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 know what you think in the morning
When the sun shines on the ground
And shows what you have done
It shows where your mind has gone
And you swear to your parents
That it will never happen again
I know, I know-ow-ow
What that means, I know-ow-ow-ow-ow
That you all have guns
And you never put the safety on
And you all have plans
To take it, to take it, don't take it, take it, take it
I'm trying, I'm trying to sleep
I'm trying, I'm trying to sleep
But I can't, but I can't when you all have
Guns for hands, yeah
I'm trying, I'm trying to sleep
I'm trying, I'm trying to sleep
But I can't, but I can't when you all have
Guns for hands, yeah
Let's take this a second at a time
Let's take this one song, this one rhyme
Together, let's breathe
Together, to the beat
But there's hope out the window
So that's where we'll go
Let's go outside and all join hands
But until then you'll never understand
That you all have guns
And you never put the safety on
And you all have plans
To take it, to take it, don't take it, take it, take it
I'm trying, I'm trying to sleep
I'm trying, I'm trying to sleep
But I can't, but I can't when you all have
Guns for hands, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Whoo
(Da-da-da-da-da)
(Da-da-da-da-da)
(Da-da-da-da-da, ah, uh)
(Da-da-da-da-da)
We've turned our hands to guns
Traded our thumbs for ammunition
I must forewarn you of my disorder, or my condition
'Cause when the sun sets
It upsets what's left of my invested interest
Interested in putting my fingers to my head
The solution is, I see a whole room of these mutant kids
Fused at the wrist, I simply tell them they should shoot at this
Simply suggest my chest and this confused music
It's obviously best for them to turn their guns to a fist
I'm trying, I'm trying to sleep
I'm trying, I'm trying to sleep
But I can't, but I can't when you all have
Guns for hands, yeah
I'm trying, I'm trying to sleep (I'm trying to sleep)
I'm trying, I'm trying to sleep (I'm trying to sleep)
But I can't, but I can't when you all have
Guns for hands, yeah
When the sun shines on the ground
And shows what you have done
It shows where your mind has gone
And you swear to your parents
That it will never happen again
I know, I know-ow-ow
What that means, I know-ow-ow-ow-ow
That you all have guns
And you never put the safety on
And you all have plans
To take it, to take it, don't take it, take it, take it
I'm trying, I'm trying to sleep
I'm trying, I'm trying to sleep
But I can't, but I can't when you all have
Guns for hands, yeah
I'm trying, I'm trying to sleep
I'm trying, I'm trying to sleep
But I can't, but I can't when you all have
Guns for hands, yeah
Let's take this a second at a time
Let's take this one song, this one rhyme
Together, let's breathe
Together, to the beat
But there's hope out the window
So that's where we'll go
Let's go outside and all join hands
But until then you'll never understand
That you all have guns
And you never put the safety on
And you all have plans
To take it, to take it, don't take it, take it, take it
I'm trying, I'm trying to sleep
I'm trying, I'm trying to sleep
But I can't, but I can't when you all have
Guns for hands, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Whoo
(Da-da-da-da-da)
(Da-da-da-da-da)
(Da-da-da-da-da, ah, uh)
(Da-da-da-da-da)
We've turned our hands to guns
Traded our thumbs for ammunition
I must forewarn you of my disorder, or my condition
'Cause when the sun sets
It upsets what's left of my invested interest
Interested in putting my fingers to my head
The solution is, I see a whole room of these mutant kids
Fused at the wrist, I simply tell them they should shoot at this
Simply suggest my chest and this confused music
It's obviously best for them to turn their guns to a fist
I'm trying, I'm trying to sleep
I'm trying, I'm trying to sleep
But I can't, but I can't when you all have
Guns for hands, yeah
I'm trying, I'm trying to sleep (I'm trying to sleep)
I'm trying, I'm trying to sleep (I'm trying to sleep)
But I can't, but I can't when you all have
Guns for hands, yeah
Lyrics submitted by emilyheartsrock, edited by ryancarroll, nickvandervalk, frostfox11
Guns For Hands Lyrics as written by Tyler Joseph
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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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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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.
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I see a lot of people talking about suicide, and that may well be the case. When I was going over it though, had an interesting thought that it might be about social media.
The first verse I think could be regarding posting what you think, pictures, everything you've done that day. People post unfiltered, without consequence for their actions. One of the things people do when up at night is surf social media, trying to get to sleep, but there's so much going on that you end up surfing/replying all night.
Guns for hands I think could be interpreted that we are using our hands for shouting every complaint, opinion, attacking someone, etc. Trading in our thumbs for ammunition I think is a direct comment about phone usage, as well being fused at the wrist, which is what you look like when you're typing on your phone.
We get so angry at each other on social media. The point of the song could be about actually having an in-person experience with someone, and realizing that you could be friends with some of the people you may despise on social media, but you wont understand that until you actually go out and do that.
my 2 cents anyways.