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.
Melting thoughts of disintegration
Hitting deep her insistence
To mutilate her newborn infants
After giving birth her mind wasn't the same
Slowly slipping away, a state of mental decay
Family now complete
Father watches on
As mother dismembers
Her newborn son
Dissecting the specimen, split
I will explore, the body wide open
Uncover carnage within, split wide open
Virgin, untouched skin
Releasing her rage
That dwells inside
Tainted blood rushes through veins
Her body chemically changed
Love was erased, on the edge of a butcher's knife
The kitchen becomes a makeshift slaughterhouse
Every nine months she butchers one more child
Reminders of the deceased, scattered through the home
Bones and skulls of sons and daughters
Genitals ferment
In jars inside the cupboards
For father to dissect
No one will discover the murder they commit
Children used like laboratory rats
Sickening vulgar experiments
She sees what others can't
Probing the guts of her fetus
Advocation of the pain
Mutilating, draining veins
Witness the horror
Offering to themselves
Continuing murdering their own kind
Never deny this fantasy life, they enjoy
Addiction to this heightened state
Post-birth psychosis
Disjointing her own children
Form the life they'll never live
A massacre within her soul
Struggling for control
Hitting deep her insistence
To mutilate her newborn infants
After giving birth her mind wasn't the same
Slowly slipping away, a state of mental decay
Family now complete
Father watches on
As mother dismembers
Her newborn son
Dissecting the specimen, split
I will explore, the body wide open
Uncover carnage within, split wide open
Virgin, untouched skin
Releasing her rage
That dwells inside
Tainted blood rushes through veins
Her body chemically changed
Love was erased, on the edge of a butcher's knife
The kitchen becomes a makeshift slaughterhouse
Every nine months she butchers one more child
Reminders of the deceased, scattered through the home
Bones and skulls of sons and daughters
Genitals ferment
In jars inside the cupboards
For father to dissect
No one will discover the murder they commit
Children used like laboratory rats
Sickening vulgar experiments
She sees what others can't
Probing the guts of her fetus
Advocation of the pain
Mutilating, draining veins
Witness the horror
Offering to themselves
Continuing murdering their own kind
Never deny this fantasy life, they enjoy
Addiction to this heightened state
Post-birth psychosis
Disjointing her own children
Form the life they'll never live
A massacre within her soul
Struggling for control
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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.
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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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,
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
it's about an insane family, where the mother gives birth to newborns only to murder them afterwards, the father is an accomplice to the act, it is never explained why they do kill the children, but it's possibly because they want to explore they're insides, and because she lost her mind when she gave birth, as explained in the "after giving birth her mind was not the same" sentence