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 just a dreamer but I'm hanging on
Though I am nothing big to offer
I watch the birds, how they dive in then gone
It's like nothing in this world's ever still
And I'm just a shadow of your thoughts in me
But sun is setting, shadows growing
A long cast figure will turn into night
It's like nothing in this world ever sleeps
Oh sometimes the blues is just a passing bird
And why can't that always be
Tossing aside from your birches crown
Just enough dark to see
How you're the light over me
And by your side, girl, where the acres grow
Into the strong and stunning meadow
A cowboy stumbling in the finest field
And nothing good out there won't be old
Oh sometimes the blues is just a passing bird
And why can't that always be
Tossing aside from your birches crown
Just enough dark to see
How you're the light over me
Sometimes the blues is just a passing bird
And why can't that always be
Tossing aside from your birches crown
Just enough dark to see
How you're the light over me
Though I am nothing big to offer
I watch the birds, how they dive in then gone
It's like nothing in this world's ever still
And I'm just a shadow of your thoughts in me
But sun is setting, shadows growing
A long cast figure will turn into night
It's like nothing in this world ever sleeps
Oh sometimes the blues is just a passing bird
And why can't that always be
Tossing aside from your birches crown
Just enough dark to see
How you're the light over me
And by your side, girl, where the acres grow
Into the strong and stunning meadow
A cowboy stumbling in the finest field
And nothing good out there won't be old
Oh sometimes the blues is just a passing bird
And why can't that always be
Tossing aside from your birches crown
Just enough dark to see
How you're the light over me
Sometimes the blues is just a passing bird
And why can't that always be
Tossing aside from your birches crown
Just enough dark to see
How you're the light over me
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Light Up The Sky
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Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
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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."
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
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."
I Can't Go To Sleep
Wu-Tang Clan
Wu-Tang Clan
This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
Magical
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
This song is amazingly beautiful. I definitely see it as a love song, but better than any other: it's real.
I read the line "tossing aside from your birches crown" as a grammar mistake. The line seems like it should be, "tossing aside from your birch's crown." The crown of a tree is where the shadow begins and the light shines over. This segues perfectly into the next two lines: "just enough dark to see/how you're the light over me"
Relationships aren't easy, there are definitely moments where there's darkness... but in a great one, there's only enough darkness to make the good times (the light) even better.
The rest of the song talks about how fast the world moves, how busy we all are, how we all get down sometimes, but at the center, there's this relationship that ages together and provides a solid place from which to go out into the world.
Or, it's a love song to nature, pure and simple, same sentiments apply. And then "birches" would make sense, as the earth would have a crown made of more than one birch. Either way, I like the use of the birch as the tree - they've long been regarded as magical and royal in mythology.
True love. In the song and for it.
Love your analysis on the song. I completely agree with you on the part about the transition into talking about light/darkness. However, when he talks about the crown of the birch I think it's more symbolic of the crown (A tree's branches and leaves etc) still having those gaps that let the sunshine through regardless of the shade it is trying to cover. He talks about how hard relationships are, and with that crown, the amount of darkness it gives off allows him to better appreciate the rays of sunlight that parts of the crown let through. I realize your comment was in 2010 but I was recently lucky enough to stumble into this band's music, I hope this reaches you!
<i> I'm just a dreamer but I'm hanging on though I am nothing big to offer
And I'm just a shadow of your thoughts of me </i>
The verses discuss the writer's humble view of himself compared with the (positively) biased view of his partner.
<i> But sun is setting, shadows growing A long cast figure will turn into night
And by your side, girl, where the acres grow Into the strong and stunning meadow A cowboy stumbling in the finest field and nothing good out there won't be old </i>
Over time he matures into a better man because of her.
<i> Oh sometimes the blues is just a passing bird
Just enough dark to see How you're the light over me </i>
The chorus speaks to the (mostly) transient bad times and how they are necessary to appreciate the good ones.
"You're the light over me"
You make me a better person.
This band has been around for a while but I was only lucky enough to find them now in 2014. This song is incredible and deep. I agree that this song has to do with a loved one, the one that makes life worth it. I believe this song is about life in general, it's hard and doesn't always work out like you believed it would. He's 'a dreamer' wishing it was easier or better, using the metaphor that sometimes hard times are just like a bird that quickly passes by but it can't always be like that, a lot of times it sticks around and makes the situation much harder. And with all this going on, tossing aside "your birch's crown"(the crown of the tree, the leaves and the branches) that shadows over him.... there is always the spaces in that crown that allow the sun to shine through. So even though there is this large shadow that hovers above him, he continues to go on because in the end, the rays of sunlight he gets to experience trumps all of the shade he has to experience. I think a lot of us have been in a relationship like this... it seems all wrong most of the time but when it's good.... it's incredible, and that in it self is extremely hard to explain, especially to other people.
Can't believe no one's posted on this yet. Haha, I guess it's only been out a couple weeks, but this song is so incredible. Every release, I keep thinking TTMoE can't get any better, but he keeps proving me wrong.
To me the real strength of this song is the melody--it's so soaring when it comes to the chorus, gets me every time. But the lyrics are stalwart for sure. It seem to be mostly a hopeful future outlook. First two stanzas seem to present a confusing, over-stimulating world (nothing in this world's ever still/ever sleeps). Of course, maybe I just hear them that way because I just moved to LA...
But then the chorus simply and beautifully says that these difficulties are passing, and that the muse, whomever he/she may be, is "the light over me." He doesn't say "everything's gonna be alright," but the crown is tossed aside and there's "just enough dark to see." It's hopeful but not overly hopeful and stunningly beautiful.
this is ridiculously good. first time i heard it, i was hooked.
I think the song is about our insignificance in the world in some way. We are subjected to the whims of the working world and how the processes of nature are always turning. He is either addressing a creator, mother nature, and/or a lover that has profound affect on his thoughts and feelings. an absolute gem folks.
"oh sometimes the blues is just a passing bird and why can't that always be"
Sometimes we are sad (blues), but just for a while, like the time that takes a bird to pass the sky, e ask why can't sadness be always that temporarily.
An incredible song by an incredible artist! I'm somewhat surprised he reserved this gem for an EP, but perhaps that makes it more valuable. Tallest Man rarely uses standard tuning, but when he does he can really belt it out.
I agree with most of the interpretations above, however I hear the lyrics as:
"...and nothing in this world won't be YOURS," instead of "won't be old."
and
"A toss and a sigh from your birches crown," instead of "tossing aside," though I can't be 100% certain.