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.
Stop banging away on my kaleidoscope
Stop draining the color out of my scene
Just play me something I can dance to
I can dance to anything you wanna sing
So lock me up in a studio
Fill it up with sound and scenarios
Stop blocking the driveway with your car
Put the butterfly in the bell jar
It's the first time that I'm worried
Of a bad dream, of a journey
On the highway, through the valley
It's a long road through the night
It's a long road
Hear a stranger's voice in the front yard
Let the hours tick past the deadline
Get another stamp in your passport
Wash your breakfast down with some red wine
To leave the progress on your game
Try to fall asleep while your ears ring
From the loudest songs on your mix tape
I can dance to anything you wanna sing
No reason, no action
No silence, no help here
Nobody came running up by my side
It's the first time that I'm worried
Of a bad dream, of a journey
On the highway, through the valley
It's a long road through the night
It's the first time that I'm worried
Of a bad dream, of a journey
On the highway, through the valley
It's a long road through the night
It's a long road to get it right
It's the first time that I'm worried
Of a bad dream, of a journey
On the highway, through the valley
It's a long road through the night
It's the first time that I'm worried
Of a bad dream, of a journey
On the highway, through the valley
It's a long road through the night
It's a long road
(To get, to get it right)
(To get, to get, to get it right)
(To get, to get it right)
(To, to, to get, to get it right)
Stop draining the color out of my scene
Just play me something I can dance to
I can dance to anything you wanna sing
So lock me up in a studio
Fill it up with sound and scenarios
Stop blocking the driveway with your car
Put the butterfly in the bell jar
It's the first time that I'm worried
Of a bad dream, of a journey
On the highway, through the valley
It's a long road through the night
It's a long road
Hear a stranger's voice in the front yard
Let the hours tick past the deadline
Get another stamp in your passport
Wash your breakfast down with some red wine
To leave the progress on your game
Try to fall asleep while your ears ring
From the loudest songs on your mix tape
I can dance to anything you wanna sing
No reason, no action
No silence, no help here
Nobody came running up by my side
It's the first time that I'm worried
Of a bad dream, of a journey
On the highway, through the valley
It's a long road through the night
It's the first time that I'm worried
Of a bad dream, of a journey
On the highway, through the valley
It's a long road through the night
It's a long road to get it right
It's the first time that I'm worried
Of a bad dream, of a journey
On the highway, through the valley
It's a long road through the night
It's the first time that I'm worried
Of a bad dream, of a journey
On the highway, through the valley
It's a long road through the night
It's a long road
(To get, to get it right)
(To get, to get, to get it right)
(To get, to get it right)
(To, to, to get, to get it right)
Lyrics submitted by Hannahh182, edited by gabetheguy77
Kaleidoscope Lyrics as written by Thomas Delonge Travis Barker
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
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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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"Fast car" is kind of a continuation of Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run." It has all the clawing your way to a better life, but in this case the protagonist never makes it with her love; in fact she is dragged back down by him.
There is still an amazing amount of hope and will in the lyrics; and the lyrics themselve rank and easy five. If only music was stronger it would be one of those great radio songs that you hear once a week 20 years after it was released. The imagery is almost tear-jerking ("City lights lay out before us", "Speeds so fast felt like I was drunk"), and the idea of starting from nothing and just driving and working and denigrating yourself for a chance at being just above poverty, then losing in the end is just painful and inspiring at the same time.
The Night We Met
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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"
No Surprises
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Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
What I think this song is about is blink writing Neighborhoods and wanting it to be the best album they could make and all of the doubts and fears that went along with that.
"Stop banging away on my kaleidoscope Stop draining the color out of my scene just play me something i can dance to I can dance to anything you wanna sing"
Things are not going well with the album. So he tries to find inspiration by listening to music thats not his. Most likely music that he enjoys and finds comfort in.
"so lock me up in the studio Fill it up with sound and scenarios stop blocking the driveway with your car put the butterfly in the bell jar"
He spends hours in the studio just immersing himself in the creative process. I see the car as not really a physical entity blocking the driveway, but more of just the person's appetite/drive to write amazing music which keeps him from leaving the studio until he's got it right. As for the butterfly int he bell jar line, you can compare it to a little kid catching a butterfly and having a "got it!" moment. Sort of like a musician writing a lyric they're really proud of or coming up with a really good guitar hook and being really happy about it.
"It's the first time that I'm worried Of a bad dream, of a journey on the highway, through the valley It's a long road through the night."
It's blink's first record in a long time and everyone is expecting so much of them that it makes the band worried that they won't come through with a top notch record. The "through the valley" line is referring to Mark and Travis' studio which is literally in a valley in L.A. (I forget where but Mark said it in an interview).
"Hear a stranger's voice in the front yard, let the hours tick past the deadline, get another stamp in your passport wash your breakfast down with some read wine"
The strangers voice is the constant pressure of the fans who are expecting a good record. I'm not sure about the lines after deadline, will have to think about it more.
"delete the progress on your game try to fall asleep while your ears ring from the loudest song on your mix tape I can dance to anything you wanna sing"
Musicians usually go back and rework, restructure and rewrite songs until they are the best they can be. Which is what deleting progress on a game means. Game = song. The person has used his ears so much that they are ringing, but he still tries to find inspiration in other people's music. In this case "loudest" could be synonymous with "the best" or the music that he loves.
"No reason, no action, no silence, no help here Nobody came running up by side"
The band self produced the record, although they did get advice from their engineers. But for the most part they were alone on this.
"It's a long road to get it right"
It takes a lot of effort to make a quality album
IMO one of my favorites off of Neighborhoods and a great song overall.