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 know what you want
I'm gonna take you to a midnight show tonight
If you can keep a secret
I got a blanket in the back seat on my mind
And a little place that sits beneath the sky
She turned her face to speak but no-one heard her cry
Drive faster, boy
Drive faster, boy, ooh, yeah-ooh
I know there's a hope
There's too many people trying to help me cope
You got a real short skirt
I wanna look up, look up, look up, yeah, yeah
We were just in time
Let me take a little more off your mind
There's something in my head, somewhere in the back, saying
"We were just a good thing, we were such a good thing"
Make it go away without a word
But promise me you'll stay and fix these things I've heard
Oh, make it go away
Drive faster, boy, ooh, yeah-ooh
Oh, no
A crashing tide can't hide a guilty girl
With jealous hearts that start with gloss and curls
I took my baby's breath beneath the chandelier
Of stars in atmosphere and watched her disappear
Into the midnight show
Faster, faster, faster, faster, faster, faster
Oh no, no, no, no, no, no
No, no, no, no, no
If can you keep a secret
Well, baby, I can keep it if you can keep a secret
If can you keep a secret, I can keep a secret
If can you keep a secret
Well, baby, I can keep it if you can keep a secret
I'm gonna take you to a midnight show tonight
If you can keep a secret
I got a blanket in the back seat on my mind
And a little place that sits beneath the sky
She turned her face to speak but no-one heard her cry
Drive faster, boy
Drive faster, boy, ooh, yeah-ooh
I know there's a hope
There's too many people trying to help me cope
You got a real short skirt
I wanna look up, look up, look up, yeah, yeah
We were just in time
Let me take a little more off your mind
There's something in my head, somewhere in the back, saying
"We were just a good thing, we were such a good thing"
Make it go away without a word
But promise me you'll stay and fix these things I've heard
Oh, make it go away
Drive faster, boy, ooh, yeah-ooh
Oh, no
A crashing tide can't hide a guilty girl
With jealous hearts that start with gloss and curls
I took my baby's breath beneath the chandelier
Of stars in atmosphere and watched her disappear
Into the midnight show
Faster, faster, faster, faster, faster, faster
Oh no, no, no, no, no, no
No, no, no, no, no
If can you keep a secret
Well, baby, I can keep it if you can keep a secret
If can you keep a secret, I can keep a secret
If can you keep a secret
Well, baby, I can keep it if you can keep a secret
Lyrics submitted by K-nuxXx, edited by Kiiro, phoebe9261
Midnight Show Lyrics as written by Dave Brent Keuning Brandon Flowers
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
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In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
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There is still an amazing amount of hope and will in the lyrics; and the lyrics themselve rank and easy five. If only music was stronger it would be one of those great radio songs that you hear once a week 20 years after it was released. The imagery is almost tear-jerking ("City lights lay out before us", "Speeds so fast felt like I was drunk"), and the idea of starting from nothing and just driving and working and denigrating yourself for a chance at being just above poverty, then losing in the end is just painful and inspiring at the same time.
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This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Plastic Bag
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“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
Okay. I have done a lot of investigation and reading about The Murder Trilogy. So now, once and for all, I will tell you what it is. This is the correct information.
The order of the songs is as follows:
The story goes like this: First, in Leave The Bourbon On The Shelf, the speaker tells us of a girl named Jenny, whom he is in love with. She is leaving him and he begs her to stay. But she leaves and he then begins drinking away his sorrows. He later sees her with another man and becomes angry and jealous. He decides to kill her. Second, in Midnight Show, he takes the girl out, tempting her with promises of a good time. He wants her, but he wants to kill her more. He takes her to a secluded area, but then he starts having second thoughts. He pushes those thoughts away. He kills her, then dumps her body in the ocean. Realizing what he's done, he flees the scene. Third, in Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine, he is being questioned by the police about Jenny's murder. He gives them a fake story of what happened, hoping to get away. While speaking, he thinks about how he actually killed her, but doesn't say it aloud. One of the cops sees the guilt on his face and knows he did it. It ends with him desperately defending himself, knowing he's been caught.