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've got the answers
To all of your questions
If you've got the money
To pay me in gold
I will be living
In old Monte Carlo
And you will be reading
The secrets of soul
Daggers and contacts
And bright shiny limos
I've got a watch
That turns into a lifeboat
Glimmering nightgowns
Poisonous as cobras
Silencer under the heel of my shoe
The elegance of China
They sent her to lie here on her back
But as she deeply moves me
She'd rather shoot me in my tracks
And while a Middle Asian lady
She really came as no surprise
But I still did destroy her
And I will smash
Halo of flies
I crossed the ocean
Where no one could see
And I put a time-bomb
In your submarine
Goodbye to old friends
The secret's in hand
With phonied up papers
And counterfeit plans
You never will understand
To all of your questions
If you've got the money
To pay me in gold
I will be living
In old Monte Carlo
And you will be reading
The secrets of soul
Daggers and contacts
And bright shiny limos
I've got a watch
That turns into a lifeboat
Glimmering nightgowns
Poisonous as cobras
Silencer under the heel of my shoe
The elegance of China
They sent her to lie here on her back
But as she deeply moves me
She'd rather shoot me in my tracks
And while a Middle Asian lady
She really came as no surprise
But I still did destroy her
And I will smash
Halo of flies
I crossed the ocean
Where no one could see
And I put a time-bomb
In your submarine
Goodbye to old friends
The secret's in hand
With phonied up papers
And counterfeit plans
You never will understand
Lyrics submitted by mattalac, edited by JoeLePublic
Halo of Flies Lyrics as written by Neal Smith Michael Bruce
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Light Up The Sky
Van Halen
Van Halen
Standing On The Edge Of Summer
Thursday
Thursday
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.
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
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"
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
American Town
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.
I met Michael Bruce and asked him and he said it was "spy type" lyrics because James Bond was very popular in the early seventies. He said the song was written mainly for the band to show off the musical talents. It is my favorite song ever written by anyone. As you can tell by my name.
does anyone have any idea of what this song means? it sounds like some 007 reference... I just dont know
Yes, according to Alice notes, it was written about a group of secret spies.
This is one of the most amazing songs ever.
Ive listen to this song for decades, heard lots of rumors and speculations about it.
So here goes my interpretation, subject to a bit of fantasy intermixed with gossip and mystery.
I've got the answers To all of your questions If you've got the money To pay me in gold I will be living In old Monte Carlo And you will be reading The secrets Iv'e sold
Here Alice establishing his superiority over the common man. He is basically saying I'm light years ahead of all of you.
Daggers and contRacts And bright shiny limos I've got a watch That turns into a lifeboat Glimmering nightgowns And poisonous cobras Silencer under the heel of my shoe
Well, this is a mixed bag of goodies to sort out. Daggers (danger) and contracts (mob hits) Bright shiney limos (super wealth)
Now here's a bit of confusion. When he says glimmering nightgowns, is he saying he wearing one or is he talking about lots of women arround. ..? I preffer to think the latter but remember back in those days ...
And poisonous cobras (ok, women walking arround (hot looking) got poisonous cobra pets maybe...
I got a watch that turns into a life boat. Hey, I wonder if that is possible these days. Maybe some kind of super thin plastic bag that could inflate in case of emergency.
Anyway, so he's saying he's got it all. Money, women, gadgets the works...!!!
But even though he has everything. He fucked his life up. Here comes the tragedy.
The elegance of China They sent her to lie here on her back
So he paid to have a Chineese hooker. Probably had her flown over on some white slavery airlines. Complete with Chineese mafia gangsters probably.
But as she deeply moves me She'd rather shoot me in my tracks
Self explanitory.
And WAS a Middle Asian lady She really came as no surprise But I still did destroy her And I will smash Halo of flies
Ok, now we get to the meat of the song. So maybe the same woman or a different one came. Another prostitute. But this time he lost it. He killed her, stuffed her in a trunk and burried it out in the yard.
But the stench of the crime was everywhere. All over him. Flies began to swarm arround him from the stench. He grew angrier and angrier. Paranoia was ruling his mind and the stench he could smell would not go away. Flies kept swarming on him all over his face and forming a HALO OF FLIES circling him.
He must smash them. Smash all the flies till there are no more. Till the sin is gone.
I crossed the ocean Where no one could see And I put a time-bomb In your submarine
Now here is where the gossip of the tabloid takes over. Back in the early days they accused Alice of doing subliminal messages.
I crossed the ocean (came from France, I think). No one would see. ( I sorta picture him swimming like a marine at night espionage). And I put a time bomb ( a message that would mess you up later in life) in your submarine (subconcious) Good bye to old freinds (message messes you up freindshipwise).
Now when I was younger I thought the next line was this The seaa eee eee crystal man (good people -salt of the earth) ( Biblical refference: Salt of the earth, for whoever should lose his salt he is henceforth cast unto the ground as worthless rubble only to be trampled on by the feet of men).
But others hear it as:
Goodbye to old friends The secret's in hand
Then I thought the rest went "Where forming up papers, and contracting plans, you never will understand"
But others hear it as:
With full ream of papers And fantastic plans You never will understand
Anyway, for a long time I had it in my head that AC was trying to mess up peoples minds. As the tabloids and pastors would have us believe back then.
But it was still fascinating shit.
killer drum solo, and not to mention like gdbac said anincredible guitar riff!
I think they messed something up in the lyrics... the last paragraph
I crossed the ocean Where no one could see And I put a time-bomb In your submarine Goodbye to old friends The secret's in hand With full ream of papers And counterfit plans You never will understand
anyone?
One of my favorites as well. Killer.
What freaks me out is listening to the demo version below. Different lyrics...
youtube.com/watch
What i hear in the last part is:
"With phonied up papers and counterfeit plans you never will understand", suggesting that he was a fall-guy and that his job was to misdirect, giving the real players time to finish their job!