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.
Where the workers stand in querulous rows awaiting dislocation
I will be there too
When you're cashing in your food stamps
When you're sleeping in a cattle train
I'll be with you
Pushing up against the ticket counter window face against the glass
Bleeding from the waist and kissing to be chaste
It is said that those who will not rest have been cursed
To tramp like soldiers through the marshes
Or that blessed are the ones who leave the stage
Like babies falling fast asleep
So I twice am cursed and twice am stuck
Affixed to this corner of the earth.
That old river keeps on rolling but the old man doesn't see it,
He just stands there with his eyes closed
Asking "Where'd you go?" "Where'd you go?"
So wherever you may sleep tonight,
Be it bed or bedrock, home, or open field:
When you begin to yield, then, whatever you have taken as your pillow,
May it serve as mine as well.
Underneath the weeping willow I will wait for you forever,
My eyes forever closed, asking "Where'd you go?" "Where'd you go?"
I will be there too
When you're cashing in your food stamps
When you're sleeping in a cattle train
I'll be with you
Pushing up against the ticket counter window face against the glass
Bleeding from the waist and kissing to be chaste
It is said that those who will not rest have been cursed
To tramp like soldiers through the marshes
Or that blessed are the ones who leave the stage
Like babies falling fast asleep
So I twice am cursed and twice am stuck
Affixed to this corner of the earth.
That old river keeps on rolling but the old man doesn't see it,
He just stands there with his eyes closed
Asking "Where'd you go?" "Where'd you go?"
So wherever you may sleep tonight,
Be it bed or bedrock, home, or open field:
When you begin to yield, then, whatever you have taken as your pillow,
May it serve as mine as well.
Underneath the weeping willow I will wait for you forever,
My eyes forever closed, asking "Where'd you go?" "Where'd you go?"
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Light Up The Sky
Van Halen
Van Halen
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
"Fast car" is kind of a continuation of Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run." It has all the clawing your way to a better life, but in this case the protagonist never makes it with her love; in fact she is dragged back down by him.
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.
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"
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
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.
Definitely about a dead lover stuck on Earth, but unable to communicate. "It is said that those who will not rest have been cursed to tramp like soldiers through the marshes" - she is bound to this in-between state of mortality, trapped in an invisible dimension, forced to watch the one she loves mourn her.
"Or that blessed are the ones who leave the stage like babies falling fast asleep." Could mean two things: it's lucky if you die and get out of this life, or she's jealous of those who have been able to move on past reality and let go of their pain.
"That old river keeps on rolling but the old man doesn't see it, he just stands there with his eyes closed asking: 'where'd you go? Where'd you go?' " - She's always by his side, but he can't see her. She's not there physically. He misses her so much, and little does he know that she's still with him, suffering too.
"so wherever you may sleep tonight, be it bed or bedrock, home, or open field, when your breathing slows and your eyes are closed and you begin to yield, then whatever you have taken as your pillow may it serve as mine as well. underneath the weeping willow I will wait for you forever, my eyes forever closed asking: 'where'd you go? where'd you go?' "
This can either be restating the concept of her being with him always, or it can mean something else. She's with him the most while he's dreaming? She'll be with him while he's dying? And then there's the end, the saddest part...she yearns to talk to him, to reunite with him, to let him know she's there and that she loves him...but all she can do is be a silent observer, and wait. Wait for him to catch up to her. Maybe she finally accepts that and ends up freeing herself. Maybe not.