When you were young
Did you ever love somebody
Like I love,
I love you now
'Cause now that you're older
I see you don't mind
Letting go of my hand in a crowd
You don't want to hold tight.
And when we kiss goodnight
There's a million hearts
Beating in my room
I wish they would go away.
Ah say it again
There's a million hearts
That break too soon
Everytime you go away.

When you were young
Did you ever fall down,
Graze your knee
And want to run to someone
'Cause now that you're older
I've been falling down,
I want to run to someone
But there's nobody around.

I can hear the sound
There's a million hearths
Beating in my room
I wish they would go away,
Ah say it again
There's a million hearts
That break too soon
Every time you go away.

Every time you go away
Think about the things I say
Think about it twice as long
Tell me what's going wrong.


Lyrics submitted by fletch699

The Edge of Forever Lyrics as written by Nick Laird-clowes Gilbert Alexander Gabriel

Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.

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Edge Of Forever song meanings
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5 Comments

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  • +1
    General Comment

    it's a song about young love - perhaps not returned - but the songwriter doesn't appear to care. Maybe, his character so high on love that he is hyper-sensitive to things like her dropping his hand in public, after all, young love is uncertain as well.

    He talks about being 'older' but that's just like how teenagers talk about being older and not kids anymore - honestly, I don't think he means any older than 15 here.

    What he describes in this song is that crazy 'I'm in love' feeling that you get for the first time: your heart's pounding, you see beauty in things you never noticed before ('the breeze is so wild', 'the bridge is so lonely'), you're so excited you can't finish a single thought (The reasons that life... Feeling so afraid... Huh?), and you just want to be alone with that special person and devote all of your time to them.

    First time love should be viewed as a Class One narcotic -and Nick's lyrics here are a perfect description of why.

    ctlizyrdon September 10, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    This song was in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. That is a great movie.

    FacebookLoginIsBrokenon June 30, 2002   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    yea, it's at the end when ferris and sloane kiss!!! i love that part and i love this song. it took me forever to find this song..i don't know it well enough to know what it actually means though

    fixyouon July 30, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Great song

    pton December 21, 2007   Link
  • 0
    Song Meaning

    This song is about love that isn't returned ... because of everyone else around. And by everyone else, I mean the adoring fans of the British post-punk band, The Fall. Edge of Forever is about the relationship between Michael E. Smith and Brix Smith Start from Brix's point of view.

    First verse she asks him if he's ever loved anyone truly and completely, because he seems to love working the crowd, entertaining, pleasing his admiring fans more than being with her. He's basically ignoring her for the adoration of his fans.

    In the refrain she is saything that when they are together without the distraction of anyone else and intimate(her room), she still feels that he internalizes the feelings the fans of The Fall have towards her. And she wishes that he would just ignore them and love her as a wife. When he leaves the crowd a "million hearts break too soon..." because he is leaving them to be with her (his wife).

    Second verse works a clever play on the bands name, The Fall, into the lyrics. She feels as though all of the things she has done to help the band have been misinterpreted by the fans - who are saying mean things about her (and what she's done to the Fall). However, he can't (or won't) do or say anything to defend or comfort her publicly - he's wedded to the band. And she doesn't feel that she can seek comfort from anyone else because they wouldn't understand her situation.

    This is followed by the refrain again. But included in the refrain is "...think about the things I say..." and "think about it twice as long...". She wants him to stop treating her like a child in the relationship and tell him what's going on with him. What he's thinking, what he's feeling...how all of this is affecting him.

    And then something different. A lot of sites (including this one) don't display the stream of consciousness lyrics that follow and they are hard to separate from the music, but they go something like this:

    A Southern Sky

    Breeze is so Wild

    The Bridge is so lonely

    The reasons said I

    Feeling so hurt

    I'm talkin' about, a two hearts

    Beating as one now forever

    I think these lyrics address the heart of the song - she wants a traditional man and wife partnership, a marriage. Maybe without kids, but definitely more than the "professional" and artistic relationship that she feels they currently have. And though they are married, he's committed to his band (The Fall), it's fans and there's only so much he can give her.

    The verse 'The Bridge is so lonely...' may be a direct play on Brix's name. Especially since one of the songwriters in The Dream Academy, Nick Laird-Clowes was good friends with Brix Smith Start.

    Cut to the refrain one more time...and the end of the song!

    The title is interesting and probably comes from the fact that the woman in the song has almost everything she ever wanted; she's married, she's successful, she's in love. She only needs his commitment (and love) for her "forever". Unfortunately in the case of Brix Smith Start, it didn't last - she and Michael E. Smith divorced in 1989.

    I used a lot of sources looking up this stuff...

    theguardian.com/music/2016/may/01/brix-smith-start-interview-rise-fall-rise-mark-e-smith-nigel-kennedy-philip-start-the-extricated

    nicksmithphoto.wordpress.com/2009/05/19/nick-smiths-interview-with-brix-smith-of-the-fall-in-guitarist-magazine-december-1996/

    And, of course, Brix Smith Start's 2016 book, "The Rise, The Fall and The Rise".

    We'll probably never know for sure...but all of the pieces are definitely there!

    Hoops McCann

    Hoops McCannon March 21, 2017   Link

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