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'm a cloud drifting by
Dripping tears from the sky
I'm a snail without a shell
A leper with a golden bell
I've got nowhere to do
I'm a stray cat on the roam
Choking on a chicken bone
For a home sweet, no sweet home
For a root, for a leaf, for a branch, for a tree
But there's somebody that reminded them of me
Running with my roots pulled up
Caught me cold so they could cut
What there was left of love
I'm rootless
I'm rootless
Work your fingers to the bone
Building castles out of snow
I'm a nomad walking on
Humming to the same old song
Lower case society
In touch with no community
A kingdom without a king
With no sense of belonging
For a root, for a leaf, for a branch, for a tree
But there's somebody that reminded them of me
Running with my roots pulled up
Caught me cold so they could cut
What there was left of love
I'm rootless
I'm rootless
Running with my roots pulled up
So they could cut me free of love
Running with my roots pulled up
Caught me cold so they could cut
What there was left of love
I'm rootless
I'm rootless
Jagged roots through the snow
For a home sweet and no sweet home
I've got nowhere to go
I'm rootless
I'm rootless
Dripping tears from the sky
I'm a snail without a shell
A leper with a golden bell
I've got nowhere to do
I'm a stray cat on the roam
Choking on a chicken bone
For a home sweet, no sweet home
For a root, for a leaf, for a branch, for a tree
But there's somebody that reminded them of me
Running with my roots pulled up
Caught me cold so they could cut
What there was left of love
I'm rootless
I'm rootless
Work your fingers to the bone
Building castles out of snow
I'm a nomad walking on
Humming to the same old song
Lower case society
In touch with no community
A kingdom without a king
With no sense of belonging
For a root, for a leaf, for a branch, for a tree
But there's somebody that reminded them of me
Running with my roots pulled up
Caught me cold so they could cut
What there was left of love
I'm rootless
I'm rootless
Running with my roots pulled up
So they could cut me free of love
Running with my roots pulled up
Caught me cold so they could cut
What there was left of love
I'm rootless
I'm rootless
Jagged roots through the snow
For a home sweet and no sweet home
I've got nowhere to go
I'm rootless
I'm rootless
Lyrics submitted by laymon, edited by SmoothGardener
Rootless Lyrics as written by Pascal Gabriel Liam Howe
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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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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@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday".
I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
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Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"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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i think that she feels like she has nothing which defines her, that she is seeking some sense of identity.
and, it relates to this sentiment exoressed on her myspace page:
"I am embarrassed about how little I know about my culture, my history and my government. Am I dumb and ignorant or a normal product of my generation?"
I think she is expressing being lonely, scared and foreign- just very alone, very unloved. Not foreign in the sense of being from another country, but just like a fish out of water, in terms of humanity- she can't relate to society and nor does she want to, in general.
Also, I think she's been taken advantage of.
"Running with my roots pulled up Caught me cold so they could cut What there was left of love"
Maybe people mis-take her kindness for foolishness, and take her for granted. In the process being very hurt by their actions, because all she wants is to feel a understood- (if she were understood- no one would take advantage of her)..
Also, "I'm a nomad walking on Humming to the same old song Lower case society In touch with no community"
I feel like the situation is pretty grim though, because she's not going to change and society is comprised of people who have no real sense of true society- of community- love. and that is what she is in search of, the nomad.
She has no "home" and it makes her sick inside.
"Choking on a chicken bone For a home sweet, no sweet home"
for a root, a leaf, branch, a tree.." " for something, somebody that reminded them of me...."
No one really knows her, to be reminded of her. She'll never be loved. - or she feels that way.
Being home very much means being loved
I think too that she exposes herself on purpose too, (she's very strong- "work your fingers to the bone, building castles out of snow"- she's does the impossible.. and she's on her own, so she has to learn all she can, right? because she's a survivor).
How has no one commented on this song? It's awesome!
This is my first interpretation, and it hits home pretty hard, so please be nice :)
My interpretation is of a girl who moved constantly and never really had a home (like me)
"I'm a cloud drifting by Dripping tears from the sky" She is just walking by, sad.
"I'm a snail without a shell A leper with a golden bell" She feels isolated and without a home
"I've got nowhere to do I'm a stray cat on the roam" I don't really understand these, but I think she's describing herself as a stray cat because she's always on the go, she feels homeless
"Choking on a chicken bone For a home sweet, no sweet home" She's explaining what she would do for a home (choke on a chicken bone)
"For a root, for a leaf, for a branch, for a tree But there's somebody that reminded them of me" She's explaining she would give up her nomad life, but someone is always reminding others of her.
"Running with my roots pulled up Caught me cold so they could cut What there was left of love" She's struggling to let go of her past, because they made her heart cold and made her immune to love
"I'm rootless" (the most powerful lyrics i have probably ever heard) She has no home, no stability, no roots to stay down.
I would do more but I'm knackered.
I'm sorry, I don't want to change the meaning of the song for you, it's great that you can relate to it so well, but I think the meaning is alot deeper than that. Alot.<br /> "I'm a cloud drifting by<br /> Dripping tears from the sky"<br /> "I'm a snail without a shell<br /> A leper with a golden bell"<br /> ~I think all of these are exaples of how she isn't accepted, she stands out and is different, like a leper- somone with lepprosy, who wore a bell so people knew not to touch them, this is showing how isolated, and different she feels. I don't think the 'tears' the cloud is dropping actually mean she is crying.<br /> <br /> "I've got nowhere to do<br /> I'm a stray cat on the roam"<br /> "Choking on a chicken bone<br /> For a home sweet, no sweet home"<br /> ~This, is her feeling homeless, not physically but emotionally, like a stray cat who you would chuck a chicken bone, which you shouldn't feed to animals because it splinters in their throat. She is being trows the left overs, and using them to survive, she feels like noone cares about her, at least not enought to really give her a home.<br /> <br /> "For a root, for a leaf, for a branch, for a tree<br /> But there's somebody that reminded them of me"<br /> ~I love the tree metaphor in this song, she continues it beautifully. When she say the second line here I think she means that everyone has seen someone like her before, she has just reversed how she says it. I think she is saying that everyone has seen someone who is 'rootless, or even are themselves, so they don't give her a home.<br /> <br /> I'm going to stop there, because I really dont want to ruin your idea of the son.<br />
I think Marina just relates the feeling of being entirely on her own away from anything that makes her feel comfort. it is really a powerful song she has.
it's called rootless which implies she has nowhere to run from as she is not rooted to the ground so she is just a person roaming around space and she can never find a home because she doesn't know where she's come from so she's doesn't know where she can go to. I think she wishes she had something to hold onto some origin, but she's just in species mode