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.
Blessed witrh an eye to see things as they are,
Will you draw me?
Up there on the wall,
Looking down to us all,
You never saw me
I found a pen and I outlined a life.
You've never cried,
I think I saw a tear in your eye.
Your eyes tell the tale,
I will not ask again.
Now I see what you've lost,
Nothing is quite the same.
By the love of my heart,
Cut my drawing in half,
For I think I'm like you
Should you draw me
Waiting for my evenfall.
Farewell, my passion,
You slowly turn pale.
I will long for your warmth,
Made me feel safe.
I will not draw again,
'Til I know it's my time.
I have lived a long life,
Should I draw me
Morning's here, I must have failed
Will you draw me?
Up there on the wall,
Looking down to us all,
You never saw me
I found a pen and I outlined a life.
You've never cried,
I think I saw a tear in your eye.
Your eyes tell the tale,
I will not ask again.
Now I see what you've lost,
Nothing is quite the same.
By the love of my heart,
Cut my drawing in half,
For I think I'm like you
Should you draw me
Waiting for my evenfall.
Farewell, my passion,
You slowly turn pale.
I will long for your warmth,
Made me feel safe.
I will not draw again,
'Til I know it's my time.
I have lived a long life,
Should I draw me
Morning's here, I must have failed
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true that man. i always thought that when he says "morning's here, I must have... failed..." he means, krap, im stil alive!
if they put this much into the lyrics, then they could put it into the music too, so as the song is sad, the part when the electric comes could be symbolyzing the strikin fear and feelin of being alive still...
he says "i must have... faiiiiilleeeed" n b4 he finishes failed, the guitars come, as if they were killing or striking him, I always imagine this part as he singin this on a dark background n then then guitars are like some kind of light passin thru him n he fallin to the ground... or he kneeling down and the guitars are like fire passin around him n then the camera going away from him..
ideas...
I think this song may be a distant reference to an amazing but true story that happened in the early 1900s.
There was a painter named Andre Marcellin who did beautiful landscapes - people would often ask him to do portraits, but he would refuse. At last, a banker persuaded Andre to paint him, and 2 days after the portrait was finished, the banker died.
6 months later, a lady came to him and asked to have her picture done - Andre agreed to paint her, but alas, 2 days later, the woman died.
After this, Andre was sure his paintings were cursed. He vowed never to paint a portrait of anyone again. And he kept his vow - until he met a lovely woman who he became engaged with. She begged him to do a portrait of her, and if he didn't, she wouldn't marry him. He was persuaded at last, and a week after he finished her portrait, she died.
Marcellin was filled with sadness and guilt. For weeks he sat alone in his studio, doing nothing. Finally, he started to work on another picture. This one was of himself. A few days after it was finished, Andre Marcellin, the great painter, was dead.
If you read the lyrics in this song, you can see where that historical true event could fit in. The end of the song is when tragedy strikes - he wants to draw a portrait of himself and is hoping for death, but in the morning, he awakens; death won't come to those who desire it.
Thats exactly what this song is about. I heard Tony about it once. He explained it. And he also said it was a true story.
~Tony said in an interview once: "My friend's dad used to draw when he was younger and he drew a big painting of his own father and soon after that his father died. Then he drew his own brother and shortly after he also died. After this he decided he will never draw again - he just won't. "~
They're playing this live on their current trip through the U.S. with Nightwish. At the show in Worcester, MA, Tony introduced this song by saying essentially what SeppoIlmarinen quoted him as saying. Followed by "True story."
YEah... that's probably what Tony meant. In my opinion this is one of the greatest, most powerful songs ever writtten... it even occaisionally makes me cry... Why I got out of is, is there is a man, who meets a woman that loves to draw. And The woman inspires this man to also draw, and they draw eachother and other things together, but then the woman falls ill and the mans inspiration fades. "Farewell, my passion, you slowly turn pale I will long for your warmth, made me feel safe". This is the part where I get a little misty eyed, I picture the man sitting at her bedside and He watches her slowly die. He creates a false hope for himself, thinking that maybe if he drew her once more, she would get better. But then the part, "Morning´s here, I must have ...failed" He walks up at her beside to find her dead, he has failed... That's when waterworks really start for me. I don't care, call me a wuss. This is one of the most beautiful songs ever writen. Tony wasn't kidding when he said "I can change one note and make you cry." HE wakes up at her bedside
I think this song is about someone who commited suicide. I'm not sure.
This man/woman has drawn someone and the drawn person commited suicide, so the one who has drawn him/her becomes depressed and decide to never draw again until he dies. He's thinkin' he's gonna die but in the end he wakes up beeing alive.
are you sure there is really a Andre Marcellin? I can't find nuthing on him. I can't find an article anywhere on the net about Andre Marcellin I think someone should post a link here for anyone who wants to have a better look at the life of Andre Marcellin.
Quite amazing tale and it would match many lines from the song, but I'm suffering from same problem as Grim here. I can't find any articles on a painter called Andre Marcellin (with or without accents on characters) or painters whose models keep dying - and you can be sure such a case would be recorded for posterity on many sites on unusual phenomenon. Additionally there's the problem the lyrics contain both "Should you draw me?" and "Should I draw me?" That said, I found many of the tracks on Winterheart's Guild quite mysterious, perhaps more so than any other Sonata Arctica album, and this one of the tracks whose meaning simply didn't open to me. I did note that "Gravenimage", "(Playwright's) Misery" and "Draw Me" are seemingly about three fine arts - musical, written and visual, in that order. There is also a heavy relationship-influence going on here, so I prefer to see the three as a grand artistic loveletter. There's probably more going on than that, though.
As much as I'd like to believe the Marcellin story (because it's an awesome concept), the actually story behind the song is somewhat similar, but not as interesting.
Tony said in an interview once: "My friend's dad used to draw when he was younger and he drew a big painting of his own father and soon after that his father died. Then he drew his own brother and shortly after he also died. After this he decided he will never draw again - he just won't. "
Sort of the same idea as the Marcelling legend, but this one is actually true :-)
ciao.de/Jenseits_des_Vorstellbaren_Farkas_Viktor__Test_2595434 This is the only reference I found about Marcellin. Unfortunately it is in german, so I will try to tell something about the book (note that I have not read it, I just speak german and read the article) . It's written by a guy named Viktor Farkas (never heard of him) and is about these "strange but true incidents". One of the incidents described is abaout the painter Andre Marcellin, dies 1914. The story is almost the same as posted by Confinedinsanity, but in the book there are also events described that happened after Andre's dead. People died after buying one of his paintings, a house burned down and only his painting remained etc.....
Well, in my opinion it's just a story to earn money, since those books always sell good^^, and as I said before, there is no other trace of Marcellin on the web, so I think Farkas just made up the hole story.
"...Blessed with an eye to see things as they are, will you draw me?..."
Regardless of what the song is about, that opening line is so powerful. To me, whether it is a literal or metaphorical "drawing", it is the idea behind drawing a person... Finding someone who can show you exactly what you are, without softening it around the edges.
I love this song, it's full of emotion and so beautiful.