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.
Last night I dreamed about you
I dreamed that you were older
You were looking like Picasso
With a scar across your shoulder
You were kneeling by the river
You were digging up the bodies
Buried long ago
Michelangelo
Last night I dreamed about you
I dreamed you were a pilgrim
On a highway out alone to find
The mother of your children
Who were still unborn and waiting
In the wings of some desire
Abandoned long ago
Michelangelo
Were you there at Armageddon
Was Paris really burning
Could I have been the one to pull you
From the point of no returning
And did I hear you calling out my name
Or was it forgotten long ago
Michelangelo
Last night I dreamed about you
I dreamed that you were riding
On a blood red painted pony
Up where the heavens were dividing
And the angels turned to ashes
You came tumbling with them to earth
So Far below
Michelangelo
Last night I dreamed about you
I dreamed that you were dying
In a field of thorn and roses
With a hawk about you crying
For the warrior slain in battle
From an arrow driven deep inside you
Long ago
Michelangelo
Did you suffer at the end
Would there be no one to remember
Did you banish all the old ghosts
With the terms of surrender
And could you hear me calling out your name
Well I guess that I will never know
Michelangelo
Last night I dreamed about you
I dreamed that you were weeping
And your tears poured down like diamonds
For a love beyond all keeping
And you caught them one by one
In a million silk bandannas that I gave you long ago
Michelangelo
I dreamed that you were older
You were looking like Picasso
With a scar across your shoulder
You were kneeling by the river
You were digging up the bodies
Buried long ago
Michelangelo
Last night I dreamed about you
I dreamed you were a pilgrim
On a highway out alone to find
The mother of your children
Who were still unborn and waiting
In the wings of some desire
Abandoned long ago
Michelangelo
Were you there at Armageddon
Was Paris really burning
Could I have been the one to pull you
From the point of no returning
And did I hear you calling out my name
Or was it forgotten long ago
Michelangelo
Last night I dreamed about you
I dreamed that you were riding
On a blood red painted pony
Up where the heavens were dividing
And the angels turned to ashes
You came tumbling with them to earth
So Far below
Michelangelo
Last night I dreamed about you
I dreamed that you were dying
In a field of thorn and roses
With a hawk about you crying
For the warrior slain in battle
From an arrow driven deep inside you
Long ago
Michelangelo
Did you suffer at the end
Would there be no one to remember
Did you banish all the old ghosts
With the terms of surrender
And could you hear me calling out your name
Well I guess that I will never know
Michelangelo
Last night I dreamed about you
I dreamed that you were weeping
And your tears poured down like diamonds
For a love beyond all keeping
And you caught them one by one
In a million silk bandannas that I gave you long ago
Michelangelo
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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.
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Great version of a great song,
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There's no comments on this one? Maybe everyone got stuck like I am now... You really can't say anything else about it....
I read that she said this was literally about a dream she had regarding Michelangelo. I've recently read The Agony and the Ecstacy and no where in it was there any mention of Paris. Some of this can fit him, but not all of it. He never had any children of his own so far as I read.
I heard somewhere that the song was actually about Gram parsons, I actually think most of her work has been based on him.
@Beco I have thought the same thing. There are definitely lyrics that appear to refer to Parsons. -- Regarding the reference to Paris, this is book well known to WW2 enthusiasts called "Is Paris Burning?"
This is not about the artist Michaelangelo specifically but about all artists. The lyrics "paint" pictures. It could be about anybody she knew who was artistic.
There do seem to be a number of lyrical references to the an American Indian figure.
The name Michelangelo means dream and angel. She had a dream so this may be the inspiration as she mentions an Angel. I think the song is referring to someone she lost and her dreams are filled with the memory. Alsways with her in her dreams.
@Twinee1 The name is derived from combing MIchael and Angelo. <br /> <br /> Micha El means "who is like God?" It is rhetorical and implies that no one is like God. Angelo is from a Greek word meaning messenger. The combination refers to the archangel Michael who is a warrior and a messenger from Heaven. <br /> <br /> I agree that the name is used by Emmylou as a veiled reference to Gram Parsons who gave a tremendous boost to Emmylou's career and then died just when things started to take off. <br /> <br /> The reference to dying in a field of thorn and roses strongly suggests Joshua Tree National Park, a place Parsons visited a lot and he died in the town of that name. A hawk flying overhead would be common in the desert there. There are many allusions to him in the song.
The name Michelangelo has a double meaning. From the Hebrew, Micah-el (gift of God) and a reference to the great Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet; the super-artist. It is probably a very clever reference to Gram Parsons whom Harris toured with on the Grievous Angel tour which preceded the posthumous release of the album by the same name. Gram was a tortured soul who never healed from the suicide of his father and cirrhosis-stricken mother, both before he graduated high school. I imagine that was what led him to the self-destructive drug and alcohol abuse which later killed him. Harris wonders if she could have saved him.
Undoubtedly about Gram Parsons through and through, Michelangelo being the great artist, her estimation of Gram. Truly agonizing lyrics regarding his death, indicating she suffered a great deal while working through it. "An arrow driven deep inside you long ago" refers to Gram's own agony when told his father died, his scream heard throughout the house. Honestly, I'm in awe of this woman and grateful to her for bringing Gram's work and dream to us.
emmylou herself said this is the kind of song that is open for interpretations, and can mean anything you want. To me, this is a song that hits personally, because i think it is about lost hopes, lost future. Especially the part ''on a highway out alone to find the mother of your children who were still unborn and waiting in the wings of some desire abandoned long ago''. I always wanted to have children, but now with the global warming and human evilness increasing, i lost all my hopes of a future, a marriage and a family. So, to me, this is a song about lost dreams, just like red dirt girl.