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.
Xenopsylla Cheopis
MDCLXV
We used the helicase
to bind the CXV
Non-responsive
And their ferritin is high
In vivo
But still seem to be alive
Controls are feeling fine
Despite the awful sounds
Brought the incidence of tallowy offal down
We all fall down
We fall down
We all fall down
We fall down
The martyr's bretheren were not to be set free
In vitro planet Earth
In vivo you and me
He had them watch me
And lock everything around
He told me
You seem awful down
We all fall down
We fall down
We all fall down
We fall down
It will end in flashes
And we'll choke on ashes
And we'll all fall down
Long live the phantom
I hear him sing and scream out his anthem
I feel the shadows
Crying
Running
Coming, for me too dark to see
We all fall down
We fall down
We all fall down
We fall down
It will end in flashes
And we'll choke on ashes
And we'll all fall down
It will end in ashes of their lies
We can still see flashes in our eyes
But until it crashes
And the atom smashes
All our minds will just fade away
It will end in flashes
And we'll choke on ashes
And we'll fall
MDCLXV
We used the helicase
to bind the CXV
Non-responsive
And their ferritin is high
In vivo
But still seem to be alive
Controls are feeling fine
Despite the awful sounds
Brought the incidence of tallowy offal down
We all fall down
We fall down
We all fall down
We fall down
The martyr's bretheren were not to be set free
In vitro planet Earth
In vivo you and me
He had them watch me
And lock everything around
He told me
You seem awful down
We all fall down
We fall down
We all fall down
We fall down
It will end in flashes
And we'll choke on ashes
And we'll all fall down
Long live the phantom
I hear him sing and scream out his anthem
I feel the shadows
Crying
Running
Coming, for me too dark to see
We all fall down
We fall down
We all fall down
We fall down
It will end in flashes
And we'll choke on ashes
And we'll all fall down
It will end in ashes of their lies
We can still see flashes in our eyes
But until it crashes
And the atom smashes
All our minds will just fade away
It will end in flashes
And we'll choke on ashes
And we'll fall
Lyrics submitted by tadashii18
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Xenopsylla Cheopis MDCLXV (London plague of 1665)
We used the helicase to bind the CXV (Binding CXV/Roman numerals for Element 115 to resurrect dead cells)
Non-responsive And their ferritin is high In vivo But still seem to be alive (Resurrection of dead cells, creating zombies, they're docile)
Controls are feeling fine Despite the awful sounds Brought the incidence of tallowy offal down (Controlling of a drone or a mechanically controlled zombie, awful sounds being the moaning and screaming)
The martyr's bretheren were not to be set free In vitro planet Earth In vivo you and me
He had them watch me And lock everything around He told me You seem awful down
Long live the phantom I hear him sing and scream out his anthem I feel the shadows Crying Running Coming, for me too dark to see (This is the internal conflict between some of the scientists and their betrayal of each other, killing their families or each other and eventually releasing the zombies) We all fall down We fall down We all fall down We fall down
It will end in flashes And we'll choke on ashes And we'll all fall down
It will end in ashes of their lies We can still see flashes in our eyes But until it crashes And the atom smashes All our minds will just fade away
It will end in flashes And we'll choke on ashes And we'll fall (Absolute apocalyptic chaos. Flashes representing explosions and gunshots, ashes and atom smashing representing fire and nuclear explosions. The flashes can still be seen by the survivors and zombies alike. But the world is over and eventually everyone, living and undead will fall down and die.)