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.
If I could wave my magic wand
I am made from the dust of the stars
And the oceans flow in my veins
Here I hide in the heart of the city
Like a stranger coming out of the rain
The evening plane rises up from the runway
Over constellations of light
I look down into a million houses
And wonder what you're doing tonight
If I could wave my magic wand
I'd make everything all right
I'm not one to believe in magic
But I sometimes have a second-sight
I'm not one with a sense of proportion
When my heart still changes overnight
I had a dream of a winter garden
A midnight rendezvous
Silver, blue, and frozen silence
What a fool I was for you
I had a dream of the open water
I was swimming away out to sea
So deep I could never touch bottom
What a fool I used to be
If I could wave my magic wand
I'd set everybody free
I'm not one to believe in magic
Though my memory has a second-sight
I'm not one to go pointing my finger
When I radiate more heat than light
Don't ask me
I'm just improvising
My illusion of careless flight
Can't you see
My temperature's rising
I radiate more heat than light
Don't ask me
I'm just sympathizing
My illusions a harmless flight
Can't you see
My temperature's rising
I radiate more heat than light
I'm not one to believe in magic
But I sometimes have a second-sight
I'm not one with a sense of proportion
When my heart still changes overnight
I'm not one to believe in magic
If I could wave my magic wand
Though my memory has a second-sight
I'd make everything alright
I'm not one to go pointing my finger
If I could wave my magic wand
When I radiate more heat than light
I'd set everybody free
I'm not one to believe in magic
If I could wave my magic wand
I am made from the dust of the stars
And the oceans flow in my veins
Here I hide in the heart of the city
Like a stranger coming out of the rain
The evening plane rises up from the runway
Over constellations of light
I look down into a million houses
And wonder what you're doing tonight
If I could wave my magic wand
I'd make everything all right
I'm not one to believe in magic
But I sometimes have a second-sight
I'm not one with a sense of proportion
When my heart still changes overnight
I had a dream of a winter garden
A midnight rendezvous
Silver, blue, and frozen silence
What a fool I was for you
I had a dream of the open water
I was swimming away out to sea
So deep I could never touch bottom
What a fool I used to be
If I could wave my magic wand
I'd set everybody free
I'm not one to believe in magic
Though my memory has a second-sight
I'm not one to go pointing my finger
When I radiate more heat than light
Don't ask me
I'm just improvising
My illusion of careless flight
Can't you see
My temperature's rising
I radiate more heat than light
Don't ask me
I'm just sympathizing
My illusions a harmless flight
Can't you see
My temperature's rising
I radiate more heat than light
I'm not one to believe in magic
But I sometimes have a second-sight
I'm not one with a sense of proportion
When my heart still changes overnight
I'm not one to believe in magic
If I could wave my magic wand
Though my memory has a second-sight
I'd make everything alright
I'm not one to go pointing my finger
If I could wave my magic wand
When I radiate more heat than light
I'd set everybody free
I'm not one to believe in magic
If I could wave my magic wand
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Light Up The Sky
Van Halen
Van Halen
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
"Fast car" is kind of a continuation of Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run." It has all the clawing your way to a better life, but in this case the protagonist never makes it with her love; in fact she is dragged back down by him.
There is still an amazing amount of hope and will in the lyrics; and the lyrics themselve rank and easy five. If only music was stronger it would be one of those great radio songs that you hear once a week 20 years after it was released. The imagery is almost tear-jerking ("City lights lay out before us", "Speeds so fast felt like I was drunk"), and the idea of starting from nothing and just driving and working and denigrating yourself for a chance at being just above poverty, then losing in the end is just painful and inspiring at the same time.
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"
Holiday
Bee Gees
Bee Gees
@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday".
I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
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,
I think he is simply thinking about what people in random houses below are doing. As he is looking down at the millions of houses, he is thinking about the millions of people living out there lives and wondering what they may be doing.