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.
And the bright rings we got in summertime
Seemed like a breath of fresh air back in the summertime
When we were more like brothers, that was years ago
So if it doesn't sing like a broken chord
I'm running out of heart today
I'm running out of open road to you
When I know you are emoting and you're dazed
Is something broke inside you, 'cause at the moment
I'm lost and feeling that I don't know
If I'm losing you again
And when we fly tomorrow over the Java seas
And my younger match will be there with me
'Cause they remind me of swimming out too far one day
When the coral was gone, but I didn't care anyway
I was running out of heart that day
I was running out of open road to you
And I know I was emoted, I was dazed
Is something broke inside me, 'cause at the moment
I'm lost and feeling that I don't know
If I'm losing you again
I'm running out of heartache
Just sitting out the constant doubt in my day
But I don't know what it is
I'm sweating out the toxins
Is my terracotta heart breaking?
I don't know
If I'm losing you
If I'm losing you again
Seemed like a breath of fresh air back in the summertime
When we were more like brothers, that was years ago
So if it doesn't sing like a broken chord
I'm running out of heart today
I'm running out of open road to you
When I know you are emoting and you're dazed
Is something broke inside you, 'cause at the moment
I'm lost and feeling that I don't know
If I'm losing you again
And when we fly tomorrow over the Java seas
And my younger match will be there with me
'Cause they remind me of swimming out too far one day
When the coral was gone, but I didn't care anyway
I was running out of heart that day
I was running out of open road to you
And I know I was emoted, I was dazed
Is something broke inside me, 'cause at the moment
I'm lost and feeling that I don't know
If I'm losing you again
I'm running out of heartache
Just sitting out the constant doubt in my day
But I don't know what it is
I'm sweating out the toxins
Is my terracotta heart breaking?
I don't know
If I'm losing you
If I'm losing you again
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Light Up The Sky
Van Halen
Van Halen
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
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"
When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
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.
Magical
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
Graham told NME that it's about his and Damon's relationship:
"I knew it was going to be an incredibly sad song, which is why I put the crying guitar on there. What I didn’t know at the time was that the lyrics would turn out to be about Damon and I, our long-term friendship and the ups and downs we’ve had."
Sounds very much like a track from Albarn's recent solo album. It is nice to see the Albarn-Coxon relationship addressed: far too often the band avoid exploring their own emotions.
This song is mainly about Damon’s relationship with Graham Coxon. The Guardian shared an article in July 2015 stating: Coxon’s relationship with Albarn has long been the focal point of the group, and Albarn addresses this relationship on the new song My Terracotta Heart. “I don’t know if I’m losing you again,” he sings in that instantly recognisable melancholic tone.
personal
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personal