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.
The first night after your release
No one expects you to get much sleep
You're the waking, walking dead
In my case I'm not much better
Run to the kitchen and grab a marker,
trace the path, the blood will flow
Wind a web around my wrist
that's there to prove that I exists
It will be easier to forgive myself
remember her without a guilty head
These nightmare lines, an empty heart
We take for granted all the things
that make us who we are (who we are)
Get up, get dressed, go to work
They all know who you are (who you are)
They cant believe you'd show up here, but that's just who they are (who they are)
Set-up shop at your machine
until the break remember who you are (who you are)
Here lies clarity in a perfect grave
Comprised of perfect steel
The perfect blade was a perfect white
against the perfect lines,
from this perfect night
I'm the perfect picture of complacency
and that's all I feel
slow motion replaces real time
as the horror fills their eyes
these claws will never kill again
the lines i wear around my wrist
are there to prove that i exist
the lines i wear around my wrist
I am a monster, clothed in crimson sleeves
and perforated lines where my wrists should be
A warehouse full of workers scramble like a pack of bewildered wolves
as my world turns black... and i fall.
No one expects you to get much sleep
You're the waking, walking dead
In my case I'm not much better
Run to the kitchen and grab a marker,
trace the path, the blood will flow
Wind a web around my wrist
that's there to prove that I exists
It will be easier to forgive myself
remember her without a guilty head
These nightmare lines, an empty heart
We take for granted all the things
that make us who we are (who we are)
Get up, get dressed, go to work
They all know who you are (who you are)
They cant believe you'd show up here, but that's just who they are (who they are)
Set-up shop at your machine
until the break remember who you are (who you are)
Here lies clarity in a perfect grave
Comprised of perfect steel
The perfect blade was a perfect white
against the perfect lines,
from this perfect night
I'm the perfect picture of complacency
and that's all I feel
slow motion replaces real time
as the horror fills their eyes
these claws will never kill again
the lines i wear around my wrist
are there to prove that i exist
the lines i wear around my wrist
I am a monster, clothed in crimson sleeves
and perforated lines where my wrists should be
A warehouse full of workers scramble like a pack of bewildered wolves
as my world turns black... and i fall.
Lyrics submitted by BrandNew1208, edited by SoBrokenHearted
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
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
Little Feat
Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
Magical
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“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.
"Wind a web around my wrist" Its something to wear around my wrist, I think
"and remember who ?" Kinda sounds like "and remember her with my guilty hands"
And now for my pathetic attempt at the ending:
So most of the place is real dark As the horror fills their eyes These claws will never kill again ???? Another breath that I exhaust ???? I am a monster below the crimson screen And purple-headed lines where my wrists should be I'll wear as full the work is scrambled like a pad?? I'll be will-turned-work (??) As my world turns black and I fall
I'm really bad at this and I don't feel like listening to parts of the song 1000 times so this is all i can do for now!
this song is about the story's character (new bno cd is concept album) cutting his hands off because he doesn't want to commit anymore crimes.
"the lines i wear around my wrist are here to prove that i exist" not "wind a web around my wrist ..."
"it will be easier to forgive myself without; a guilty head, these nightmare lines, an empty heart"
"slow motion fills real time, as horror fills their eyes. these claws will never kill again. the lines i wear around my wrist are there to prove that i exist i am a monster clothed in crimson sleeves and perforated lines where my wrists should be. a warehouse full of workers scramble like a pack of bewildered wolves as my world turns black and i fall."
This is a concept album. Which means that the entire album tells a story. Each song is a different installment in the story of the nameless patient. Somtimes the perspective is switched from the patient to the doctor to the deceased wife. My interpretation of the story goes as follows.
Introducing - The doctor is talking about how he has released the patient from the hospital again, indicating it's not the first time he's been released. The patient was hospitalized because he suffered from violent horrible nightmares and killed his wife whom he loved very much in his sleep. The patient is catatonic, which is just a state of non-responsivness, almost.
Dreaming - This song is about the night that the Patient kills his wife. He suffocates her while having a nightmare.
Waking - The Patient wakes up to realise what he's done. He calls the police and turns himself in and he is waiting for the ambulance. He can't believe what he's done, he wants to take it back. He covers the house with her perfume.
Sentencing - The judge and the doctors decide whether to charge him with murder and send him to jail or decalre him mentaly instable and send him to the hospital. The doctor thinks he shoudl be hospitalized.
Medicating - The Patient is in the hospital and tries to convince the doctor to release him. He wants to go back to his life and he thinks that the hospital is just making him worse. The doctor agrees and releases him from the hospital.
Purging - The Patient hsa been released and is returning into society. Everyone is shocked at his quick return into society/work considering what he did. The guilt becomes overpowering inside of him and he cuts off his hands so he won't ever kill again.
Relapsing - The Patient is back in the hospital after cutting off his hands and he begins to hear his wife's voice in his head. He begins trying to fill his emptiness by writing a song inside his head.
Recovering - The Patient is on medication since he is catatonic and he is also obviously on painkillers due to his lack of hands. He begins taking more pills than necessary and all he can hear is the song inside of his head. He takes more and more pills to keep the song playing.
Composing - The Patient convinces the doctor he's getting better and requests to see his friends and family because he thinks it'll help him recover. He has everyone over for dinner and poisons them all, killing them. He is "composing" his song by killing people and he thinks that he can see his wife. The song in his head keeps her alive in his mind.
Disintegrating - The Patient is completely isolated with the song inside his head. He is abusing alcohol and drugs and in a state between the living and dead. He's thinking of everyone he's killed and needs a finale to his song.
Healing - The Patient has called the doctor and he feels the song in his head coming to an end. By this time he's barely even alive and he has made a choice to get better, that's why he called the doctor. He is waiting for the doctor to arrive and take him to the hospital. The song in his head is what is keeping him alive.
Dying - The Doctor finally arrives for the Patient and finds him close to death lying in his apartment. He can smell the odour of the bodies that are most likely still in the apartment and he can smell a woman's perfume, the Patient's wife's perfume. The Patient knows he is dying and he knows what he did. He is finally responding and I think he is happy he is dying cause he will be with his wife. He is looking back at everythign that happened and he is just giving up on the song and on living.
Of course this is all just my interpretation who knows if I'm even close. Hahah oh well let me know what you think.
first of all Boys Night Out is amazing It is now "Wind a web around my wrists" is is "The Lines i wear around my wrists" he does nt cut off his hands.. He cuts himself. he does it because its the only way he knows how to make sure he is actually alive. this song is about how he just got out and has to try making life better.
BNO is my love
nah he cuts off his hands for sure, theres pictures that indicate it on the inside of the cd cover, plus in relapsing he says "My ex limbs"... meaning no hands.
hhmm you prove a good point
okay whoever posted the lyrics is effing stupid. the cd has the lyrics inside the cd cover. samdjklasdas. anyways, yeah i think that he did cut his hands off. i never thought of that before but it makes sense now. "These claws will never kill again"
At around 2:30 of the song you will hear the sound of a saw and something going through the saw, it happens again at around 2:40 I think...if you listen to it loud and closely you can hear it....yes he does cut his hands off.."with no hands and even less skill " in a different song I belive...but yeah pretty sick cd.
oh, sweet. I never noticed that saw noise in the background.
dudes cuts his hands off at work with a machine, and then everyone freaks out and he passes out.
(I am a monster, clothed in crimson sleeves and perforated lines where my wrists should be A warehouse full of workers scramble like a pack of bewildered wolves as my world turns black... and i fall.)