He reuses the verse melody from the previous album's "Dirty Little Religion", the topics of the verses are all over the place, and he packs too many words into one line (goes to show...) and too few in another (it's pretty hard to find), and rhymes "Henley Regatta" with "Persona non grata", but gets away with it all as only he could.
I saw her, yeah I saw her with her black tongue tied
Round the roses
Fist pounding on a vending machine
Toy diamond ring stuck on her finger
With a noose she can hang from the sun
And put it out with her dark sunglasses
Walking crooked down the beach
She spits on the sand where their bones are bleaching
And I know I'm gonna steal her life
She doesn't even know what's wrong
And I know I'm gonna make her die
Take her where her soul belongs
Now I'm gonna steal her life
Nothing that I wouldn't try
My sun-eyed girl
My sun-eyed girl
I saw her, yeah I saw her with her hands tied back
And her rags were burning
Crawling out from a land filled life
Scrawlin' her name upon the ceiling
Throw a coin in a fountain of dust
White noise, her ears are ringing
Got a ticket for a midnight hanging
Throw a bullet from a freight train leaving
And I know I'm gonna steal her life
She doesn't even know what's wrong
And I know I'm gonna make her die
Take her where her soul belongs
And I know I'm gonna steal her life
Nothing that I would not try
My sun-eyed girl
Round the roses
Fist pounding on a vending machine
Toy diamond ring stuck on her finger
With a noose she can hang from the sun
And put it out with her dark sunglasses
Walking crooked down the beach
She spits on the sand where their bones are bleaching
And I know I'm gonna steal her life
She doesn't even know what's wrong
And I know I'm gonna make her die
Take her where her soul belongs
Now I'm gonna steal her life
Nothing that I wouldn't try
My sun-eyed girl
My sun-eyed girl
I saw her, yeah I saw her with her hands tied back
And her rags were burning
Crawling out from a land filled life
Scrawlin' her name upon the ceiling
Throw a coin in a fountain of dust
White noise, her ears are ringing
Got a ticket for a midnight hanging
Throw a bullet from a freight train leaving
And I know I'm gonna steal her life
She doesn't even know what's wrong
And I know I'm gonna make her die
Take her where her soul belongs
And I know I'm gonna steal her life
Nothing that I would not try
My sun-eyed girl
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Gadjits, The
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Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals
Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals
He certainly did earn that reputation.
Battle Royale
Word Alive, The
Word Alive, The
This song is def a twin to "Unfair" (a song she has been quoted as saying is about falling in love with someone who is already in a relationship) so it is presumably about the same person. Given the references to buying an apartment and not being able to see her love interest "after tonight," it's most likely that she's moving away and she'll "wait a day to break the bad news" (i.e. notifying him that she's leaving once she's already gone).
And, of course, the fact that she sees in him a fellow "idealist" and "dreamer" (terms commonly given to people with the INFP personality on the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)) portends that she'll always be left wondering if they would've been perfect together.
Step
Ministry
Ministry
Both as a standalone and as part of the DSOTS album, you can take this lyric as read. As a matter of public record, Jourgensen's drug intake was legendary even in the 1980s. By the late 90s, in his own words, he was grappling with massive addiction issues and had lost almost everything: friends, spouse, money and had nearly died more than once. "Dark Side of the Spoon" is a both funny & sad title for an album made by a musical genius who was losing the plot; and this song is a message to his fans & friends saying he knows it. It's painful to listen to so I'm glad the "Keith Richards of industrial metals" wised up and cleaned up. Well done sir.
Light Up The Sky
Van Halen
Van Halen
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.
Why can't it be both "sun-eyed" and "cyanide"?
Anyways. This is my current interpretation of the song, although I keep on changing my mind about it.
"I saw her, yeah I saw her with her black tongue tied round the roses" She's not the best person in the world (she's a little dangerous, a little dark), but she's intertwined with romance-- maybe she's always involved in it and it's just a part of her, or because of his immediate infatuation with her.
"fists pounding on a vending machine toy diamond ring stuck on her finger" Um. She's trapped in the materialism of the world?
"with a noose she could hang from the sun and put it out with her dark sunglasses" She can do anything that's impossible... it's just that with her personality and the world that she's caught in, that "anything" ends up being a little morbid.
"walking crooked down the beach she spits in the sand where their bones are bleaching" Honestly, she seems sort of drunk and derisive here. And that's just how she is sometimes.
"and I know I'm gonna steal her eye" He's going to catch her eye, and maybe her heart.
"she doesn't even know what's wrong" Even though she does wrong all the time, she's still innocent.
"and I know I'm gonna make her die take her where her soul belongs" Not literally make her die (at least I don't think so-- I mean, I do see that interpretation; I just don't agree with it). I see the "make her die" in a sexual way, honestly. But he's going to completely change her world-- make it better, maybe, but certainly different. He thinks it's the world that she belongs in.
"and I know I'm gonna steal her eye nothing that I wouldn't try" A little obsessed over catching her eye.
"hey my sun-eyed/cyanide girl hey my sun-eyed/cyanide girl" She's poison to him, too. His fixation with her, and the type of person that she is despite her inherent innocence, makes her cyanide to him. But she's still his sun-eyed girl-- I mean, there has to be some sort of reason for him to be so obsessed. She's special to him.
"I saw her, yeah I saw her with her hands tied back and her rags were burning" He sees her as a martyr, a victim of this world.
"crawling out from a landfilled life scrawling her name upon the ceiling" She wants to be remembered, and her previous life (presumably the one before him)... wasn't that great. And he wants to save her.
"throw a coin in a fountain of dust white noise, her ears are ringing" Making a wish, but everything she's used to is gone. It's not entirely unpleasant now, just thoroughly disorienting.
"got a ticket for a midnight hanging" That reminds me of how she could be hung from the sun-- her life is entirely different now, but somehow he doesn't save her like he wanted to, he just changed it? I'm not sure.
"throw a bullet from a freight train leaving" He bails on her, or vice versa.
"and I know I'm gonna steal her eye she doesn't even know what's wrong and I know I'm gonna make her die take her where her soul belongs and I know I'm gonna steal her eye nothing that I wouldn't try" He's still enchanted by her, and he's remembering the possibilities of before their relationship happened and fell apart.
This is such an ambiguous song, though.