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.
I could be a smack freak
And hate society
I could hate God
And blame Dad
I might be in a Holocaust
Hate Hitler
Might not have a child
And hate school
I could be a sad lover
And hate death
I could be a neuro
And hate sweat
No
I hate my way
I make you in to a song
I can't rise above the church
I'm caught in a jungle
Vines tangle my hands
I'm always so hot and it's hot in here
I say it's all right
My pillow screams too
But so does my kitchen
And water
And my shoes
And the road
I have a gun in my head
I'm invisible
I can't find the ice
A slug
I'm TV
I hate
A boy, he was tangled in his bike forever
A girl was missing two fingers
Gerry Ann was confused
Mr. Huberty
Had a gun in his head
So I sit up late in the morning
And ask myself again
How do they kill children?
And why do I wanna die?
They can no longer move
I can no longer be still
I hate
My way
And hate society
I could hate God
And blame Dad
I might be in a Holocaust
Hate Hitler
Might not have a child
And hate school
I could be a sad lover
And hate death
I could be a neuro
And hate sweat
No
I hate my way
I make you in to a song
I can't rise above the church
I'm caught in a jungle
Vines tangle my hands
I'm always so hot and it's hot in here
I say it's all right
My pillow screams too
But so does my kitchen
And water
And my shoes
And the road
I have a gun in my head
I'm invisible
I can't find the ice
A slug
I'm TV
I hate
A boy, he was tangled in his bike forever
A girl was missing two fingers
Gerry Ann was confused
Mr. Huberty
Had a gun in his head
So I sit up late in the morning
And ask myself again
How do they kill children?
And why do I wanna die?
They can no longer move
I can no longer be still
I hate
My way
Lyrics submitted by weezerific:cutlery
Hate My Way Lyrics as written by Kristin Hersh
Lyrics © HEYDAY MEDIA GROUP LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
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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"
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
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Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
Page
Ed Sheeran
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There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
In Hersh's memoir "Rat Girl" she tells a story about a conversation with a young pamphlet-distributing punk kid who was talking about "killing god" and "rising above the church" and he used a bunch of muddled analogies about "if you were a smack freak, you'd hate society" and "if you were in the holocaust you'd hate Hitler", which is what inspired the first part of this track as far as I can tell. Its interesting to see songs come from such a specific, and plain source sometimes!
So, I heard part of this song in an episode of "American Horror Story" and looked up the lyrics. I get this feeling this is at least a moderately well known group, but it's been months and I still haven't seen any proof that anyone I've ever met has heard of them.
Anyway, I searched "Mr. Huberty" to see if there's a famous one, and the very first result is James Oliver Huberty who perpetrated the "San Ysidro McDonald's massacre" in 1984: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Ysidro_McDonald%27s_massacre
@MamboMan I'm not sure what this means: "Is she schizophrenic (Kristin admitted to having schiphernia)." Are you splitting apart the real songwriter from the "narrator" of the song? Either way, I've found references to Kristin Hersh having bipolar disorder and seeing colors with sounds, which could be synaesthesia, rather than schizophrenia.
They were popular in the 80's and early 90's among college radio stations. Then they broke up and Kristin Hersh went solo.
My memory is rusty... it may have bipolar....
@hardcorevelour bipolar. They were too early to really catch the wave of '90, which is a shame.
Overwhelmed with the things that anger and confuse you, lost in the feelings of disgust and isolation. A beautiful way to capture such an awful feeling.
i don't know why, but this song always overwhelms me. i usually come near to crying when i hear it.
@TheWrongGirl Yup. I get a blend of fury and sorrow. "They can no longer move, I can no longer be still" has been a personal credo for 25 years.
I agree with above comments - self-loathing, thoughts of suicides. A lot of the imagery is hallcinatory. Is she schizophrenic (Kristin admitted to having schiphernia) or is the depression overwhelming her to the point where the pillow nad the kitchen are screaming?
I love all of the musical contrasts- the 2 distinct sections - how the 2nd section starts off so melodically (the bass line is beautiful) the vocals turn to screaming, then back to gentle cooing.
Powerful.
The second to last verse is about the 1984 San Ysidro McDonald's massacre, as someone mentioned earlier. They lyric about the boy tangled in his bicycle refers to a famous picture from that incident, which showed a boy who was killed by the gunman in front of the McDonald's and whose body was awkwardly tangled up in his bike. Very sad picture, very sad song overall, but interesting that Kristin Hersh thought to include the McDonald's massacre in this song. It occurred long before mass shootings became commonplace, and even though so many people (20+) were killed, it seems to have been mostly forgotten, even in San Diego.
The last and strongest of the amazing three songs .
The song starts out with a some bad things, and contrasts each of them to the supposed cause (legitimate or not)
But she is so miserable that her own self hatred completely takes over, as the beginning and end of all misery.
@ladylizzie I don't think it's really that her own self hatred takes over—what's wrong with her and what's wrong with the world are reflections of each other. She has the same gun in her head as James Huberty. The scary thing isn't that she can't understand why the world is so terrible, it's that she can.
@ladylizzie I'm not sure why you and other people always say that the first 3 songs on this album were amazing and act like it was only 3 in a row and stopped there. The 4th track, "Vicky's Box", is even more powerful than "Call Me" or "Green" and goes well following this one.
I love this song so much
Its about contemplating suicide.
I feel a tremendous amount of anger and frustration in this song. The confusion of youth and the fury at all the people who have excuses to keep them from engaging with the world ("I could be a smack freak and hate society...")
But damn if the last lines don't lift up my heart every time. "They can no longer move, I can no longer be still." It's titled "Hate My Way," it's not a flowery hand-holding song; it's rage and accusation, it's Don't tell me why I shouldn't even try-- I am my own me and I won't stop. I've got those lines tattooed around my wrists, to remind me to never quit or give in to the ocean of sadness.