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.
Ooh, ooh
Ooh, ooh
Ooh
I don't know why I feed on emotion
There's a stomach inside my brain
I don't wanna be heard, I wanna be listened to
Does it bother anyone else that someone else has your name? (Oh)
Does it bother anyone else that someone else has your name, your name?
I scream, you scream
We all scream, 'cause we're terrified
Of what's around the corner
We stay in place
'Cause we don't wanna lose our lives
So let's think of something better
Down in the forest, we'll sing a chorus
One that everybody knows
Hands held higher, we'll be on fire
Singing songs that nobody wrote
My brain has given up, white flags are hoisted
I took some food for thought, it might be poisoned
The stomach in my brain throws up onto the page
Does it bother anyone else that someone else has your name?
Does it bother anyone else that someone else has your name?
I scream, you scream
We all scream, 'cause we're terrified
Of what's around the corner
We stay in place
'Cause we don't wanna lose our lives
So let's think of something better (better)
Oh
Down in the forest, we'll sing a chorus
One that everybody knows
Hands held higher, we'll be on fire
Singing songs that nobody wrote
Quickly moving towards the storm, moving forward, torn
Into pieces over reasons of what these storms are for
I don't understand why everything I adore
Takes a different form when I squint my eyes
Have you ever done that? When you squint your eyes
And your eyelashes make it look a little not right
And then when just enough light comes from just the right side
And you find you're not who you're supposed to be?
This is not what you're supposed to see
Please, remember me? I am supposed to be
King of a kingdom, or swinging on a swing
Something happened to my imagination
This situation's becoming dire
My tree house is on fire
And for some reason I smell gas on my hands
This is not what I had planned
This is not what I had planned
Down in the forest, we'll sing a chorus
Hands held higher, we'll be on fire
Singing songs that nobody wrote
Down in the forest, we'll sing a chorus
One that everybody knows
Hands held higher, we'll be on fire
Singing songs that nobody wrote
Hands held higher, we'll be on fire
Hands held higher, we'll be on fire
Ooh, ooh
Ooh
I don't know why I feed on emotion
There's a stomach inside my brain
I don't wanna be heard, I wanna be listened to
Does it bother anyone else that someone else has your name? (Oh)
Does it bother anyone else that someone else has your name, your name?
I scream, you scream
We all scream, 'cause we're terrified
Of what's around the corner
We stay in place
'Cause we don't wanna lose our lives
So let's think of something better
Down in the forest, we'll sing a chorus
One that everybody knows
Hands held higher, we'll be on fire
Singing songs that nobody wrote
My brain has given up, white flags are hoisted
I took some food for thought, it might be poisoned
The stomach in my brain throws up onto the page
Does it bother anyone else that someone else has your name?
Does it bother anyone else that someone else has your name?
I scream, you scream
We all scream, 'cause we're terrified
Of what's around the corner
We stay in place
'Cause we don't wanna lose our lives
So let's think of something better (better)
Oh
Down in the forest, we'll sing a chorus
One that everybody knows
Hands held higher, we'll be on fire
Singing songs that nobody wrote
Quickly moving towards the storm, moving forward, torn
Into pieces over reasons of what these storms are for
I don't understand why everything I adore
Takes a different form when I squint my eyes
Have you ever done that? When you squint your eyes
And your eyelashes make it look a little not right
And then when just enough light comes from just the right side
And you find you're not who you're supposed to be?
This is not what you're supposed to see
Please, remember me? I am supposed to be
King of a kingdom, or swinging on a swing
Something happened to my imagination
This situation's becoming dire
My tree house is on fire
And for some reason I smell gas on my hands
This is not what I had planned
This is not what I had planned
Down in the forest, we'll sing a chorus
Hands held higher, we'll be on fire
Singing songs that nobody wrote
Down in the forest, we'll sing a chorus
One that everybody knows
Hands held higher, we'll be on fire
Singing songs that nobody wrote
Hands held higher, we'll be on fire
Hands held higher, we'll be on fire
Lyrics submitted by bookhouseboy23, edited by fr0st2k
Forest Lyrics as written by Tyler Joseph
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I always felt like this song was about worries, fears, and problems that you can never really leave behind and trying to escape from them momentarily even though you know in the back of you mind they are still there. In the first verse it gets into these problems, "wanting to be listened to" not "heard" and being bothered when others have the same name. Then after another verse it ends with "So let's think of something better" and the chorus starts. I think the "forest" represents a place to escape to and "singing" as something to tune out your problems with. When they mention the chorus being one that everybody knows I imagine it's because it's supposed to be "normal" and "expected" which is what he is trying to be by avoiding his problems and putting up a front. The "hands held higher" and "we'll" be on fire" part is the problems catching up to him. Then in the next verse he addresses them: "Quickly moving towards the storm Moving forward, torn into pieces Over reasons of what these storms are for I don't understand why everything I adore Takes a different form when I squint my eyes
Have you ever done that, when you squint your eyes And your eyelashes make it look a little not right And when just enough light comes from just the right side And you find that you're not who you're supposed to be? This is not what you're supposed to see"
In these verses he has stepped out of the forest and is slowly coming back to the reality of his situation. That nothing is perfect and the harder he focuses on it, the worse the problems seem. After spending so much time away in his "forest" he has forgotten his own problems and when they suddenly show up again he panics and they seem 10x worse. Hence:
"Please, remember me, I am supposed to be king of the king Devil swinging on the swing, something happened in my imagination The situation's becoming dire, my treehouse is on fire And for some reason I smell gas on my hands This is not what I had planned"
In fear he runs back to his "forest" and continues to ignore his problems.
i feel like the eye lash thing is supposed to be much more literally taken for some reason. I've found myself doing it, so i related it. Sometimes things youre so used to just seem a little different, you see from a different perspective and you feel insignificant.<br /> <br /> I get that his treehouse is his escape or even his dreams or hopes, referencing his childlike aspirations. But as he grew up, through all the changes that took place in his life, he inadvertently set fire to those dreams....aka he changed to degree where he can't go back.
@LindRawr I agree, but I also think that when he talks about his tree house, he's talking about his dreams and goals. But then when he says that it's on fire and he has gas on his hands, I think he's saying that he thinks that the goals and dreams are childish and he is never going to accomplish them, so he destroyed them, like in We Don't Believe What's On TV from Blurryface when he says "We have all learned to kill our dreams."
@LindRawr I was going to quote the two parts that you quoted from his rap verse. I have anxiety, and I relate to some of these lyrics so much, it just feels like he's describing exactly how it makes me feel. <br /> <br /> "I don't understand why everything I adore takes a different form when I close my eyes", followed by the part about the eyelashes and such. That's just what it's like for me. And then in the end of it all, the anxiety attack or the panic attack, when I start to get ahold of myself again... "my tree house is on fire and for some reason I smell gas on my hands, this is not what I had planned". You start to feel like it's your fault, because you can't get control over your worries, fears, anxieties. It takes over and you go down this path in your head, or maybe the wrong path in the forest in the terms of this song, and you just... start listening to the worries and believing it's true and seeing things distorted. And at the end you didn't mean for any of that to happen, even if it all happened in your head.
@LindRawr this meaning makes so much sense :3