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.
As loud as hell
A ringing bell
Behind my smile
It shakes my teeth
And all the while
As vampires feed
I bleed
I bleed
I bleed
Prithee, my dear
Why are we here?
Nobody knows
We go to sleep
As breathing flows
My mind secedes
I bleed
I bleed
I bleed
I bleed
I bleed
I bleed
There's a place
In the buried west
In a cave
With a house in it
In the clay
The holes of hands
You can place
A hand in hand
I bleed
I bleed
I bleed
A ringing bell
Behind my smile
It shakes my teeth
And all the while
As vampires feed
I bleed
I bleed
I bleed
Prithee, my dear
Why are we here?
Nobody knows
We go to sleep
As breathing flows
My mind secedes
I bleed
I bleed
I bleed
I bleed
I bleed
I bleed
There's a place
In the buried west
In a cave
With a house in it
In the clay
The holes of hands
You can place
A hand in hand
I bleed
I bleed
I bleed
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Light Up The Sky
Van Halen
Van Halen
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"
Holiday
Bee Gees
Bee Gees
@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday".
I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
I Can't Go To Sleep
Wu-Tang Clan
Wu-Tang Clan
This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
This song is about wasting away your life at a boring 9 to 5 job and having an all around mediocre existence.
The first stanza reads:
As loud as hell, a ringing bell Behind my smile, it shakes my teeth And all the while, as vampires feed I bleed, I bleed, I bleed
The ringing bell refers to the bell that tells you when the day starts and ends, it represents the meaningless grind and conformity. In some cases it's a literal bell (alarm clock, factory bell, school bell) and in other cases metaphorical. Either way it's about being a mindless sheep who follows the herd, or as Pink Floyd might say, 'a cog in the machine.'
The second line in the first stanza is self-explanatory; although he pretends to be content with mediocrity and living his life as a cog, deep down he wants more out of life.
The vampires in the third line are all the parasitic bosses and executives in the world who reap the benefits of their inferiors' labor. The singer is discouraged that his meaningless existence constitutes someone elses lavish lifestyle.
His bleeding represents the liveliness being sucked out of him by mediocrity and parasitic bosses (vampires)
The first line of the second stanza is about questioning meaningless existence. "Why are we here?" as in, "Why do we just accept this life?" The answer to this question is that there is no rational reason, so we just dull our minds (my mind secedes) with garbage television and cheap booze (go to sleep) as a means of coping with mediocrity. The reoccurring "I bleed, I bleed..." line is the continued dissipation of passion and eccentricity.
The third stanza is a nostalgic daydream for a time and place in which people actually interacted with each other and valued each others existence, which gave life meaning. The house in the cave represents this ancient time (think cave, clay homes = antiquity) and placing your hands in the handprints of others represents solidarity and human connection. Even though we dream of escaping the grind, we continue to fade away; or as it is eloquently phrased by the Pixies: "I bleed, I bleed I bleed."