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.
Drown you out
And left you with a sound
We'll spoil good-nights
Replacing lullabies
How could they never notice
What they planted in your space
See you laughing in our picture
But I know it's out of frame
We barely cried
But she made it out alive
And I'm so proud
That you're in my hands now
If we grew up together
You will find it's not the same
I wanna jump inside that picture
Show you what you gave
If we stay long enough
We can play with Bloody Mary
Say her name into the dark
Activate our nerve endings
If we stay long enough
We can play with Bloody Mary
She'll chase us though the dark
Activate our nerve endings
If we stay
I'll never let them get closer
Or shower you with any blame
Now we dance in our own picture
Where the rules have changed
If we stay long enough
We can play with Bloody Mary
Say her name into the dark
Activate our nerve endings
If we stay long enough
We can play with Bloody Mary
She'll chase us though the dark
Activate our nerve endings
If we stay
And left you with a sound
We'll spoil good-nights
Replacing lullabies
How could they never notice
What they planted in your space
See you laughing in our picture
But I know it's out of frame
We barely cried
But she made it out alive
And I'm so proud
That you're in my hands now
If we grew up together
You will find it's not the same
I wanna jump inside that picture
Show you what you gave
If we stay long enough
We can play with Bloody Mary
Say her name into the dark
Activate our nerve endings
If we stay long enough
We can play with Bloody Mary
She'll chase us though the dark
Activate our nerve endings
If we stay
I'll never let them get closer
Or shower you with any blame
Now we dance in our own picture
Where the rules have changed
If we stay long enough
We can play with Bloody Mary
Say her name into the dark
Activate our nerve endings
If we stay long enough
We can play with Bloody Mary
She'll chase us though the dark
Activate our nerve endings
If we stay
Lyrics submitted by Thylacine, edited by LucasCorso
Bloody Mary (Nerve Endings) Lyrics as written by Christopher Andrew Guanlao Brian Nolan Kalei Aubert
Lyrics © Word Collections Publishing
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
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I'm on board with those who think it's about a girl who grew up in an abusive home. The lines "See you laughing in a picture, but I know what's out of frame" refers to family pictures of her as a child, where she's seemingly happy, but the singer is saying he knows what happened when the camera wasn't there.
The next part ("You barely cried, but you made it out alive") means she stoically endured the abuse, but when she was finally able to get free, she did.
Then, "And I'm so proud that you're in my hands now," sounds kind of sinister at first, but it's really sincere, it's her husband saying that he really is proud of the fact that she survived her horrible childhood.
The chorus talks about the depression and self-loathing that she has to deal with as a victim. "Bloody Mary" is a game kids play where they lock themselves into a dark room, in front of a mirror, and "summon" the ghost of Bloody Mary. Typically the point is to freak themselves out, like telling ghost stories around a campfire. The keys to that reference are the fact that it's a totally self-inflicted horror - kids do this to themselves and sometimes get worked up into hysterics; and also that the effect of the game is similar to sensory deprivation, where your optic nerve starts playing tricks on you in the darkness, giving the illusion that you're seeing things that you can't possibly be seeing. So the chorus is really saying, "If we dwell on the horrors of the past it leads into self-inflicted depression." In effect, because she gets into these bouts of depression and dwells on her childhood, she's terrifying herself for no good reason, and more to the point, since "Bloody Mary" is just an illusion or trick, it's not real, and can't hurt her, just like her past can no longer hurt her, but she obsesses over the past anyway.
The other verses are expanding on the initial theme. "If we grew up together ... show you what you became" is saying he wishes he could go back into her childhood and tell her that no matter how horrible things are, her future is one of happiness. Then the next verse, "I'll never let them get closer, or shower you with any blame," is him saying he's there to protect her, and that her abusive family can't hurt her any more, while "Now we dance in our own picture where the rules have changed" refers to their wedding pictures (pictures of them dancing at their wedding), and that now that she's an adult and he's there to protect her, the rules have changed, and she's no longer subject to the rules and discipline that were used to terrorize her childhood.
I think you are mostly correct in your analysis, Tim, though I don't know that it is specifically a girl's past or a husband/wife thing. Plainly, the song is about the singer having a connection to someone who was traumatized in childhood. I disagree, though, with the idea that "playing with Bloody Mary" refers to dwelling on the past and living in "self-inflicted depression." The singer clearly is INVITING the other person to "stay" and "play with Bloody Mary." I interpret it to mean that the other person needs to face his/her past, revisit the horrors of childhood, in order to deal with them and get on with a better life. The singer will go through it with the other person, hence "we" not "you" can play with Bloody Mary. Activating nerve endings, in this context, equates to starting to feel again or starting to live again. <br /> <br /> As I've pointed out below, some of the lyrics posted here are wrong. It isn't "show you what you became," it is "show you a new game." Which is a continuance of the ongoing metaphors of pictures and games. The song is actually hopeful about the ability to heal.
Some of the lyrics are wrong. It should be: "left you with the sounds OF spoiled goodnights." And: "show you A NEW GAME." Correct lyrics for Neck of the Woods are published on the Silversun Pickups webpage.
The song is about helping a friend deal with the consequences of childhood trauma. "Playing with Bloody Mary" equates to facing the bad things from the past. In a nutshell: Deal with the past, start to live a better life.
I think it could just as easily be about the speaker himself, and his own childhood. Bloody Mary is played with a mirror. Looking for too long at your own past can cause you to get lost in it, bringing back all those old ghosts.
I agree, this makes most sense to me. Although I think he talks about his abusive/rough childhood.<br /> <br /> When he says :<br /> "You barely cried<br /> But you made it out alive<br /> And I'm so proud<br /> That you're in my hands now"<br /> <br /> I think he speaks about his hard childhood with his parents, but now it's finally in his hands unlike when he was a child.<br /> <br /> And this:<br /> "If we grew up together<br /> You would find it's not the same<br /> I want to jump inside that picture<br /> Show you what you became"<br /> <br /> This part is what makes it show it's about himself -- he basically says that if he grew up with himself as a child it wouldn't be so hard. Then he says he wants to jump into his childhood picture and show his younger-self what he became and how it made it out OK.<br /> <br /> This part:<br /> "I'll never let them get closer<br /> Or shower you with any blame<br /> Now we dance in our own picture<br /> Where the rules have changed"<br /> <br /> Is where he says he'll protect his younger-self from his abusive/hard-to-deal-with parents and how they can finally be happy inside that picture where he no longer needs to be afraid.<br />
@darkassin Except the singer is saying TO PLAY WITH MARY. "If we can stay here long enough, we can play with Bloody Mary."
Brian has openly commented on this song. Most of these interpretations of it are correct. Someone having grown up in an abusive environment and how they are in better place now.
Brian has said this song is about wish fulfillment, how he wishes he could go back and help this person through all the stuff they had to go to.
The chorus for the song, although seemingly dark because of the nature of the game "Bloody Mary' is actually according to Brian, about how if he could go back, they could be there for each other and just be kids, playing silly games like Bloody Mary, since this person had to grow up very fast due to the bad environment, and never really had the chance to just be a child
Feel like this could be about a girlfriend who grew up in a bad home with fighting etc, and her eventually leaving her home town behind and moving on to better things where she met him etc.
I think you hit it on the head. After reading the Rolling Stones interview with Brian this album is supposed to be about loss and getting lost. I think this song would be the perfect end song to the album as it seems to be about, like you said, starting over again.
I feel like this song could be about growing up, and then realizing that you want to remain a child. I think the first couple of verses are about being an adult and seeing the problems that people have that they never had as a child, and then remembering when they were younger and playing Bloody Mary. The "we'll stay" thing is pretty obvious with my interpretation - like he doesn't like being an adult and just wants the simplicity and simple thrills of childhood again.
In my opinion it is about someone who is in love with a person who had a rough past and feels bad for them and wishes they could make them feel better then so everything was perfect now. The person seems to live in the past and it makes them feel bad and react to what happened in the past the chorus is getting at that if you stay in the past long enough and interact with dark memories it makes you have those feelings again
It is probably in relation to someone being abused while growing up and the person wanting to protect them from what happened
One more correction: "planted in your SPACE." Not "spades."
Great song.
The whole Neck of The Woods album is supposed to be based off of Brian's origins. This song is probably about nostalgia and Brian remembering his past and how he could go back in the past. Bloody Mary was maybe something that haunted him during his childhood and he looks back on it all with a smile "I want to jump inside that picture Show you what you became" He's talking to himself and wishing he could go back to his past.
After years, YOU STILL HAVE THE LYRICS WRONG. Just go to the SSPU site. They have lyrics for most of their songs available, including this one. I've tried to correct them before. For starters, the first stanza is wrong. It's not "WE'LL spoil good nights." It's "Of spoiled good nights." And, yes, that is incredibly important in understanding the point of the song.