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.
Here comes the ocean
And the waves down by the sea
Here comes the ocean
And the waves, where have they been?
Silver and black at night
Kiss to a summer's night
An empty splendid castle
Bowing alone at night
Princess has had a fright
Madness is out of love for her
Here come the waves
Down by the shore
Washing the soul of the body
That comes from the depth of the sea
Here comes the ocean
And the waves down by the sea
Here comes the ocean
And the waves, where have we been?
Don't swim tonight my love
The tide is out my love
..
Only..
In which rulers..
Revel in heaven's justice
Here come the waves
And save for a scream
There's much like a song
To be heard in the wind that blows from the sea
Here come the waves
Here come the waves
Here come the waves
Here come the waves
Here come the waves
Here come the waves
And the waves down by the sea
Here comes the ocean
And the waves, where have they been?
Silver and black at night
Kiss to a summer's night
An empty splendid castle
Bowing alone at night
Princess has had a fright
Madness is out of love for her
Here come the waves
Down by the shore
Washing the soul of the body
That comes from the depth of the sea
Here comes the ocean
And the waves down by the sea
Here comes the ocean
And the waves, where have we been?
Don't swim tonight my love
The tide is out my love
..
Only..
In which rulers..
Revel in heaven's justice
Here come the waves
And save for a scream
There's much like a song
To be heard in the wind that blows from the sea
Here come the waves
Here come the waves
Here come the waves
Here come the waves
Here come the waves
Here come the waves
Lyrics submitted by Madison5
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Light Up The Sky
Van Halen
Van Halen
Standing On The Edge Of Summer
Thursday
Thursday
In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
This song is beautiful.
when i first heard this, a lot of it sounded uncannily similar to the story of Abarat (series of books by Clive Barker). not all of it, mind you, but a good enough amount to make me think. for those of you who have read the books, i shall demonstrate:
Here comes the ocean And the waves down by the sea Here comes the ocean (the waves of the Izabella sea are called by Candy to the plains of Minnesota) And the waves, where have they been? (the Abarat hasn't been in contact with the Hereafter in many years)
Silver and black at night Kiss to a summer's night An empty splendid castle (the abandoned lighthouse in which is the game of Light that calls the Izabella)
Bowing alone at night (both Candy and Mischief believe they are alone, /bowing/ in the tall grass) Princess has had a fright (the spirit of princess Boa lives in Candy, who is obviously frightened of whatever might be in the field with her) Madness is out of love for her (Christopher Carrion, whom we can all assume is quite mad, killed Boa out of love and jealousy when he found out she was to be married)
Here come the waves (again, the arrival of the Izabella) Down by the shore Washing the soul of the body ("washing", in this case, implies that Boa's soul is awakening within Candy the very moment she jumps into the Izabella) That comes from the depth of the sea (Boa spent her life in the Abarat, which is in the Izabella)
Don't swim tonight my love (from the viewpoint of Candy's mother, who can't live without her) The tide is out my love (indicating that the Izabella is returning to the Abarat)
Only.. In which rulers.. (the Princess Boa) Revel in heaven's justice ("Heaven's justice" implying that when the Princess Boa returns to the Abarat, justice and peace will return to the islands)
Here come the waves (Izabella) And save for a scream There's much like a song To be heard in the wind that blows from the sea (these three lines are a little more indepth: the song that "blows from the sea" is the promise of adventure and excitement from the Abarat. however, the "scream" represents the danger there as well. namely, Carrion.)
so there's my analyzation of the song. of course, it would be an incredible coincidence if this were actually what the song was intended to mean...
well, i just thought about it, and there's another meaning for the line "an empty splendid castle" in the second book, Candy wanders into an "empty splendid castle", which happens to be the princess Boa's castle. however, it seems to make more sense with the lighthouse interpretation, seeing as all the other meanings i had come up with were from the first book, not the second.
I may be way off here, but isn't the first (and repeated) segment of lines ["here comes the waves..."], part of a Lou Reed song?
i can't believe that no one's ever mentioned this on this page, but this is a cover of The Ocean by The Velvet Underground--a quite beautiful one at that.
it simply sounds like the ultimate song describing despair and loneliness.
i love ambulance ltd, but this song is incredibly boring.