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.
My baby needs a shepherd
She´s lost out on the hill
Too late I tried to call her
When the night was cold and still
And I tell myself I´ll find her
But I know I never will
My baby needs a shepherd
She´s lost out on the hill
My baby needs an angel
She never learned to fly
She´ll not reach sanctuary
Just by looking to the sky
I guess I could have carried her
But I didn't even try
My baby needs an angel
She never learned to fly
Oh I ran so far through a broken land
I was following that drummer
Beating in a different band
And somewhere on the highway
I´let go of her hand
Now she´s gone forever
Like her footprints in the sand
Toora loora loora lo
First the seed and then the rose
Toora loora loora li
My kingdom for a lullaby
My baby needs a pilot
She has no magic wand
To help her part the troubled waters
Of the Rubicon
But in my soul I know she´ll
Have to go this one alone
After all that is only way she´s ever known
But there is no lamp in all this dark
That could chase away her shadow
From the corners of my heart
I pray she´s ride a dolphin
But she´s swimming with the shark
Out where none can save her
Not even Noah and his ark
Toora loora loora lo
To the cradle comes the crow
Toora loora loora li
My kingdom for a lullaby
My baby needs a mother
To love her till the end
Up every rugged mountain
And down every road that bends
Sometimes I hear her cryin'
But I guess it´s just the wind
My baby needs a mother
To love her till the end
She´s lost out on the hill
Too late I tried to call her
When the night was cold and still
And I tell myself I´ll find her
But I know I never will
My baby needs a shepherd
She´s lost out on the hill
My baby needs an angel
She never learned to fly
She´ll not reach sanctuary
Just by looking to the sky
I guess I could have carried her
But I didn't even try
My baby needs an angel
She never learned to fly
Oh I ran so far through a broken land
I was following that drummer
Beating in a different band
And somewhere on the highway
I´let go of her hand
Now she´s gone forever
Like her footprints in the sand
Toora loora loora lo
First the seed and then the rose
Toora loora loora li
My kingdom for a lullaby
My baby needs a pilot
She has no magic wand
To help her part the troubled waters
Of the Rubicon
But in my soul I know she´ll
Have to go this one alone
After all that is only way she´s ever known
But there is no lamp in all this dark
That could chase away her shadow
From the corners of my heart
I pray she´s ride a dolphin
But she´s swimming with the shark
Out where none can save her
Not even Noah and his ark
Toora loora loora lo
To the cradle comes the crow
Toora loora loora li
My kingdom for a lullaby
My baby needs a mother
To love her till the end
Up every rugged mountain
And down every road that bends
Sometimes I hear her cryin'
But I guess it´s just the wind
My baby needs a mother
To love her till the end
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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"
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
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,
When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
I think this song is a song from a mother who gave her baby up for adoption. definitely a song full of regret
I don't think it is about someone who gave up a baby for adoption or abortion although I can see how you can see it that way. I think it is about someone who had a child when they were really young or not ready to have children. Now the child is an adult and the mother wants to have a closer relationship with their child but the child doesn't want to. Maybe because they think if you weren't there for me then why would you now. But it is def full of regret.
Also nice backup vocals by Patty Griffin. Who you should all be listening to if your not already! ;o) Patty is so talented!
I think its about either abortion or stillbirth. that's just what I think of when I hear the lyrics. The song has helped me cope with such an event, and because I'm a private person I use song lyrics many times if I don't want to go into too much detail if I'm having a hard time with things. This works great on facebook as I've quoted certain verses in this song on more then one occasion.
I think its about either abortion or stillbirth. that's just what I think of when I hear the lyrics. The song has helped me cope with such an event, and because I'm a private person I use song lyrics many times if I don't want to go into too much detail if I'm having a hard time with things. This works great on facebook as I've quoted certain verses in this song on more then one occasion.
My feeling is that she is singing about herself. The verse about chasing the drummer playing in a different band. Definitely regret and sadness, but honestly, I think she is saying she was not a good mother to her baby.
Could this one be about a woman who now regrets the abortion she has had? It works almost perfectly when read this way. The line "Toora loora loora lo" is a reference to an old lullaby and "My kindom for a lullaby" seems a reference to Shakespeare's Richard III where King Richard III is unhorsed on a battlefield and knows he will die unless he gets a horse (My kingdom for a horse). He doesn't get a horse and he does, in fact, get killed.
A powerful song.