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.
My friend, my friend he's got a knife
A statement from his former life
When he was easy but alone
Beside him was an empty throne
But what of silver silken blade
Affix his gaze, his features staid
Grasps the handle, clips the cable
One steps up, sits at his table
My friend, my friend, he's got a knife
My friend, my friend, he's got a wife
My friend, my friend, the clever ruse
Persuasion through his thoughts peruse
A hidden relic from his past
That wasn't there when he looked last
He feels it ticking like a bomb
Feeding fear, assaulting calm
Takes the object, starts the game
Moves closer to the flame
My friend, my friend, the clever ruse
My friend, my friend, he lights the fuse
My friend, my friend, he's got a knife
My friend, my friend, he's got a knife
My friend, my friend, he's got a knife
A statement from his former life
When he was easy but alone
Beside him was an empty throne
But what of silver silken blade
Affix his gaze, his features staid
Grasps the handle, clips the cable
One steps up, sits at his table
My friend, my friend, he's got a knife
My friend, my friend, he's got a wife
My friend, my friend, the clever ruse
Persuasion through his thoughts peruse
A hidden relic from his past
That wasn't there when he looked last
He feels it ticking like a bomb
Feeding fear, assaulting calm
Takes the object, starts the game
Moves closer to the flame
My friend, my friend, the clever ruse
My friend, my friend, he lights the fuse
My friend, my friend, he's got a knife
My friend, my friend, he's got a knife
My friend, my friend, he's got a knife
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There is still an amazing amount of hope and will in the lyrics; and the lyrics themselve rank and easy five. If only music was stronger it would be one of those great radio songs that you hear once a week 20 years after it was released. The imagery is almost tear-jerking ("City lights lay out before us", "Speeds so fast felt like I was drunk"), and the idea of starting from nothing and just driving and working and denigrating yourself for a chance at being just above poverty, then losing in the end is just painful and inspiring at the same time.
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The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
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I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
Mountain Song
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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."
I think this song is about being tempted when you're married.
"My friend, my friend he's got a knife, a statement from his former life When he was easy but alone beside him was an empty throne"
He's a married guy, and the knife represents his past when he was still single. It's a statement of his former life when he had no "queen," no wife to sit beside him.
"But what of silver silken blade, affix his gaze, his features staid Grasps the handle, clips the cable, one steps up, sits at his table"
So he's married, but ah, he's still got this knife that reminds him of being single. He's getting ready to cheat, so he "clips the cable" connecting to his wife, and almost immediately, "one sits at his table" which is a woman looking to fool around with him.
"My friend, my friend, he's got a knife My friend, my friend, he's got a wife"
Trying to balance the scales, with his wife on one side, and the knife representing his independence and "lost" freedom on the other side.
"My friend, my friend, the clever ruse, persuasion through his thoughts peruse" He's thinking of ways to persuade the new girl into bed with him.
"A hidden relic from his past that wasn't there when he looked last" The girl is someone he used to know, or date, or sleep with. He's starting there, even though he really did try to put her out of his mind when he got married.
"He feels it ticking like a bomb, feeding fear, assaulting calm" Now that he has basically committed himself to stepping out on his wife, it's giving him panic attacks. He knows he's about to do something wrong.
"Takes the object, starts the game, moves it closer to the flame" The Object is the woman he's trying to bed, because he doesn't really care about here. She's just an object to him. "Starting the game" means he's started trying to woo her, and "moves it closer to the flame" refers to him escalating things with her, pushing her as good as he can to get her into bed.
"My friend, my friend, the clever ruse My friend, my friend, he lights the fuse" Every cheater has a ruse they tell their spouses to make it easier to cheat. His is particularly clever, and so he "lights the fuse," he sleeps with the other woman, knowing that it is basically inevitable that his wife will find out. When fuses burn out, a loud BOOM usually follows. That boom will be the sound of his marriage exploding.
Just my take. I didn't research to find out if the lyricist has actually said what it means.