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.
We held hands on the last night on Earth
Our mouths filled with dust
We kissed in the fields and under trees
Screaming like dogs and bleeding dark into the leaves
It was empty on the edge of town but
We knew everyone floated along the bottom of the river
So we walked through the waste where the road curved into sea
And the shattered seasons lay
And the bitter smell of burning was on you like a disease
In our cancer of passion you said
"Death is a midnight runner"
The sky had come crashing down like the news of an intimate suicide
We picked up the shards and formed them into shapes of stars
That wore like an antique wedding dress
The echoes of the past broke the hearts of the unborn
As the ferris wheel silently slowed to a stop
The few insects skittered away in hopes of a better pastime
I kissed you at the apex of the maelstrom and asked
If you would accompany me in a quick fall
But you made me realize my ticket wasn't good for two
I rode alone
You said "The cinders are falling like snow"
There is poetry in despair and we sang with unrivaled beauty
Bitter elegies of savagery and eloquence
Of blue and grey
Strange, we ran down desperate streets and carved our names
In the flesh of the city
The sun has stagnated somewhere beyond the rim of the hirizon
And the darkness is a mystery of curves and lines
Still, we lay under the emptiness and drifted slowly outward
And somewhere in the wilderness we found salvation
Scratched into the Earth like a message
Our mouths filled with dust
We kissed in the fields and under trees
Screaming like dogs and bleeding dark into the leaves
It was empty on the edge of town but
We knew everyone floated along the bottom of the river
So we walked through the waste where the road curved into sea
And the shattered seasons lay
And the bitter smell of burning was on you like a disease
In our cancer of passion you said
"Death is a midnight runner"
The sky had come crashing down like the news of an intimate suicide
We picked up the shards and formed them into shapes of stars
That wore like an antique wedding dress
The echoes of the past broke the hearts of the unborn
As the ferris wheel silently slowed to a stop
The few insects skittered away in hopes of a better pastime
I kissed you at the apex of the maelstrom and asked
If you would accompany me in a quick fall
But you made me realize my ticket wasn't good for two
I rode alone
You said "The cinders are falling like snow"
There is poetry in despair and we sang with unrivaled beauty
Bitter elegies of savagery and eloquence
Of blue and grey
Strange, we ran down desperate streets and carved our names
In the flesh of the city
The sun has stagnated somewhere beyond the rim of the hirizon
And the darkness is a mystery of curves and lines
Still, we lay under the emptiness and drifted slowly outward
And somewhere in the wilderness we found salvation
Scratched into the Earth like a message
Lyrics submitted by poodleaction
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I think that the whole thing is a 'how would you feel if..' sort of thing. I heard that Jade wrote the first/third part and Davey wrote the second. Can anybody clarify that for me?
I love how this part just leads right into This Time Imperfect. It really makes you feel for the song.
Beautiful Amazing Breathtaking Mind-Boggling
I'm still thinking of exactly what I get from this poem. But, I can't get over the odd thought that the "you" in this isn't actually a person, but an emotion or state of mind or sometihing
Brilliant poem..I cant believe no one's commented on this yet! I think I get the general jist of the idea it's trying to explain. But its too vague for me to get if theres a definite subject or meaning from it, but what the hey I'll give it a try...
The first time a heard it, I automatically noticed how a young boy speaks first, then a man(I think it's Davey?!), then an elderly man. So i guess in some ways it's showing a whole lifetime, and how you would interpret the world from different ages. But the first paragraph is pretty technical for a kid:P This also gave me the idea of birth,life and death,the 3 stages of existence,is it?
I also got the impression that something horrible has happened,maybe a war, hurricane, tsunami, bush getting re-elected?maybe deeper 'metaphorical' meanings i dont know. And also by the end of it all the shit has gone and everything's good now "we found salvation scracthed into the earth like a message"(last line).
And he's always refering to "you" and "we",which could possibly be anyone,a girlfriend, friend, Mum, Dad, brother, sister, dog, plant, the listener of the song?OR he could be talking to a different person in every paragraph,or line?who knows?
Anyway, thats all i got outta that, pretty crappy i know, but yea, i'm not much of a thinker, what are your thoughts?goodbye, good night, thankyou. I'm here till thursday, try the veil!
I'm pretty sure it's about two people surviving the armageddon.
this poem is really pretty. i love listening to it
I love listening to this poem. is there an official name to it? anyway, i think its about armagedon and being the last two people on earth, maybe its reffering to love and how wen ur with that special someone it feels as if ur the only ones on earth. but it sounds as if it has a much darker meaning. like suicide "If you would accompany me in a quick fall But you made me realize my ticket wasn't good for two"
ju
This poem is amazing.... i think it was a persons past, present, and future.... Theirs a little boy speaking and thats him when hes a boy, and love seemed infinite.... 'we kissed in the fields and under trees' and that they were the only ones alive and thats all that mattered 'it was empty on the edge of town'.
The second part, i think, was about the present; 'his sky had come crashing down'.... 'i kissed you at the apex of the malstrom, and asked if you'd accompany me in a quick fall, but you made me realize that my ticket wasnt for two... i rode alone' someone might of left him and the older voice will be of whats to come?
first of all i would just like to say that i love how this song starts. "we held hands on the last night on earth." it's truly beautifull as well are the voices and backround music. i think it's so passionate to talk about holding hands and just kissing in your last moments rather than having sex. secondly, i would like to believe that it has a deeper, less obvious meaning that what people have been saying. it would be quite interesting if it really was about armagedon. did you guys hear that "officially" somewhere? weird. anyway, i have my theories about this poem/song, but this is so complex that i would have to tell you the meaning of each thing, line by line which would be very long and i don't feel like typing it all. if any of you would like to hear it i would be glad to tell you though some other time in an e-mail or something so if you're curious on my views let me know.
this poem is so powerful! i love it. i understand that everyone takes a different meaning from songs but here's what i think its about.
its the last night on earth, the apocalypse is here, nuclear war has wiped out almost everyone and the few survivors are destined to die from fall out. yet through all this war, anger and hate that caused the destruction of our world, Love is eternal. you can destroy everything but love will live on.
i think its nuclear war because:
'the cinders are falling like snow' - the ashes from the fire caused by the bomb.
'of blue and grey' - the grey colour of a mushroom cloud against a blue sky
plus other references - the insects (like cockroaches which can survive a nuclear bomb)
there are so many levels to this poem is amazing, i could go on explaining different parts and how they fit in. but like i said, everyone will take something different from this.
does anyone know who write it? was it davey himself or someone else?
i am so influenced by this poem i am about to begin a script to base a short film around it. i believe i can release the power and capture the emotional of the poem.
just imagine, the last night on earth. oblivion beckons. how beautiful would this earth and this life seem if the alternative was oblivion? imagine the last night on earth.
thanks for listening, kirk
This is one of my favorite AFI song/poems.
It is spoken by three people: Gibson Casian Davey Havok Hans Wold.
Gibson, with how slow he recites his part, adds to the aura of the poem. The ambiance. And Hans and Davey also do. They bringing their own aura to it.
This is very beautiful poem and I honestly, cannot thing of any words that are actaully corherent enough to understand and to type.
[Echo]