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.
Madeline, hair in your eyes
With the voice as soft as satin
Madeline, you'll surely find
Smiles from inside a worried glance
You always kept me waiting
Somehow I never seem to mind
When the wind has caught your sail,
Come back and see me, Madeline
Madeline, after a while
They found your photo in a drawer
Madeline, from another time
I caught you standing in a door
When you were asked if we were sisters,
You replied you weren't sure
If the fog should ever lift,
Come back and see me, Madeline
Will you always keep me waiting?
Somehow I'm running out of time
When the wind has caught your sails
Come back and see me Madeline
With the voice as soft as satin
Madeline, you'll surely find
Smiles from inside a worried glance
You always kept me waiting
Somehow I never seem to mind
When the wind has caught your sail,
Come back and see me, Madeline
Madeline, after a while
They found your photo in a drawer
Madeline, from another time
I caught you standing in a door
When you were asked if we were sisters,
You replied you weren't sure
If the fog should ever lift,
Come back and see me, Madeline
Will you always keep me waiting?
Somehow I'm running out of time
When the wind has caught your sails
Come back and see me Madeline
Lyrics submitted by fridgebuzz
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are they friends? were they lovers? either way it's one hell of a nice song
I'll never know. I have a feeling they were friends who were really close and inseparable, especially with the lines:
When you were asked if we were sisters, You replied you weren't sure
Maybe Madeline has left home and is not coming home, or maybe she has run away, and the narrator (her younger sister?) is waiting for her to recover from her "fog" (depression/confusion?) and come back and see her.
Or perhaps Madeline has some mental problem -- like she got injured and is in the hospital in a coma or in a ward, and the narrator is waiting for her to return to her senses.
These lines show that the narrator is waiting for Madeline's mind to return to normal: "If the fog should ever lift, Come back and see me, Madeline "When the wind has caught your sails, Come back and see me Madeline" Note that the narrator says "if the fog should ever lift" and not "when the fog lifts." It's as if the narrator thinks it may never happen.
"Madeline, after a while, They found your photo in a drawer" Sounds like people found a photo while going through her stuff and cleaning up her place. But when do other people clean up a person's place and find the stuff she left behind? When a person leaves home for a long time -- e.g., when someone passes away or is in the hospital indefinitely, or when a child goes off to college or runs away from home.
Perhaps the photo where the narrator "caught you standing in a door" has to do with her leaving home -- in the doorway, about to leave.
"When you were asked if we were sisters, You replied you weren't sure" Perhaps Madeline cannot remember who the narrator is (due to some mental problem). Or perhaps Madeline intentionally did not want to acknowledge the narrator as her sister out of anger or arguments they had, and ran away from home for the same reason.
"Will you always keep me waiting? Somehow I'm running out of time" Perhaps the narrator is getting older, is losing hope in Madeline returning, and is moving on with her life...
This entire album is filled with a really poetent sense of nostalgia, and I think elwyn5150 is right. I think it's about old friends. A lot of the songs on the albums are really really simple and that is an absolute compliment. Everything is simpler and gentler through the prism of memory.