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.
The midnight moon is feeling high
She won't come down till the morning light
When opposite set scenery
Drapes unimpressed plasticine
Where cookies cut can play their games
Wear the shirts of price tag names
All the biggies selling fame
Can smell your blood yearning
(If that's what it costs)
Don't contest electric light
Come pull the cord kiss me goodnight
Bound in blood, dollar signs confirmed
Your eyes still hold the secret
Shut your eyes don't breathe so loud
It's just an episode
Shut your eyes don't talk to loud
It's just an episode
(If that's what it costs than)
(I am free)
If that's what it costs
Then I am free
Doesn't this just smell familiar?
You cut your fingernails like your soul
And if I ripped your heart right from you
Would you feel it? Would you feel it at all?
Doesn't this just smell familiar?
A pretty penny now you paid your pride
If I ripped your heart right from you
Would you feel it? Would you feel it at all?
Would you feel it at all?
It all starts with a sound
And a firm embrace
The will to conspire
The need to suck-seed
Don't look down, now you're surrounded
Beady black eyes, lip licks shrouded
Heart's best constricted, foam-filled with plastic
Kiss, kiss luxury, head's getting clouded
See the sparkle of the heretic's scream
The green gleam and the four-legged fiend
A flick of fountains and the kings been hailed
Don't worry baby 'cause we're all for sale
If that's what it costs
If that's what it costs
Then I am free
Doesn't this just smell familiar?
You cut your fingernails like your soul
If I ripped your heart right from you
Would you feel it? Would you feel it at all?
Doesn't this just smell familiar?
A pretty penny now you paid your pride
If I ripped your heart right from you
Would you feel it? Would you feel it at all?
It surrounds, surrounds
We all like to dance around it
It surrounds, surrounds
We all like to dance around it
Dance around it
Around and around
(Don't stop now, feel it)
It surrounds, surrounds
We all like to dance around it
It surrounds, surrounds
She won't come down till the morning light
When opposite set scenery
Drapes unimpressed plasticine
Where cookies cut can play their games
Wear the shirts of price tag names
All the biggies selling fame
Can smell your blood yearning
(If that's what it costs)
Don't contest electric light
Come pull the cord kiss me goodnight
Bound in blood, dollar signs confirmed
Your eyes still hold the secret
Shut your eyes don't breathe so loud
It's just an episode
Shut your eyes don't talk to loud
It's just an episode
(If that's what it costs than)
(I am free)
If that's what it costs
Then I am free
Doesn't this just smell familiar?
You cut your fingernails like your soul
And if I ripped your heart right from you
Would you feel it? Would you feel it at all?
Doesn't this just smell familiar?
A pretty penny now you paid your pride
If I ripped your heart right from you
Would you feel it? Would you feel it at all?
Would you feel it at all?
It all starts with a sound
And a firm embrace
The will to conspire
The need to suck-seed
Don't look down, now you're surrounded
Beady black eyes, lip licks shrouded
Heart's best constricted, foam-filled with plastic
Kiss, kiss luxury, head's getting clouded
See the sparkle of the heretic's scream
The green gleam and the four-legged fiend
A flick of fountains and the kings been hailed
Don't worry baby 'cause we're all for sale
If that's what it costs
If that's what it costs
Then I am free
Doesn't this just smell familiar?
You cut your fingernails like your soul
If I ripped your heart right from you
Would you feel it? Would you feel it at all?
Doesn't this just smell familiar?
A pretty penny now you paid your pride
If I ripped your heart right from you
Would you feel it? Would you feel it at all?
It surrounds, surrounds
We all like to dance around it
It surrounds, surrounds
We all like to dance around it
Dance around it
Around and around
(Don't stop now, feel it)
It surrounds, surrounds
We all like to dance around it
It surrounds, surrounds
Lyrics submitted by MizunoPunk
Dinna-Dawg (And the Inevitable Onset of Lunacy) Lyrics as written by Matthew Dean Embree Christopher Tyler Tsagakis
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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to me, this song looks like a song about consumerism and how we are all fashion slaves and there is no escaping it. The phrases like, "where cookies cut can play their games/wear the shirts of their pricetag names." This is describing how everyone looks and dresses in the same expensive clothing and look like they were made from cookie cutters. The game that they play is sex which he goes into in the next verse when he says "come pull the cord kiss me goodnight/bound in blood dollar signs confirmed" and then "Shut your eyes don't breathe so loud/it's just and episode/shut your eyes don't talk so loud/ it's just an episode/if thats what it costs then I am free" this whole thing talks about how meaningless sex has become as we have sex with anything that will be a slave to the fashions. Then calling it an "episode" which just is just rhetoric that relates to a trend follower that can easily identify with the situation if they consider it an "episode" like they would see on their favorite TV show. The line "a pretty penny now you paid your price/if I ripped my heart fight from you/would you feel it?" this whole thing is also about how meaningless all the sex is and that relationships have become completely meaningless due to our densensitization and how we've become mere herd animals following any trend that will allow us to be "free". I'm kinda rambling, I could be wrong.
consumerism is a common theme of theirs so i'd venture to say your interpretation has merit
i've just recently started to listen to em
"don't worry baby cuz we're all for sale" - love that line
"You cut your fingernails like your soul" is the correct lyric. Awesome song
I agree somewhat with jim, but I think otherwise on the episode part. A few of the songs on this CD come to me as heroin songs or just another seriously bad drug. The episode is him coming down.....shut your eyes don't speak cause things are loud and scary.
love RXB Matt is an amazing lyricist
yeah the first comment said it pretty well, thats what i think they were going for, the portrayal of sex and fashion in todays society, and also peoples inablilty to express themselves. rather they rely on what others can see to impress them and not basing anything off of emotion or feeling. They wrap it up by saying its everywhere, the problem is obvious, though we all chooses to ignore it.. "it surrounds, surrounds. We all like to dance around it." Brilliant work from my favorite band, have seen em live twice, but it still isn't enough. If you get the chance to see them, don't pass it up, you will not be disappointed.
I think that the first commenter is mostly right, but they're missing out something key. The song is about pimping and prostitution and how it's a byproduct of our modern consumer lifestyle. It's about how the capitalist system is corrupting everything.
The bridge, starting with "It all starts with a sound/And a firm embrace/The will to conspire/The will to suck-seed," is probably the biggest tip-off. From there they get pretty explicit about the sexual nature of this "will to conspire," as the lines build to the big reveal "The green gleam and the four-legged fiend/A flick of fountain and the King's been hailed/Don't worry baby 'cause we're all for sale."
The other lines "if I ripped your heart right from you, would you feel it?/Would you feel it at all," are probably about the pimp, or maybe the dehumanizing nature of the sex trade.