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 want to live life
Never be cruel
I want to live life
Be good to you
I want to fly
And never come down
And live my life
And have friends around
We never change do we, no, no
We never learn do we
So I want to live in a wooden house
I want to live life always be true
I want to live life and be good to you
I want to fly and never come down
And live my life
And have friends around
We never change do we
No no
We never learn do we
So I want to live in a wooden house
Where making more friends would be easy
Oh and I don't have a soul to save
Yes and I sin every single day
We never change do we
We never learn do we
So I want to live in a wooden house
Where making more friends would be easy
I want to live where the sun comes out
Never be cruel
I want to live life
Be good to you
I want to fly
And never come down
And live my life
And have friends around
We never change do we, no, no
We never learn do we
So I want to live in a wooden house
I want to live life always be true
I want to live life and be good to you
I want to fly and never come down
And live my life
And have friends around
We never change do we
No no
We never learn do we
So I want to live in a wooden house
Where making more friends would be easy
Oh and I don't have a soul to save
Yes and I sin every single day
We never change do we
We never learn do we
So I want to live in a wooden house
Where making more friends would be easy
I want to live where the sun comes out
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Light Up The Sky
Van Halen
Van Halen
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Thursday
Thursday
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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Hayalperest
Hayalperest
This song seemingly tackles the methods of deception those who manipulate others use to get victims to follow their demands, as well as diverting attention away from important issues. They'll also use it as a means to convince people to hate or kill others by pretending acts of terrorism were committed by the enemy when the acts themselves were done by the masters of control to promote discrimination and hate. It also reinforces the idea that these manipulative forces operate in various locations, infiltrating everyday life without detection, and propagate any and everywhere.
In general, it highlights the danger of hidden agendas, manipulation, and distraction, serving as a critique of those who exploit chaos and confusion to control and gain power, depicting a cautionary tale against falling into their traps. It encourages us to question the narratives presented to us and remain vigilant against manipulation in various parts of society.
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.
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
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.
If you take a look a the entire album, you can see how the songs progress through different stages of emotions over a particular person.
To me, Shiver and Parachutes are both about liking someone who likes you only as a friend, but letting them know that you'll always be waiting for them if their feelings ever change ("I'll be waiting in line just to see if you care").
Yellow is a song of complete devotion for this one person (i go more in depth on that one in another post).
Sparks and Trouble are both about how things aren't the same once these emotions are out in the open. It's tough for friends to be the same when one has these emotions for the other, and both of these songs are about realizing that a little too late and just wanting to back to the way it was. ("if I ever caused you trouble, I never meant to do you harm").
This song is about accepting the fact that it doesn't always work out. I want to be with you, and I also want to fly. But we never change so what's the point of hoping for something that is not going to happen. The uplifting aspect of the song is that despite all the things we want but can't have, there are still some good things out there that we can still have, like having friends and living where the sun comes out. Basically it's about not letting the unattainable things in life bring you down. Which leads perfectly into the last track on the album...
Everything's Not Lost is about realizing that you can be happy without getting everything you want. Sure you might have some heartbreaks but there is always a silver lining, and if you don't see it you're just not looking at the big picture.
Sorry to comment on the whole album in this post, I wanted to get it out there in one connected, coherent thought, so I figured I might as well post it under this song, since it's my favorite off the album. Also, this is simply my viewpoint of the album because I went through almost the exact same thing. Someone else might have gone through something completely different and could still connect really well with the album. And that's why Coldplay quickly became one of my favorite bands, because their lyrics seem to speak so well to so many different people.
I've always felt pretty much exactly the same way, about the entire album. I never thought I would hear another person speak such similar feelings to mine about it, so that's really cool.<br /> <br /> this was the album that got me through and over one of the most difficult and awkward relationships I've ever had. It's for this reason that I'm convinced Coldplay haters are either ignorant of this album or else have no soul.