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.
There's a leafless tree in Asia
Under the sun there's a homeless man
There's a forest fire in the valley
Where the story all began
What will be our last thought?
Do you think it's coming soon?
Will it be of comfort
Or the pain of a burning wound?
All we are trying to say
Is we are all we've got
You and me just cannot fail
If we never, never, stop
You're an ocean full of faces
And you know that we believe
We're just a wave that drifts around you
Singing all our hopes and dreams
We look around, in wonder
At the work that has been done
By the visions of our father
Touched by his loving son
All we are trying to say
Is we are all we've got
You and me just cannot fail
If we never, never, stop
All we are trying to say
Is we are all we've got
You and me just cannot fail
If we never, never, stop
You and me just cannot fail
If we never, ever, never, ever, stop
Under the sun there's a homeless man
There's a forest fire in the valley
Where the story all began
What will be our last thought?
Do you think it's coming soon?
Will it be of comfort
Or the pain of a burning wound?
All we are trying to say
Is we are all we've got
You and me just cannot fail
If we never, never, stop
You're an ocean full of faces
And you know that we believe
We're just a wave that drifts around you
Singing all our hopes and dreams
We look around, in wonder
At the work that has been done
By the visions of our father
Touched by his loving son
All we are trying to say
Is we are all we've got
You and me just cannot fail
If we never, never, stop
All we are trying to say
Is we are all we've got
You and me just cannot fail
If we never, never, stop
You and me just cannot fail
If we never, ever, never, ever, stop
Lyrics submitted by weezerific:cutlery
You and Me Lyrics as written by Edge Graeme Justin Hayward
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Fintage House Publishing
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I heard this song for years and assumed it was just a love song. At some point I realized it came our during the Viet Nam war and it's actually a protest song - the words make much more sense now.
Maybe I shoud elaborate on what I said above. Well, the song mentions a homeless man in ASIA. The Asia reference should be obvious (Vietnam, Korean war). Homeless inplies that his home was either destroyed or he had to flee from it. A Forest Fire in the Valley could be referring to the napalm that was being using in the Vietnamese jungles.
"What will be our last thought.... pain of a burning wound." refers to the soldiers fear of being shot and dying.
"All we are trying to say... is we are all we got" is hope that it'll get better. And it could easily be sympathetic to the people protesting the war. (All we are trying to say ... is give peace a chance).
"You're an ocean full of faces..." I think describes how the Moodies see their audience (perhaps when playing live). They're sending this message to all who will listen.
"We look around in wonder, at the work that has been done..." I think is hope again. We (humans) have the ability to do good things and we shouldn't give up striving for that. The 'wonder' is that people can fly a man to the moon (for example) but still have wars to kill each other. "By the vision of our Father..." could be that god instilled good in us - again, we should strive to embrace that.
GREAT SONG!!!!
I've always thought that this song (one of my all time favorite Moodies/Hayward songs) is full of Christian themes. The leafless tree could refer to the cross, and remember that Israel is actually part of Asia. Jesus says "Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head" - sounds like a homeless man to me. Likewise "the vision of our father, touched by his loving son" could certainly be a reference to God the Father and Christ the Son.
I was listening to this while running today. It absolutely has Christian themes. I thought about the leafless tree in Asia as possibly when Jesus cursed the fig tree as a metaphor for Jerusalem in the days prior to his crucifixion.
@phinegan, Graeme himself admitted it was about the conflicts in Viet Nam, agent orange, and the lyric about "the pain of a burning wound" refers to the little girl that was running naked that was on fire. <br /> Ironically, Graeme has admitted that he's an Agnostic.
Let me add that I've never understood interpreting this song as a protest against the Vietnam war - I don't think the analogy holds up.