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.
What do you see in the dark
When the demons come for you
If only you could have seen
How fucked up my life used to be
Then everything starts to change
Supposedly healing my pain
I never thought I'd feel this way
I never thought that I'd see a day
I'd run away from anything or anywhere or anyone
It's all these demons haunting me
Its all these little things trapped inside of me
Releasing me from all my sin
It's taken me all of my anger
And taken me all of my hate
To learn how my life came together
Releasing the demons again
And now I look through my minds eye
And see where my past needs to rest
Its always disturbed by these voices
That echo inside of my head
Another way that I can hide
Another reason to crawl inside and get away
From everything and everywhere and everyone
NO!
It's all these demons haunting me
Its all these little things trapped inside of me
Releasing me from all my sin
It's taken me all of my anger
And taken me all of my hate
To learn how my life came together
Releasing the demons, again
Facing the days as I grow into my own
Loving and hating is the same
And three-fold I told you
It comes back with laughter
Over and over again
It's coming back
It's taken me all of my anger
And taken me all of my hate
To learn how my life came together
Releasing the demons again
When the demons come for you
If only you could have seen
How fucked up my life used to be
Then everything starts to change
Supposedly healing my pain
I never thought I'd feel this way
I never thought that I'd see a day
I'd run away from anything or anywhere or anyone
It's all these demons haunting me
Its all these little things trapped inside of me
Releasing me from all my sin
It's taken me all of my anger
And taken me all of my hate
To learn how my life came together
Releasing the demons again
And now I look through my minds eye
And see where my past needs to rest
Its always disturbed by these voices
That echo inside of my head
Another way that I can hide
Another reason to crawl inside and get away
From everything and everywhere and everyone
NO!
It's all these demons haunting me
Its all these little things trapped inside of me
Releasing me from all my sin
It's taken me all of my anger
And taken me all of my hate
To learn how my life came together
Releasing the demons, again
Facing the days as I grow into my own
Loving and hating is the same
And three-fold I told you
It comes back with laughter
Over and over again
It's coming back
It's taken me all of my anger
And taken me all of my hate
To learn how my life came together
Releasing the demons again
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Sully (lead singer) is a Wiccan. All wiccans have a "threefold" rule: Whatever you send out, whether it be good or bad, comes back to you threefolds. In this song, Sully had released demons from his body resulting in more demons returning. In the middle of the song: "And threefold i told you it comes back with laughter", he speaks of the demons coming back at him threefolds with laughter. It makes perfect sense.
I agree with quick and i am Wicca as well but, there are different types of wiccan. I also can relate with this song. It seems to me in this song that he had to see himself, through all of his hate. When your are angry or upset you can't think as clear. When you release everything (i take mine out on a punching bag)you can find yourself again.
Releasing anger is like all hell breaking loose therefore you are releasing the demons
I aree with Korngirljp....sounds good to me.
nice
lova this song! hey theres pyrolova007, thats my old one! haha!
It seems a little more complex than just releasing anger. He seems to talk about creating a new life for himself by releasing pent up hate and rage (his demons). Not really sure how that works out except in a place or time where fighting or something would provide status, but a nice song either way.
this song rings a chord with me. When a person has built up enough hate, enough anger, it starts to eat away inside them. And even when they have overcome whatever has caused that hate, the voices still remain, hence the line "it's coming back".
"It's taken me all of my anger And taken me all of my hate To learn how my life came together Releasing the demons again."
Pretty simple, honestly. He released all his anger and hate, and finally found out what was wrong with his life. That caused him to start hiding from people in order to try to avoid going through that, but that only made it worse--he had no-one to talk to, so his anger started coming back 'three-fold'. That caused him to withdraw more, which caused him to get even angrier, etc.
It's about a vicious cycle. It has no happy ending, like many Godsmack songs.
Wouldn't it be nice if people actually said their take on meanings on a site like SongMeanings? Aside from that, this seems to be about somebody, not necessarily the singer, essentially going batshit crazy and just letting it all flow out, and then realizing, maybe in prison, to see how his life was screwed up and what caused it. Definitely worthy of being a single, and one of the greatest songs ever in my opinion.