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.
Put on your war paint
You are a brick tied to me that's dragging me down
Strike a match and I'll burn you to the ground
We are the jack-o-lanterns in july setting fire to the sky
Here, here comes this rising tide, so come on
Put on your war paint
Cross walks and crossed hearts and hope-to-dies
Silver clouds with grey linings
So we can take the world back from a heart attack
One maniac at a time we will take it back
You know time crawls on when you're waiting for the song to start
So dance alone to the beat of your heart
Hey, young blood, doesn't it feel like our time is running out?
I'm gonna change you like a remix
Then I'll raise you like a phoenix
Wearing our vintage misery
No, I think it looked a little better on me
I'm gonna change you like a remix
Then I'll raise you like a phoenix
Bring home the boys and scrap, scrap metal the tanks
Get hitched, make a career out of robbing banks
Because the world is just a teller and we are wearing black masks
"You broke our spirit," says the note we pass
So we can take the world back from a heart attack
One maniac at a time we will take it back
You know time crawls on when you're waiting for the song to start
So dance alone to the beat of your heart
Hey, young blood, doesn't it feel like our time is running out?
I'm gonna change you like a remix
Then I'll raise you like a phoenix
Wearing our vintage misery
No, I think it looked a little better on me
I'm gonna change you like a remix
Then I'll raise you like a phoenix
Put on your war paint
The war is won, before it's begun
Release the doves, surrender love
The war is won, before it's begun
Release the doves, surrender love
The war is won, before it's begun
Release the doves, surrender love
The war is won, before it's begun (wave the white flag, wave the white flag, ooh!)
Release the doves, surrender love (wave the white flag, wave the white flag, ooh!)
Hey, young blood, doesn't it feel like our time is running out?
I'm gonna change you like a remix
Then I'll raise you like a phoenix
Wearing our vintage misery
No, I think it looked a little better on me
I'm gonna change you like a remix
Then I'll raise you like a phoenix
Hey, young blood, doesn't it feel like our time is running out?
I'm gonna change you like a remix
Then I'll raise you like a phoenix
Put on your war paint
You are a brick tied to me that's dragging me down
Strike a match and I'll burn you to the ground
We are the jack-o-lanterns in july setting fire to the sky
Here, here comes this rising tide, so come on
Put on your war paint
Cross walks and crossed hearts and hope-to-dies
Silver clouds with grey linings
So we can take the world back from a heart attack
One maniac at a time we will take it back
You know time crawls on when you're waiting for the song to start
So dance alone to the beat of your heart
Hey, young blood, doesn't it feel like our time is running out?
I'm gonna change you like a remix
Then I'll raise you like a phoenix
Wearing our vintage misery
No, I think it looked a little better on me
I'm gonna change you like a remix
Then I'll raise you like a phoenix
Bring home the boys and scrap, scrap metal the tanks
Get hitched, make a career out of robbing banks
Because the world is just a teller and we are wearing black masks
"You broke our spirit," says the note we pass
So we can take the world back from a heart attack
One maniac at a time we will take it back
You know time crawls on when you're waiting for the song to start
So dance alone to the beat of your heart
Hey, young blood, doesn't it feel like our time is running out?
I'm gonna change you like a remix
Then I'll raise you like a phoenix
Wearing our vintage misery
No, I think it looked a little better on me
I'm gonna change you like a remix
Then I'll raise you like a phoenix
Put on your war paint
The war is won, before it's begun
Release the doves, surrender love
The war is won, before it's begun
Release the doves, surrender love
The war is won, before it's begun
Release the doves, surrender love
The war is won, before it's begun (wave the white flag, wave the white flag, ooh!)
Release the doves, surrender love (wave the white flag, wave the white flag, ooh!)
Hey, young blood, doesn't it feel like our time is running out?
I'm gonna change you like a remix
Then I'll raise you like a phoenix
Wearing our vintage misery
No, I think it looked a little better on me
I'm gonna change you like a remix
Then I'll raise you like a phoenix
Hey, young blood, doesn't it feel like our time is running out?
I'm gonna change you like a remix
Then I'll raise you like a phoenix
Put on your war paint
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More Featured Meanings
Light Up The Sky
Van Halen
Van Halen
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
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,
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Just A Little Lovin'
Dusty Springfield
Dusty Springfield
I don't think it's necessarily about sex. It's about wanting to start the day with some love and affection. Maybe a warm cuddle. I'm not alone in interpreting it that way! For example:
"'Just a Little Lovin’ is a timeless country song originally recorded by Eddy Arnold in 1954. The song, written by Eddie Miller and Jimmy Campbell, explores the delicate nuances of love and showcases Arnold’s emotive vocals. It delves into the universal theme of love and how even the smallest gesture of affection can have a profound impact on our lives." https://oldtimemusic.com/the-meaning-behind-the-song-just-a-little-lovin-by-eddy-arnold/
This is the "battle cry" of the album. Telling the younger generation that what they call music (i.e. rock and roll) isn't music at all.
This is the head on the pike to serve as a warning to all. They are saying that the world is falling apart around us and the younger generation that were given the "torch" of rock to protest and disrupt aren't living up to their responsibilities. It's also the tough love lesson to those same misguided "young bloods".
Kind of saying, "Hey Beiber! You fucking suck! Now let me show you how to be a rock musician you pussy!"
"Hey young blood, doesn't it feel like our time running out?" Is a sarcastic line basically saying, "We need to get working at changing the world now or we lose our chance."
"I'm gonna change you like a remix. Then raise you like a phoenix." is where they say, "We're going to show you how to do this. Take your musical queues and put meaning into them, and then it's up to you to carry the torch properly." It's the Kung Fu master using the young student's moves against him.
Look at it in the context of the rest of the songs (except the last one, which is the other bookend where the torch is passed): Perfect example is "Just One Yesterday". Musically this is calling out to Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" which is shallow song about a jilted lover telling her ex how much he'll miss her. Fall Out Boy "remixes" it and then raises it to give it a deeper and more complex meaning, but still keeping in the same "jilted lover" vein. I mean holy crap: "And now I'm here to give you all my love, so I can watch your face as I take it all away." Brutal to say the least, and this is the warning in "The Phoenix"
@naunga I actually disagree. I obviously don't have any proof at all, and it could well be that you're right, but I don't really see any evidence for the idea that Fall Out Boy were trying to call out people like Beiber, or people like Adele (and they're not the same kind of people; Adele's music is massively different to Beiber's, it has a significantly different fan base, and she actually writes/co-writes all of her songs). <br /> <br /> This song is clearly primarily about Fall Out Boy themselves, and perhaps also about them compared to inauthentic musicians in a general sense, but I don't get the sense from it that they're trying to call out anyone in particular.<br /> <br /> And "Just One Yesterday" is simply another jilted lover song; the idea that, because both that song and "Rolling in the Deep" are jilted lover songs, Fall Out Boy must've intended their song to be calling out that song is frankly ridiculous. <br /> There are an incredible number of jilted lover songs, because it's a common emotion.<br /> And, incidentally, "Rolling in the Deep" is actually not a "shallow song about a jilted lover telling her ex how much he'll miss her"; it's much more like a song of anger and bitterness at an ex, with such lines as "Don't underestimate the things that I will do" and "And I'm gonna make your head burn / Think of me in the depths of your despair".<br /> <br /> I get the sense that you've just jumped aboard some bandwagons of criticism without actually looking into what it is you're criticizing. You seem to have a really odd idea of Adele and to be projecting your own opinions onto Fall Out Boy.<br /> <br /> But at least I'm sure we can agree that this song and album are awesome
@naunga You spelled Bieber wrong