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.
The roses on the lawn
Don't know which side you're on
In a daze, it will change
Wishes on a wheel
Wishes on a wheel
The voices in the hall
Will carry on their talking
Carry weight you can't take
Wishes on a wheel
Is it even real?
The contact that you make
The moment when a memory aches
Who can tell?
You do it well
Wishes on a wheel
How's it supposed to feel?
One in your life
It happens once and rarely twice
One in your life
It happens once and rarely twice
The roses on the lawn
Won't know which side you're on
On that hill, forever still
Wishes on a wheel
How's it supposed to feel?
Wishes on a wheel
Wishes on a wheel
Don't know which side you're on
In a daze, it will change
Wishes on a wheel
Wishes on a wheel
The voices in the hall
Will carry on their talking
Carry weight you can't take
Wishes on a wheel
Is it even real?
The contact that you make
The moment when a memory aches
Who can tell?
You do it well
Wishes on a wheel
How's it supposed to feel?
One in your life
It happens once and rarely twice
One in your life
It happens once and rarely twice
The roses on the lawn
Won't know which side you're on
On that hill, forever still
Wishes on a wheel
How's it supposed to feel?
Wishes on a wheel
Wishes on a wheel
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I took this song to be from the perspective of a suicidal student who questions if life is even reality. "The roses on the lawn Don't know which side you're on" Is he asking on which side of the roses you are on (left right) or on what side of the lawn you are on (above or beneath, meaning dead)
" In a daze it will change" Saying "It will change" means that the changing of sides will not be optional. It's going to happen (Death), and the kid's perspective that the transition from life to death, from this reality to this "other" reality will happen in a daze, thus there is no ending but merely a transition.
" Wishes on a wheel" or perhaps bullets in a gun. Wishes on a wheel
"The voices in the hall Will carry on their talking Carry weight you can't take" Referring to the pain he is experiencing from gossip, peer pressure, bullying, or whatever. Notice he said in the hall, which leads us to believe this is happening in school.
" Wishes on a wheel" Is it even real?" Again questioning this reality as the true reality. Alluding that there may be something more elsewhere.
"The contact that you make The moment when a memory aches" Expressing that pain is the result of his connection with life. Literally contact creates memories that result in pain.
" Who can tell? You do it well" In spite of this pain, others around him can't tell that he is suffering because he is putting on a great face in spite of how life is impacting him.
Wishes on a wheel " How's it supposed to feel?" Life is "supposed" to be good and living a joy, but this person is asking "how are these painful experiences supposed to feel, because they aren't feeling like how life is being advertised. In other words, he's asking how should I be interpreting what's happening to me, because I just interpret pain.
"One in your life It happens once and rarely twice One in your life It happens once and rarely twice" This one is tricky because it says it happens once, meaning that it is not optional. It's not that it can happen, but that it will happen. And yet it is possible to happen twice. I thought of growing up physically (which will happen once) and perhaps growing up in maturity (which happens rarely), but that didn't fit the rest of the song. I'm left with him talking about death. It does happen once, and rarely twice for those who have the "near death experiences" where they are legally dead and yet come back.
"The roses on the lawn Won't know which side you're on" Again referring to not sure of reality, being dead or alive.
"On that hill Forever still" This line clinched it for me. On the hill, forever still. In a word dead. But listen to his voice and the music at this point. It is so beautiful, as if this person is imagining the peace and tranquility that will be found in death. An escape from the things he mentioned before. The weight he can't bear, the aching memories from each contact with life.
Wishes on a wheel How's it supposed to feel? Wishes on a wheel Wishes on a wheel
Really wish I had a different interpretation but I can't get away from this one.
Also thought about it. The whole "one in your life, it happens once a rarely twice" part comes in so strong and inconsistent with the rest of the song. It's as if the writer is trying to convince himself that what he's contemplating is inevitable anyway. That considering suicide isn't bringing in some negative experience to his life that wasn't going to happen anyway. And of course, this "pep talk" is followed by him talking about being forever still on the hill, as an escape.
@justinljones The singer is female.
@justinljones I interpreted it slightly differently. I definitely think it is talking about suicide and depression but I think it is going through a person's failed suicide attempt. The first verse is him convincing himself. "The roses don't care if I'm dead or alive and so does nobody else." I imagine him holding a revolver with a bullet in it spinning it- wishes on a wheel. The second verse is him in the hospital after the attempt fails. The voices in the all are family members and doctors but he still feels hopeless about the weight he can't carry due to his crippling depression. The third verse is him reflecting on living with depression. Having painful memories but putting on a happy face and acting fine in public. As someone who struggles with depression and has had a failed suicide attempt I find this song incredibly beautiful.
@justinljones nice to see this deep and linear interpretation, to me it's the best inspiration drawn from the song. <br /> I would just take it as a bit less specifical, as the theme of the death might applies not only to the end of the life and the block of the human body some feet under but to any - depressive, nostalgic, anxious or letargic component of the life, being it a period like youth or an irremissible sentiment like love, in any form it might exists and change through the lifecycle.<br /> Still this song doesn't seem abstract, and to me it's then a masterpiece, where anyone can read the drama or the excitation of a twisting happening in his human experience, and maybe I will like it more once under the hill, who can tell? <br /> <br /> I found an interview with some content on Wishes (main takeaways: no overanalysis of the text / free feeling upon own mood; turning point in the life)<br /> <br /> QUOTE<br /> “Wishes” feels like an end-of-summer Ferris wheel ride—nostalgic and full of longing. “We wrote a lot about the power of imagination,” she says, though both she and Scally are loathe to overanalyze their music. “I want people to feel how it makes them feel,” Legrand adds. “You get older and you realize that everything changes, that nothing lasts. But that also makes being in the moment and having the experience that much more meaningful.”<br /> UNQUOTE <br /> Source: interviewmagazine.com/music/beach-house<br />