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.
Some plans were made and rice was thrown
A house was built, a baby born
How time can move both fast and slow amazes me
And so I raise my glass to symmetry
To the second hand and its accuracy
To the actual size of everything
The desert is the sand
You can't hold it in your hand
It won't bow to your demands
There's no difference you can make
There's no difference you can make
And if it seems like an accident
A collage of senselessness
You aren't looking hard enough
I wasn't looking hard enough at it
An argument for consciousness
The instinct of the blind insect
Who makes love to the flowerbed
And dies in the first freeze
Oh, I want to learn such simple things
No politics, no history
Till what I want and what I need
Can finally be the same
I just got myself to blame
Leave everything up to fate
When there's choices I could make
When there's choices I could make
Now my heart needs a polygraph
Always so eager to pack my bags
When I really wanna to stay
When I really wanna to stay
When I wanna stay (when I wanna stay)
When I wanna stay (when I wanna stay)
When I wanna stay (when I wanna stay)
When I wanna stay (when I wanna stay)
The arc of time, the stench of sex
The innocence you can't protect
Each quarter note, each marble step
Walk up and down that lonely treble clef
Each wanting the next one
Each wanting the next one to arrive
Each wanting the next one
Each wanting the next one to arrive
An argument for consciousness
The instinct of the blind insect
Who never thinks not to accept its fate
That's faith, there's happiness in death
You give to the next one
You give to the next on down the line
You give to the next one
You give to the next on down the line
The levity of longing that
Distills each dream inside my head
By morning watered down forget
On silver stars I wish and wish and wish
From one to the next one
From one to the next right down the line
From one to the next one
From one to the next right down the line
You give to the next one
You give to the next on down the line
You give to the next one
You give to the next on down the line
A house was built, a baby born
How time can move both fast and slow amazes me
And so I raise my glass to symmetry
To the second hand and its accuracy
To the actual size of everything
The desert is the sand
You can't hold it in your hand
It won't bow to your demands
There's no difference you can make
There's no difference you can make
And if it seems like an accident
A collage of senselessness
You aren't looking hard enough
I wasn't looking hard enough at it
An argument for consciousness
The instinct of the blind insect
Who makes love to the flowerbed
And dies in the first freeze
Oh, I want to learn such simple things
No politics, no history
Till what I want and what I need
Can finally be the same
I just got myself to blame
Leave everything up to fate
When there's choices I could make
When there's choices I could make
Now my heart needs a polygraph
Always so eager to pack my bags
When I really wanna to stay
When I really wanna to stay
When I wanna stay (when I wanna stay)
When I wanna stay (when I wanna stay)
When I wanna stay (when I wanna stay)
When I wanna stay (when I wanna stay)
The arc of time, the stench of sex
The innocence you can't protect
Each quarter note, each marble step
Walk up and down that lonely treble clef
Each wanting the next one
Each wanting the next one to arrive
Each wanting the next one
Each wanting the next one to arrive
An argument for consciousness
The instinct of the blind insect
Who never thinks not to accept its fate
That's faith, there's happiness in death
You give to the next one
You give to the next on down the line
You give to the next one
You give to the next on down the line
The levity of longing that
Distills each dream inside my head
By morning watered down forget
On silver stars I wish and wish and wish
From one to the next one
From one to the next right down the line
From one to the next one
From one to the next right down the line
You give to the next one
You give to the next on down the line
You give to the next one
You give to the next on down the line
Lyrics submitted by apocalypse84
I Believe in Symmetry Lyrics as written by Conor Oberst
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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this song is about how everything in life is planned, everything makes sense. nothing happens by accident.
'You can't hold it in your hand It won't bow to your demands There's no difference you can make There's no difference you can make And if it seems like an accident A collage of senselessness You weren't looking hard enough I wasn't looking hard enough'
meaning that destingy is not something you can hold, something you can try to contain. you cannot force it to change, if something is meant to happen, it will happen. it is something so much larger than everybody on this earth. if you believe that something that happened is just pure luck, or that it must have been an accident, then 'you arent looking hard enough.' life is a perfect balance of things happening in order for other things to happen. if all events were random then the world would have fallen apart years ago. this doesnt mean that you should stop taking life into your own hands and making choices, it just means that everything that is meant to happen will happen, + even if it seems like a mistake it was mean to happen.
'The instinct of the blind insect Who never thinks not to accept its fate, that's faith'
cant even put into words what this line means. you just need to read into it.