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.
I wish that I was beautiful for you
I wish that I inspired tiny fireworks inside the way you do
So delicately made
A prayer left unprayed
Before the morning sky fades
Up to blue
And I wish that I was beautiful for you
I wish that somehow I could find a pill
For a quick fix modern tonic that would change me with one swallow I would kill
Watch folks line up to pay
Stare at me all day
But I'd turn them all away
If that be thy will
One tiny little innocuous pill
But a wish is just a pin
In a swimming pool of needles
If for one night you need the room
I wish to be your tomb
You can lie in me
Is it possible I've other things you need
But to be worthy of a single page out of one of those magazines you read
As glossy as a mirror
But mirrors never lie
They're difficult on the eye
It's true
And I wish that I was beautiful for you
I dreamed that we were traveling on a bus
Speeding along an unnamed plain towards somewhere and nowhere there was us
Our hands lay useless in our laps
Like beetles on their backs
We came to a stretch of road where a fire
Had burned the edges all along it looked as though the highway wore eyeliner
You kissed me by surprise
When I opened my eyes
You'd turned into some old guy
I screamed
But don't forget of all these things I've only dreamed
If for one night you need the room
I will be your tomb
You can lie in me
I wish that I inspired tiny fireworks inside the way you do
So delicately made
A prayer left unprayed
Before the morning sky fades
Up to blue
And I wish that I was beautiful for you
I wish that somehow I could find a pill
For a quick fix modern tonic that would change me with one swallow I would kill
Watch folks line up to pay
Stare at me all day
But I'd turn them all away
If that be thy will
One tiny little innocuous pill
But a wish is just a pin
In a swimming pool of needles
If for one night you need the room
I wish to be your tomb
You can lie in me
Is it possible I've other things you need
But to be worthy of a single page out of one of those magazines you read
As glossy as a mirror
But mirrors never lie
They're difficult on the eye
It's true
And I wish that I was beautiful for you
I dreamed that we were traveling on a bus
Speeding along an unnamed plain towards somewhere and nowhere there was us
Our hands lay useless in our laps
Like beetles on their backs
We came to a stretch of road where a fire
Had burned the edges all along it looked as though the highway wore eyeliner
You kissed me by surprise
When I opened my eyes
You'd turned into some old guy
I screamed
But don't forget of all these things I've only dreamed
If for one night you need the room
I will be your tomb
You can lie in me
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