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 saw mushroom head
Well, I saw mushroom head
Well, I saw mushroom head
I was born and I was dead
I was born and I was dead
Well, I saw mushroom head
Well, I saw mushroom head
Well, I saw mushroom head
I was born and I was dead
I was born and I was dead
I'm gonna give my despair
I'm gonna give my despair
I'm gonna give my despair
Well, I saw skies are red
Well, I saw skies are red
Well, I saw skies are red
I was born and I was
I was born and I was dead
I was born and I was dead
I was born and I was dead
I was born and I was dead
Well, I saw mushroom head
Well, I saw mushroom head
Well, I saw mushroom head
I was born and I was dead
I was born and I was dead
I'm gonna give my despair
I'm gonna give my despair
I'm gonna give my despair
I'm gonna give my despair
Well, I saw mushroom head
Well, I saw mushroom head
Well, I saw mushroom head
I was born and I was dead
I was born and I was dead
I was born and I was dead
Dead
Dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead
Dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead
Dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead
Dead, dead, dead, dead
Dead, dead, dead, dead
Dead, dead, dead, dead
Dead, dead, dead, dead
Well, I saw mushroom head
Well, I saw mushroom head
I was born and I was dead
I was born and I was dead
Well, I saw mushroom head
Well, I saw mushroom head
Well, I saw mushroom head
I was born and I was dead
I was born and I was dead
I'm gonna give my despair
I'm gonna give my despair
I'm gonna give my despair
Well, I saw skies are red
Well, I saw skies are red
Well, I saw skies are red
I was born and I was
I was born and I was dead
I was born and I was dead
I was born and I was dead
I was born and I was dead
Well, I saw mushroom head
Well, I saw mushroom head
Well, I saw mushroom head
I was born and I was dead
I was born and I was dead
I'm gonna give my despair
I'm gonna give my despair
I'm gonna give my despair
I'm gonna give my despair
Well, I saw mushroom head
Well, I saw mushroom head
Well, I saw mushroom head
I was born and I was dead
I was born and I was dead
I was born and I was dead
Dead
Dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead
Dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead
Dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead
Dead, dead, dead, dead
Dead, dead, dead, dead
Dead, dead, dead, dead
Dead, dead, dead, dead
Lyrics submitted by Songmeaningsuser
Mushroom Lyrics as written by Irmin Schmidt Holger Czukay
Lyrics © Royalty Network
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Light Up The Sky
Van Halen
Van Halen
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
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.
Magical
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
Amazing
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran tells a story of unsuccessfully trying to feel “Amazing.” This track is about the being weighed down by emotional stress despite valiant attempts to find some positivity in the situation. This track was written by Ed Sheeran from the perspective of his friend. From the track, we see this person fall deeper into the negative thoughts and slide further down the path of mental torment with every lyric.
Bought this when it first came out. Always thought it was "I'm gonna end my despair."
I'm thinking it's both the little shroom and the big cloud, yeah. Damo had room in his head for both.
Well, yeah, I get the "mushroom head" and the "skies were red" part, but what Mushroom was really all about was that there was a nuclear attack somewhere which was compared to the nuclear grenade dropped at the beginning of Oh Yeah. A lot of people have been posting that, anyway.
@futatorius Although your lyrics make sense, there is a pretty hard "g" sound after "gonna" that makes it unlikely that he was saying "end". It sounds almost like "I'm gonna get my despair". Not that Damo's mumbling English is reliable in any way.