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.
Sound system gonna bring me back up
Yeah, one thing that I can depend on
Sound system gonna bring me back up
Right, one thing that I can depend on
Try to describe it to the limit of my ability
It's there for a second, then it's giving up what it used to be
Contained in music, somehow more than just sound
This inspiration coming and twisting things around
'Cause you always know that it's gonna have to go
You always know that you'll be back in the cold
Point of departure sublimated in a song
It's always coming to give me that hope for just a second then it's gone but
Sound system gonna bring me back up
Right, one thing that I can depend on
Sound system gonna bring me back up
Yeah, one thing that I can depend on
Static pulse inside of music bringing us escape
It's always temporary, changing nothing in its wake
Just a second where we're leaving all this shit behind
Just a second, but it's leaving just this much in mind
To resist despair, that second makes you see
To resist despair, 'cause you can't change everything
To resist despair, in this world is
What it is, what it is, what it is to be free
Sound system gonna bring me back up
Right, one thing that I can depend on
Sound system gonna bring me back up
Yeah, one thing that I can depend on
Hup, hup, hup, hup
Pick it up, pick it up, pick it up
Pick it up, pick it up (sound system), pick it up, pick it up, pick it up
Sound system
Sound system
Wake up, turn my box on, bust the shade, let the sun in
Times are getting tougher, 'bout time to start running
Box in my hand, music by my side
Skankin' to the rhythm of the music by my side
Sound system gonna bring me back up
Yeah, one thing that I can depend on
Sound system gonna bring me back up
Right, one thing that I can depend on
Yeah
Sound system gonna bring me back up
Right, one thing that I can depend on
Sound system gonna bring me back up
Yeah, one thing that I can depend on
Sound (sound) system (system)
Sound (sound) system (system)
Yeah, one thing that I can depend on
Sound system gonna bring me back up
Right, one thing that I can depend on
Try to describe it to the limit of my ability
It's there for a second, then it's giving up what it used to be
Contained in music, somehow more than just sound
This inspiration coming and twisting things around
'Cause you always know that it's gonna have to go
You always know that you'll be back in the cold
Point of departure sublimated in a song
It's always coming to give me that hope for just a second then it's gone but
Sound system gonna bring me back up
Right, one thing that I can depend on
Sound system gonna bring me back up
Yeah, one thing that I can depend on
Static pulse inside of music bringing us escape
It's always temporary, changing nothing in its wake
Just a second where we're leaving all this shit behind
Just a second, but it's leaving just this much in mind
To resist despair, that second makes you see
To resist despair, 'cause you can't change everything
To resist despair, in this world is
What it is, what it is, what it is to be free
Sound system gonna bring me back up
Right, one thing that I can depend on
Sound system gonna bring me back up
Yeah, one thing that I can depend on
Hup, hup, hup, hup
Pick it up, pick it up, pick it up
Pick it up, pick it up (sound system), pick it up, pick it up, pick it up
Sound system
Sound system
Wake up, turn my box on, bust the shade, let the sun in
Times are getting tougher, 'bout time to start running
Box in my hand, music by my side
Skankin' to the rhythm of the music by my side
Sound system gonna bring me back up
Yeah, one thing that I can depend on
Sound system gonna bring me back up
Right, one thing that I can depend on
Yeah
Sound system gonna bring me back up
Right, one thing that I can depend on
Sound system gonna bring me back up
Yeah, one thing that I can depend on
Sound (sound) system (system)
Sound (sound) system (system)
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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"
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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,
Head > Heels
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This song is about no matter how many problems you have, and how little hope you have, you can forget all of your problems and the world's problems with music. It's a great message, as is all of Op ivy's music.