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 need some time, just deliver the things I need for now
Everything that I feel is like a warm deep calm casting over me
And it's taking me somewhere new
If you believe that everything's alright
You won't be all alone tonight
And I'd be blessed by the light of your company
Slowly lifting me to somewhere new
Oh can you tell I haven't slept very well since the last time that we spoke?
You said, "Please understand, if I see you again, don't even say hello."
Please.
What a night it is when you live like this and you're coming up beneath the clouds
Don't let me down
All the love's still there I just don't know what to do with it now
You know I still can't believe we both did some things I don't even wanna think about
Just say you love me and I'll say I'm sorry
I don't want anybody to feel this way
No, no, no
Can you tell I haven't slept very well since the last time we spoke?
I said, "Please understand, I've been drinking again and all I do is hope."
Please.
Stay.
Please stay.
I'll admit, I was wrong about everything
'Cause I'm high and I don't wanna come down
All the fun that we had on your mother's couch
I don't even wanna think about
I'm not strong enough for the both of us
What was I supposed to do?
You know I love you.
Please stay.
Stay.
Everything that I feel is like a warm deep calm casting over me
And it's taking me somewhere new
If you believe that everything's alright
You won't be all alone tonight
And I'd be blessed by the light of your company
Slowly lifting me to somewhere new
Oh can you tell I haven't slept very well since the last time that we spoke?
You said, "Please understand, if I see you again, don't even say hello."
Please.
What a night it is when you live like this and you're coming up beneath the clouds
Don't let me down
All the love's still there I just don't know what to do with it now
You know I still can't believe we both did some things I don't even wanna think about
Just say you love me and I'll say I'm sorry
I don't want anybody to feel this way
No, no, no
Can you tell I haven't slept very well since the last time we spoke?
I said, "Please understand, I've been drinking again and all I do is hope."
Please.
Stay.
Please stay.
I'll admit, I was wrong about everything
'Cause I'm high and I don't wanna come down
All the fun that we had on your mother's couch
I don't even wanna think about
I'm not strong enough for the both of us
What was I supposed to do?
You know I love you.
Please stay.
Stay.
Lyrics submitted by Clockwork00
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Light Up The Sky
Van Halen
Van Halen
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
"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.
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
Little Feat
Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
It definitely sounds like a relationship that was very passionate but ended badly without any type of closure on either end and he's writing this song as sort of an apology/an "I miss you and I'm sorry". It sounds like he just wants to go back to the way things were before they fell apart. Whatever the case, it's a beautiful song and my favorite from the new album :)
This song feels like this guy had a long commitment with a girl, but now he's having a hard time getting over her, so he shuts off his feelings until he has more control of them. When he does manage to gain control, he finds relief, but then his sadness comes up again and he misses her. He states that he's willing to take her back if she is willing as well, but instead she tells him she's cutting off contact. Next he explains how he felt he was getting better and her actions are threatening to dampen his mood. He still loves her but has no outlet and regrets the original reason they broke up, and then he restates he'd take her back and explains what's become of him and remembers their time together.
If you watch the music video for "Oh Well, Oh Well" and then you watch the music video for this, it makes a lot of sense. In "Oh Well, Oh Well" Derek's girlfriend tries to commit suicide, and in "Stay" is what happens during the ambulance ride to the hospital.
When I first heard it, to me, it sounded and looked like he was hoping that she would stay because she attempted suicide. I don't know if that's the real meaning. But to me, it is
This song really speaks to me right now. My situation is that I was in a relationship with my ex-boyfriend for almost 4 years. I put 150% into the relationship, but I didn't feel like I was getting any more that 40% back in return. He wasn't mean to me, and we never fought, but there was no spark, and I felt that we were just in two separate places in our lives. Both of our hearts broke when I broke up with him. I was comfortable with him, and it would have been easier to stay with him, but when it came down to it, I wasn't happy. I felt so bad for hurting him when I broke up with him, and I think about him every day. I still feel bad, and I to talk to him so badly and tell him about what's going on in my life, but I know that I threw that all away when I left him. I actually tried talking to him since then, but he has barely responded, and he's rightfully bitter about the situation. A part of me wishes I could still have him in my life somehow, but I know that it's never going to happen.
why am i still alive tho this soong means alot too me but i cant do it anymore this song its its starting too fade away
This song for me personally is very powerful. I know it can be interpreted many different ways. But for me personally it represents drug addiction. They love each other are at the point where they can't go on and he's begging her to stay but also in a way begging her to leave because he can't keep going with how things are.