's not the time for that elegant laugh
Digress from the people
Once by your side
Once by your side
But now that it's over
You have to pick up
And just start again, start again
Falling to earth
And you're calling it out
You're burning yourself and your challenge to winter
Gotta clip the lines and move for yourself
Just move for yourself, love
Now that it's over
You have to pick up
And just watch your back, watch your back
And close your eyes to us
Fight fire
Trap doors to endless wisdom
Young lad, have we grown too tired
Longing to find
Learned that in time
You want it to end
Your life at this temperature
Life under water
You gotta let these fools all trample themselves
They trample themselves, just dying to enter
You're preaching to the choir
So turn around, turn around
And close your eyes to us
Fight fire
Trap doors to endless wisdom
Young lad, have we grown too tired
Longing to follow
And close your eyes to us
And fight fire
Trap doors to endless wisdom
Young lad, have we grown too tired
Longing to follow
Lyrics submitted by Konversekid
Trap Doors Lyrics as written by James Mercer Brian Burton
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
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 song seemingly tackles the methods of deception those who manipulate others use to get victims to follow their demands, as well as diverting attention away from important issues. They'll also use it as a means to convince people to hate or kill others by pretending acts of terrorism were committed by the enemy when the acts themselves were done by the masters of control to promote discrimination and hate. It also reinforces the idea that these manipulative forces operate in various locations, infiltrating everyday life without detection, and propagate any and everywhere.
In general, it highlights the danger of hidden agendas, manipulation, and distraction, serving as a critique of those who exploit chaos and confusion to control and gain power, depicting a cautionary tale against falling into their traps. It encourages us to question the narratives presented to us and remain vigilant against manipulation in various parts of society.
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What I love about James Mercer's lyrics is that they can be so infinitely interpretable.
I think this song is about a person who recedes from people; a person who has trouble letting others in; a person who insists on isolating himself because it is all he knows how to do. This person cuts people out of his life and turns his back on them, and when he inevitably begins to feel lonely, he replaces those people with new friends/relationships. Such a cycle has a tendency to continue until the person catches it and learns to work on the real problem.
The narrator is sick of fighting this person, just to stay in his life and is finally throwing up his hands, saying "You're so tired of suffocating under the pressures of other human beings ["life under water"] (or "you're so tired of burning up in the problems of other human beings" ["life at this temperature"]: Both are metaphors I have used in my day-to-day life) and you're so blind to the people who love you, so just do it, close your eyes to us, turn your back on us. You're preaching to the choir, man, because I'm done with this." The narrator also mentions the "fools" who, like himself, fruitlessly exhaust themselves in futile attempts to be let in by this person (which also ties to the line, "young lad we've grown too tired").
Pain is a good teacher and hindsight is 20/20: "trap doors to endless wisdom" teach us a hard lesson. I have seen so many many friends, significant others, and family members give up on me and give me my own treatment, turning their backs and closing their eyes to me--the final surrender to helplessness. And that is what I hear when I listen to this song.
I agree completely