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.
Mercury falling
I rise from my bed
Collect my thoughts together
I have to hold my head
It seems that she's gone
And somehow I am pinned by
The hounds of winter
Howling in the wind
I walk through the day
My coat around my ears
I look for my companion
I have to dry my tears
It seems that she's gone
Leaving me too soon
I'm as dark as December
I'm as cold as the man in the moon
I still see her face
As beautiful as day
It's easy to remember
Remember my love that way
All I hear is that lonesome sound
The hounds of winter
They follow me down
I can't make up the fire
The way that she could
I spend all my days
In the search for dry wood
Board all the windows and close the front door
I can't believe she won't be here anymore
I still see her face
As beautiful as day
It's easy to remember
Remember my love that way
All I hear is that lonesome sound
The hounds of winter
They follow me down
A season for joy
A season for sorrow
Where she's gone
I will surely, surely follow
She brightened my day
She warmed the coldest night
The hounds of winter
They got me in their sights
I still see her face
As beautiful as day
It's easy to remember
Remember my love that way
All I hear is that lonesome sound
The hounds of winter
They harry me down
I rise from my bed
Collect my thoughts together
I have to hold my head
It seems that she's gone
And somehow I am pinned by
The hounds of winter
Howling in the wind
I walk through the day
My coat around my ears
I look for my companion
I have to dry my tears
It seems that she's gone
Leaving me too soon
I'm as dark as December
I'm as cold as the man in the moon
I still see her face
As beautiful as day
It's easy to remember
Remember my love that way
All I hear is that lonesome sound
The hounds of winter
They follow me down
I can't make up the fire
The way that she could
I spend all my days
In the search for dry wood
Board all the windows and close the front door
I can't believe she won't be here anymore
I still see her face
As beautiful as day
It's easy to remember
Remember my love that way
All I hear is that lonesome sound
The hounds of winter
They follow me down
A season for joy
A season for sorrow
Where she's gone
I will surely, surely follow
She brightened my day
She warmed the coldest night
The hounds of winter
They got me in their sights
I still see her face
As beautiful as day
It's easy to remember
Remember my love that way
All I hear is that lonesome sound
The hounds of winter
They harry me down
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Has he said it's about his divorce? I think it's about someone who died. There are a couple of reasons for this. He says "Where she's gone I will surely, surely follow." We all die eventually, but don't generally follow our ex-wives around. He goes on to say "The Hounds of Winter - They got me in their sights." "Got me in their sights" generally means in the sight of a sniper's gun.
This is a GREAT song! The lyrics and the background music go so WELL together. Sting is just an incredible musician and lyricist. He's just amazing.. LOL! Ok enough Sting gushing, on to the song's meaning to me..
I guess this song was made about his divorce and he's describing this cold, lonely, dark winter alone to show his intense lonelyness and his desolation and his pain from losing someone he loved he feels so cold and lonely in his heart.
I like this song as well. The creative insertion of the cd title "Mercury Falling" in this song and in "Lithium Sunset" is quite clever. I also like the use of "Mercury Falling" as musical imagery because it could mean a few things. Does it refer to Mercury, messenger for the gods, falling or does it refer to a sudden marked drop in the thermostat? Perhaps both.
The album title, 'Mercury Falling', is drawn from the lyrics of the first song, 'The Hounds of Winter'. Says Sting, who wrote most of the album in his Wiltshire home: "The line 'mercury falling' is very literal. It was getting colder and I wanted to write a song about the winter... And it's a phrase that's resonant with references. Mercury is so many things. It's a liquid, an element, a planet, a poison, a god. So it was redolent of all of those references. And I also feel that if you describe the album, it's very mercurial."
This is quite interesting as this must be his first feelings on his divorce...and then he realizes he is happy, hence the song "I'm So Happy That I Can't Stop Crying", which is towards the end of the same album.
It seems like the entire album "Mercury Falling" is about his wife and his divorce, pretty much all the songs have to do with this topic.
I love this song. My first wife walked out on our marriage at the beginning of November, so the juxtaposition of loss and the cold winter has real resonance for me. Even now, over 2 decades later, and happily married again, I still sometimes feel down at that same point in the year.
As ever, Sting has this amazing ability to capture in words what so many of us feel.
I think it's about the loss of his dog. On the inside cover there is a picture of him and his Irish wolf hound.