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.
I watched you walking
Late in the day
Where old men were talking
Binding up the hay
I watched you drinking
Shutting your eyes and thinking
Late in the day
You were signalling with your hands
Going, going out of my way
You're out of my way
Where you're banging on hollow land
A hunter-gatherer and
Blowing, blowing out of the rain
In out of the rain
Ooooh, Oooh
After several uneventful days
We gathered all the faithful
To come and have their say
Drinking, greeting
Sellers and farmers meeting
Late in the day
You were signalling with your hand
Going, going out of my way
You're out of my way
Where you're banging on hollow land
A hunter-gatherer and
Blowing, blowing out of the rain
In out of the rain
I wish all my words were unsaid
I wish all my words were unsaid
If I could eat my words would I be standing here
Biting my tongue and feeling so young
In the summer when the rain begins
Better hurry, don’t bide your time
Better get all your winter things
Better gather, don’t bide your time
In the summer when the rain begins
Better hurry, don’t bide your time
Better get all your winter things
Better gather, don’t bide your time
Late in the day
Where old men were talking
Binding up the hay
I watched you drinking
Shutting your eyes and thinking
Late in the day
You were signalling with your hands
Going, going out of my way
You're out of my way
Where you're banging on hollow land
A hunter-gatherer and
Blowing, blowing out of the rain
In out of the rain
Ooooh, Oooh
After several uneventful days
We gathered all the faithful
To come and have their say
Drinking, greeting
Sellers and farmers meeting
Late in the day
You were signalling with your hand
Going, going out of my way
You're out of my way
Where you're banging on hollow land
A hunter-gatherer and
Blowing, blowing out of the rain
In out of the rain
I wish all my words were unsaid
I wish all my words were unsaid
If I could eat my words would I be standing here
Biting my tongue and feeling so young
In the summer when the rain begins
Better hurry, don’t bide your time
Better get all your winter things
Better gather, don’t bide your time
In the summer when the rain begins
Better hurry, don’t bide your time
Better get all your winter things
Better gather, don’t bide your time
Lyrics submitted by BORNintoKHAOS
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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The song was written in 2001 and inspired by "Anna Karenina". I guess after Tim read the book he created a clear picture in his mind of how a remote and forgotten place in Russia would look like.
Theres gotta be a russia comment :D And, since I am russian..here goes
Я понимаю эту песню как описание какого-то местечка в России, где ребята, возможно, побывали. Вероятно, это деревня. Вначале идет описание русской девушки, мужчины перевязывают сено, а она расслабляется и пьет (типичное представление русских)) "I watched you walking Late in the day Where old men were talking Binding up the hay I watched you drinking Shutting your eyes and thinking Late in the day"
Припев я поняла с трудом. "You were signalling with your hand Going, going out of my way You're out of my way" Возможно, это из-за моего знания английского. BORNintoKHAOS пишет, что песня основана на Анне Карениной, так что, возможно, это какая-то отсылка к эпизоду..с поездом?) хз, врядли конечно.
Затем идет описание жизни в деревне,здесь все довольно очевидно. "After several uneventful days We gathered all the faithful To come and have their say Drinking, greeting Sellers and farmers meeting"
В конце автор хочет, чтобы какие-то слова не были произнесены, мб связано опять таки с девушкой. "I wish all my words were unsaid I wish all my words were unsaid If I could eat my words would I be standing here"
И, наконец, призывает всех не тянуть кота за хвост и собирать зимние вещички)) Правильно, потому что зима в России суровая)) "Better hurry, don’t bide your time Better get all your winter things"
And for all the english users: I interprete this song as a description of some russian village, where guys may have been. Then goes a description of a "typical" russian girl (though not all of us are drinking). I hardly understood the chorus, maybe the case is my bad english. Also, BORNintoKHAOS mentioned, that the song's based on Anna Karenina, so it may refer to the episode with the train. In the end the author wants some words to be unsaid.. it may be related to the girl, i dunno. And, finally, he asks to hurry up, to pack up winter things, cos, lol, winters in Russia are severe.
Greetings to all Russia users!
I interpret the song as being about the collectivisation of agricultural land after the Russian Revolution.
The song seems to be written from the perspective of a poor Communist Zealot (soon to be a Kulak) assessing which peoples property they wish to appropriate
[verse 1]
I watched you walking Late in the day Where old men were talking Binding up the hay I watched you drinking Shutting your eyes and thinking Late in the day
The first verse seems to be about the peasant monitoring the activities of the land owners (farmers) in his community, I think its important that the Farmer is 'thinking' (Big Brother does not approve)
[Chorus]
You were signalling with your hands Going, going out of my way You're out of my way Where you're banging on hollow land A hunter-gatherer and blowing Blowing out of the rain In out of the rain
"Signalling with your hands" I interpret as either the landowner/farmer giving the middle finger to the person monitoring them or passing coded signals to other likeminded individuals.
"Going out of my way" I would say means the farmer trying to avoid scrutiny.
"Banging on hollow land", not sure about this one, I thought it might relate to the Farmer trying to make a meagre living from cold, unproductive soil in the north of Russia. It might also relate to the farmer attempting to futilely message other people about the upcoming dangers .. not sure.
[Verse 2]
After several uneventful days We gathered all the faithful To come and have their say Drinking, greeting Sellers and farmers meeting Late in the day
I'd say the 'faithful' refer to the 'good communists' or true believers .. the soon-to-be-kulaks, at a local town/village hall meeting.
"Sellers and farmers meeting" I would imagine 'sellers' refer to local merchants (representative of capitalists) and the farmers being representative of land owners.
[Bridge]
I wish all my words were unsaid I wish all my words were unsaid If I could eat my words, would I be standing here? Biting my tongue and feeling so young
I think the bridge is representing the thoughts of the person after the meeting has taken place. The individual likely 'denounced' the merchants and landowners and would later take their property and land. They're expressing regret for what they did to the older generation.
[Outro]
In the summer, when the rain begins Better hurry, don't bide your time Better get all your winter things Better gather, don't bide your time In the summer, when the rain begins Better hurry, don't bide your time Better get all your winter things Better gather, don't bide your time
The outro is all about harvesting what you can when the weather (or the political climate) is favourable. Profiteering basically. I think it also alludes to this ransacking cycle repeating again .. which indeed it did.
Might have overanalysed this, the song might just be about how hard it is to be a farmer in Russia :-)