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 no way
I'm coming back to you
I've just got to say
That everything we did is through
You tried to undermine
The better ranges of my nature
But soon you're going to find
You should have started talking straighter
Now don't you worry
I won't put you down
I'm in no hurry, baby
To see you go to ground
Because it's true what they say
You know it's true what they say
You're only king for a day
I guess you're happy that way
Well there's no hope
For peace and reconciliation
You're quick to play your hand
But what you haven't learnt is patience
So look before you leap
To tell the world your colored story
It's clear your talk is cheap
You'd do anything to get your glory
So spread your wings and fly
There is no doubt
You're so sorry inside you've got something to shout about
Because it's true what they say
You know it's true what they say
You're only king for a day
I guess you're happy that way
And there's no love
Ever to be lost between us
I guess this is because
The damage that you've done is so grievous
So I hang my head
To dwell on what might have been
But what you left instead
Is pieces of a broken dream
Now don't you worry
I won't put you down
I'm in no hurry
To see you go to ground
Because it's true what they say
You know it's true what they say
You're only king for a day
I guess you're happy that way
So spread your wings and fly
There is no doubt
You're so sorry inside you've
Got something to shout about
Because it's true what they say
You know it's true what they say
You're only king for a day
I guess you're happy that way
Don't you see that you're only king for a day
You must believe that
I'm coming back to you
I've just got to say
That everything we did is through
You tried to undermine
The better ranges of my nature
But soon you're going to find
You should have started talking straighter
Now don't you worry
I won't put you down
I'm in no hurry, baby
To see you go to ground
Because it's true what they say
You know it's true what they say
You're only king for a day
I guess you're happy that way
Well there's no hope
For peace and reconciliation
You're quick to play your hand
But what you haven't learnt is patience
So look before you leap
To tell the world your colored story
It's clear your talk is cheap
You'd do anything to get your glory
So spread your wings and fly
There is no doubt
You're so sorry inside you've got something to shout about
Because it's true what they say
You know it's true what they say
You're only king for a day
I guess you're happy that way
And there's no love
Ever to be lost between us
I guess this is because
The damage that you've done is so grievous
So I hang my head
To dwell on what might have been
But what you left instead
Is pieces of a broken dream
Now don't you worry
I won't put you down
I'm in no hurry
To see you go to ground
Because it's true what they say
You know it's true what they say
You're only king for a day
I guess you're happy that way
So spread your wings and fly
There is no doubt
You're so sorry inside you've
Got something to shout about
Because it's true what they say
You know it's true what they say
You're only king for a day
I guess you're happy that way
Don't you see that you're only king for a day
You must believe that
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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"
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
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.
no wait it's his ex GF, and she wasn't a sheep but she was the reason of the ruined relation. yeah that's it.