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.
Have no fear and open your eyes and observe the glowing room
Through the blood that runs through your eyelids, I guess it’s time to wake
Moving hours with vacant hands just for the chance just to sleep again
Drag my feet across the earth yeah I guess that nothings restored
Make my through my designer home
To the heart of my captivity
Where I am both prisoner and warden
All I need is the air inside my lungs, or a cigarette
Life is blank without the flame.
It’s ok cause I am still within the womb
Watching from the inside, the inside
The great things wait just past the horizon
They lose their glow when the lights hit their skin
Outstretched hands I’ll flee and to nothing I will open the door.
The sun is dead, or maybe just fading out
It hits my skin for the first time in days and days
As I slip into the air I feel the warmest winter
That I can remember
Breathless is the empty world
Aimlessly walking through a vacant city
The architecture is all alone
If this is the end I don’t feel a damn thing
My tired feet matter no more
It seems the things I tend to believe always fall to my feet
To dig my shallow graves
You must have felt this, before you even woke up
You should have known it years ago
Do not be surprised my friend
You make your own decisions
You worked hard, you fought the good fight
The taste of copper in a failed mouth full of broken teeth
And the sounds of excuses
I’ll count my blessings on the fingers of the unbit hand
Empty of reason, goodbyes on the tip of my tongue forever
And so it goes
I must have seen it, before I even woke up
I should have known it years ago
I will storm the gates of hell
I will kill the queen of death herself
Shadowless in the last direct light of the drowning sun.
Through the blood that runs through your eyelids, I guess it’s time to wake
Moving hours with vacant hands just for the chance just to sleep again
Drag my feet across the earth yeah I guess that nothings restored
Make my through my designer home
To the heart of my captivity
Where I am both prisoner and warden
All I need is the air inside my lungs, or a cigarette
Life is blank without the flame.
It’s ok cause I am still within the womb
Watching from the inside, the inside
The great things wait just past the horizon
They lose their glow when the lights hit their skin
Outstretched hands I’ll flee and to nothing I will open the door.
The sun is dead, or maybe just fading out
It hits my skin for the first time in days and days
As I slip into the air I feel the warmest winter
That I can remember
Breathless is the empty world
Aimlessly walking through a vacant city
The architecture is all alone
If this is the end I don’t feel a damn thing
My tired feet matter no more
It seems the things I tend to believe always fall to my feet
To dig my shallow graves
You must have felt this, before you even woke up
You should have known it years ago
Do not be surprised my friend
You make your own decisions
You worked hard, you fought the good fight
The taste of copper in a failed mouth full of broken teeth
And the sounds of excuses
I’ll count my blessings on the fingers of the unbit hand
Empty of reason, goodbyes on the tip of my tongue forever
And so it goes
I must have seen it, before I even woke up
I should have known it years ago
I will storm the gates of hell
I will kill the queen of death herself
Shadowless in the last direct light of the drowning sun.
Lyrics submitted by TUNDRA35
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This song is so sad! I think the first verse is all about fighting through the life that we're all given; working to keep yourself afloat and get the freedom we're all supposedly promised. A reflection on the great monotony we all ride out until the end.
Then the second verse breaks into a darker view. The singer has abandoned his creeds and left to spiral into a boundless despair. Halfway through this, he begins to talk to someone - the person he spoke to at the very beginning of the song. I think he's talking to himself, maybe in the third person or maybe in a letter to the past. It also appears that he's either having a nightmare, or making a metaphor that his life is like a nightmare, because he keeps talking about waking up.
Regardless, I think this is the most powerful song Norma Jean has ever written. Anyone have any ideas or insight into the band's meaning?