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.
Daisies stand up on their tip-toes
Clouds tumble over themselves in the sky
And all the pretty horses come runnin’ to her
And even the dust devils pray,
that they'll catch her eye
I haunt her house from the outside
I watch her bake cornbread and talk on the phone
And the wireless on the inside plays a sad sweet song
A mute moonlit statue am I, she waltzes alone
But baby, baby, I could call you baby
If I weren’t so empty in the head and tied up in the tongue
And baby, baby, I could call you baby
If I weren’t so green and dumb
The wind ain’t stopped blowin’ since morning
It’s got me froze up on the inside
And I could get warm in the bunk house
And thaw out on coffee and bread
But baby, baby, I could call you baby
If I weren’t so empty in the head and tied up in the tongue
But baby, baby, I could call you baby
If I weren’t so green and dumb
I need your government warning
like I need a hole in my head
Well, I won’t shoot your coyotes
And I won’t burn your weeds
Your paycheck won’t fill up this hollow
It won't dull all the achin'
But baby, baby, I could call you baby
If I weren’t so empty in the head and tied up in the tongue
But baby, baby, I could call you baby
If I weren’t so green & dumb
If I weren’t so green & dumb
If I weren’t so green & dumb
If I weren’t so green & dumb
Clouds tumble over themselves in the sky
And all the pretty horses come runnin’ to her
And even the dust devils pray,
that they'll catch her eye
I haunt her house from the outside
I watch her bake cornbread and talk on the phone
And the wireless on the inside plays a sad sweet song
A mute moonlit statue am I, she waltzes alone
But baby, baby, I could call you baby
If I weren’t so empty in the head and tied up in the tongue
And baby, baby, I could call you baby
If I weren’t so green and dumb
The wind ain’t stopped blowin’ since morning
It’s got me froze up on the inside
And I could get warm in the bunk house
And thaw out on coffee and bread
But baby, baby, I could call you baby
If I weren’t so empty in the head and tied up in the tongue
But baby, baby, I could call you baby
If I weren’t so green and dumb
I need your government warning
like I need a hole in my head
Well, I won’t shoot your coyotes
And I won’t burn your weeds
Your paycheck won’t fill up this hollow
It won't dull all the achin'
But baby, baby, I could call you baby
If I weren’t so empty in the head and tied up in the tongue
But baby, baby, I could call you baby
If I weren’t so green & dumb
If I weren’t so green & dumb
If I weren’t so green & dumb
If I weren’t so green & dumb
Lyrics submitted by Falc
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Beautiful love song. Gives me chills every time. You don't hear waltz's much from today's artists.
You've got some of the lyrics wrong....
Good call Murphys! This band is solid and this is one of the first slow tunes they did well. The live versions of all Rogers songs seem so much more powerful. We need more hits on this band and the Refreshments. Roger is a brilliant song writer.
You are absolutely right dconley. I've loved the Refreshments for as long as I can remember...they've always been one of my favorite bands. Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers is just as amazing, I hardly go a day without listening to either one at least once. This song is one of my favorites on Honky Tonk Union. Its just too bad that more people don't listen to them around here.
There's a pretty cool interview with Roger out on youtube where he talks about two inspirations for this song, one was the migrant workers on his family's ranch when he was a youngster, that after work they always stayed to themselves and did their thing and the family did their own thing, and they didn't mingle much, and imagining this feeling of being outside the ranch house but looking in and seeing the family there, and the second being after a fight with his wife at his parents house and basically getting booted out for a while til he calmed down and looking in and seeing her dancing to the radio and wanting to be back together...just a beautiful song.