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.
There was a single one
Then there were ten
When ten made a hundred
And a hundred million
You came and spoke to me
I saw your face
Your words were like raindrops from a storming
Each generation different
He was made to love her
She was made to love him
And their offspring loved them
And in the marriage of eagle and snake
The parents are huddle
But the offspring is brain
The final edges are all through the night
The flag is contagious
But the heat feels alright
Can't recognize a property
He was made to love her
She was made to love him
And their offspring loved them
There is a darkness I feel coming round
And shadows that lengthen from the sky to the ground
And a silence that can swallow a sound
He was made to love her
She was made to love him
And their offs?ring loved them
He was made to love her
She was made to love him
And their offspring loved them
Then there were ten
When ten made a hundred
And a hundred million
You came and spoke to me
I saw your face
Your words were like raindrops from a storming
Each generation different
He was made to love her
She was made to love him
And their offspring loved them
And in the marriage of eagle and snake
The parents are huddle
But the offspring is brain
The final edges are all through the night
The flag is contagious
But the heat feels alright
Can't recognize a property
He was made to love her
She was made to love him
And their offspring loved them
There is a darkness I feel coming round
And shadows that lengthen from the sky to the ground
And a silence that can swallow a sound
He was made to love her
She was made to love him
And their offs?ring loved them
He was made to love her
She was made to love him
And their offspring loved them
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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"
Dreamwalker
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I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
American Town
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Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.
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.
He was made to love her, She was made to love him.
That's what I'm hearing...
I agree with AWjohnson.
seems to relate to the love of Adam and Eve and how far we've strayed from that definition. we, the living, the offspring, love the idea of Adam and Eve, but are blank in the absence of understanding such love.
There was a single one Then there were ten With ten made a hundred And a hundred million
You came and spoke to me I saw your face Your words were like raindrops From a storm in a vase
Each generation different
He was made to love her She was made to love him And their offspring love them
And in the marriage of eagle and snake The parents are fertile But their offspring is blank
The fire rages and all through the night The flame is contagious But the heat feels all right
Can't recognize our poverty
He was made to love her She was made to love him And their offspring love them
There is a darkness I feel coming down And shadows that lengthen from the sky to the ground
And a silence that can swallow sound
He was made to love her She was made to love him And their offspring love them
He was made to love her She was made to love him And their offspring love both of them
This song refers to the marriage of an eagle and snake. Nietzsche's Zarathustra had an eagle and a snake as companions. The back cover of Bitte Orca has a picture of Nietzsche. Just saying.
I can help but think this is about environmentalism, specifically the intergenerational problem. The general idea is that as we pollute more and more, we'll essentially have a desolate, nearly uninhabitable earth for future generations. With this background...
"There was a single one..." = We're populating and populating to the point of overpopulation, a huge factor of pollution.
"...But their offspring love them" = As humans, we have every right and drive to love each other and reproduce, and we deserve to have children as well, who love them back.
"Marriage of eagle and snake...offpsring is blank" = 'Eagle and snake' could be a historical nod or some sort of folk lore, but I just take it to be stylistic and add it to the dramatic foreboding sort of vibe of the song. Anyway, the parents are fertile and all is well, but their offspring will be moot if there is no earth to inhabit.
"Fire rages on...heat feels alright" = We're okay or at least blissfully unaware of the destruction we're doomed to cause. Which segues nicely into...
"can't recognize our poverty"
"Darkness...silence that can swallow sound" = Another apocalyptic picture of reality, presumably as a means of our pollution.
I also think that the form of the lyrics are telling. It goes from identification of life and fertility to merely mentioning a sort of 'erased' reality. In that sense, it also drives the point home.
All in all, I take it to be 'we're destroying ourselves,' but we're so conflicted by the very clear right to love and reproduction that we undoubtedly have.
@Jezro humans don't deserve to have children. that's your anthrocentrism coming out.
Sorry for the mistakes guys, I've tried to submit some corrections to no avail on some other tracks :/
As far as I can tell, this is about a relationship that shouldn't have worked, but has gone on to thrive and flourish. Powerful, and also kind of romantic.