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.
Come alive Diana, I don't have time,
To dig a grave, but I know,
It's the only option left to me now summer has sucked the stone,
And burst your tires.
On the shore you found him,
Warped and wild were his eyes,
And they shook and they quivered in their sockets
Like a bullet they ricocheted between your thighs.
Her phantom head!
Is thinking for all mankind I saw her portrait in the Mail
Her phantom head was directing the holiest of hunts
I made mistakes!
I lost an author, ooh, and then I lost a daughter's awe
I don't know how you'd affect it, more
Her phantom head, her phantom head
Line the streets Diana, with armored cars,
Oh column inch, timeless inch,
Can you inch another centimeter closer to hearts and minds?
You'll win them yet.
And the young Diana, she waves inside a global grief,
In a wind, gonna pry her, gonna lose her,
And the patterns emerge like germs, lest we forget.
He told me, he told me
Her phantom head! Is thinking for all mankind
I saw her portrait in the Mail,
Her phantom head was directing the holiest of hunts
I made mistakes! I lost an author, ooh,
And then I lost a daughter's awe
I don't know how you'd affect it, more
They're ringing and ringing the Liberty Bell
And I can feel the heat, I can hear the heat, rising for
That Aryan Aryan Aryan knell
And mother looks away, father looks away, for a second
(And her phantom head)
Is rolling around some yard,
While simultaneously wired
Her phantom head!
Is thinking for all mankind I saw her portrait in the Mail
Her phantom head was directing the holiest of hunts
I made mistakes! I lost an author, ooh,
And then I lost a daughter's awe
I don't know how you'd affect it, more
Her phantom head, her phantom head,
Her phantom head, her phantom head,
They're ringing and ringing the Liberty Bell
That Aryan Aryan Aryan knell
To dig a grave, but I know,
It's the only option left to me now summer has sucked the stone,
And burst your tires.
On the shore you found him,
Warped and wild were his eyes,
And they shook and they quivered in their sockets
Like a bullet they ricocheted between your thighs.
Her phantom head!
Is thinking for all mankind I saw her portrait in the Mail
Her phantom head was directing the holiest of hunts
I made mistakes!
I lost an author, ooh, and then I lost a daughter's awe
I don't know how you'd affect it, more
Her phantom head, her phantom head
Line the streets Diana, with armored cars,
Oh column inch, timeless inch,
Can you inch another centimeter closer to hearts and minds?
You'll win them yet.
And the young Diana, she waves inside a global grief,
In a wind, gonna pry her, gonna lose her,
And the patterns emerge like germs, lest we forget.
He told me, he told me
Her phantom head! Is thinking for all mankind
I saw her portrait in the Mail,
Her phantom head was directing the holiest of hunts
I made mistakes! I lost an author, ooh,
And then I lost a daughter's awe
I don't know how you'd affect it, more
They're ringing and ringing the Liberty Bell
And I can feel the heat, I can hear the heat, rising for
That Aryan Aryan Aryan knell
And mother looks away, father looks away, for a second
(And her phantom head)
Is rolling around some yard,
While simultaneously wired
Her phantom head!
Is thinking for all mankind I saw her portrait in the Mail
Her phantom head was directing the holiest of hunts
I made mistakes! I lost an author, ooh,
And then I lost a daughter's awe
I don't know how you'd affect it, more
Her phantom head, her phantom head,
Her phantom head, her phantom head,
They're ringing and ringing the Liberty Bell
That Aryan Aryan Aryan knell
Lyrics submitted by SteveBlythe
Come Alive Diana Lyrics as written by Jeremy Joseph Pritchard Alexander Kaines Robertshaw
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Ever since the death of Lady Diana, tabloid newspapers have used her picture on the front page to attract readers. The thin stories they are attached to are mostly about conspiracy theories over her death, particularly Dodi Fayed's father's claim that she was deliberately killed, amongst other reasons to stop her marrying an Egyptian Moslem.
Come alive Diana, I don't have time, to dig a grave, but I know, it's the only option left to me now summer has sucked the stone, and burst your tyres.
An unwillingness to accept her death.
On the shore you found him, warped and wild were his eyes, and they shook and they quivered in their sockets like a bullet they ricocheted between your thighs.
After the bloodless charade of the marriage to Charles, Dodi woke her physical passion.
Her phantom head! Is thinking for all mankind I saw her portrait in the Mail
All you now see of Diana is her portrait on newspaper posters, a phantom head
Her phantom head was directing the holiest of hunts
The hunt for her supposed killers, holy from its crusading nature
I made mistakes! I lost an author, ooh, and then I lost a daughter's awe
Reported friction between Diana and her biographer, and with her father
Line the streets Diana, with armoured cars,
Contrasting people on the streets for her funeral and to protest
oh column inch, timeless inch - can you inch another centimetre closer to hearts and minds? You'll win them yet.
Newspapers exploiting her memory, as if feelings for someone now long dead could somehow grow.
They're ringing and ringing the Liberty Bell
Always talking about freedom to disract us from their control
and I can feel the heat, I can hear the heat, rising for That Aryan Aryan Aryan knell
A white establishment using Diana populism to fuel a fascist resurgence, making the death of Dodi irrelevant or even desirable
[And her phantom head,] is rolling around some yard, while simultaneously wired
We view the world through her eyes, like a victim of the guillotine, seeing the ugly truth only in the last moments of life.
A wonderful song, dealing with the perversity of the media and the use of iconic characters to manipulate public emotions. At this late stage, as the song suggests, 'the only option left' is to 'dig a grave' and let her memory rest in peace. But 'I don't have time'... so Diana must 'come alive', or rather stay 'alive' as a phantom.