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 found an old rock in the dry dirt outside
The door of my motel room
It was a triangle with soft,
Rounded edges and a split down the middle of one corner
It was darker than English moss,
Green like the soft frills of a peacock's plume
I waited for you but I never told you where I was
It was who taught me how to write these kinds of equations
I waited on the steps for you and
I hid in the bushes whenever a car pull into the parking lot
You taught me how to listen to these distant stations
Distant stations
I saw the sky break
I threw a rock at a crow who was playing in the mulch
Of some rosebushes by the motel office
Missed him by a good yard or two
I sang old songs from nowhere
Los Angeles, Albuquerque
I said a small prayer for the poor and the naked and the hungry
And I prayed real hard for you
I waited for you but I never told you where I was
It was who taught me how to write these kinds of equations
I waited on the steps for you
And I hid in the bushes whenever a car pull into the parking lot
You taught me how to listen to these distant stations
Distant stations
The door of my motel room
It was a triangle with soft,
Rounded edges and a split down the middle of one corner
It was darker than English moss,
Green like the soft frills of a peacock's plume
I waited for you but I never told you where I was
It was who taught me how to write these kinds of equations
I waited on the steps for you and
I hid in the bushes whenever a car pull into the parking lot
You taught me how to listen to these distant stations
Distant stations
I saw the sky break
I threw a rock at a crow who was playing in the mulch
Of some rosebushes by the motel office
Missed him by a good yard or two
I sang old songs from nowhere
Los Angeles, Albuquerque
I said a small prayer for the poor and the naked and the hungry
And I prayed real hard for you
I waited for you but I never told you where I was
It was who taught me how to write these kinds of equations
I waited on the steps for you
And I hid in the bushes whenever a car pull into the parking lot
You taught me how to listen to these distant stations
Distant stations
Lyrics submitted by fuckedupdog, edited by haruki, StephaniDFTBA
Distant Stations Lyrics as written by John Darnielle
Lyrics © PACIFIC ELECTRIC MUSIC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I think its about waiting for someone you want to see, so you can pretend the meeting happened by chance.
Could this be the person who sends the postcards to the guy in Austin in Source Decay? "I waited for you but I never told you where I was...:
It could be. And both of these songs could be about Jeff and Cyrus. I think they are.
I think this song is about hamm radio. don't you agree?
:)
"i threw a rock at a crow who was playing in the mulch of the rose bushes by the motel office"
In one breath. How? He's no Eleanor Friedberger but still come on, I can't even get close to singing along to that.
i love this one. of his newer stuff, it's one of my favorites...
to me, it's about what it's like to have lived many different places, and to miss the lives you had,and the people in them. you feel lost, and not grounded in place or time, and you want those people in your life, but you don't, too, in many ways, for as many reasons as there are people. "i sang old songs from nowhere. los angeles, albuquerque. i said a small prayer for the poor and the naked and the hungry and i prayed real hard for you..." sigh.
"I waited for you, But I never told you where I was" always breaks my heart. It makes me think of loving a person a whole lot but being unable to tell them and just hoping that they figure it out themselves.