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.
Name of this song is "Wildwood Flower"
Now the Wildwood Flower is an old country classic
It's gained a whole new level of popularity
The song isn't any more popular but the flower's doing real good
The wildwood flower grew wild on the farm
And we never knowed what it was called
Some said it was a flower and some said it was a weed
I never gave it much thought
One day I was out there talking to my brother
And I reached down for a weed to chew on
Things got fuzzy and things got blurry
And then everything was gone
Didn't know what happened
But I knew it beat the hell out of sniffin' burlap
I come to and my brother was there
And he said, What's wrong with your eyes?
I said, I don't know, I was chewing on a weed
And he said, Let me give it a try
We spent the rest of that day and most of that night
Trying to find my brother, Bill
Caught up with him, 'bout six o'clock the next morning
Naked, swinging on the windmill
He said he flew up there
I had to fly up and get him down, he was about half crazy
The very next day we picked a bunch of them weeds
And we put 'em in the sun to dry
Then we mashed 'em up and we cleaned them up
And put 'em in the corncob pipe
Smokin' that wildwood flower got to be a habit
We never sees no harm
We thought it was kind of handy
Take a trip and never leave the farm
They go puff that Wildwood Weed, next thing you know
You just wanderin' around behind the little animals
All good things gotta come to an end
And it's the same with the wildwood weeds
One day this feller from Washington came by
And he spied it and turned white as a sheet
Then they dug and they burned
And they burned and they dug
And they killed all our cute little weeds
Then they drove away
We just smiled and waved
Sittin' there on that sack of seeds
"Y'all come back now, y'hear?"
Now the Wildwood Flower is an old country classic
It's gained a whole new level of popularity
The song isn't any more popular but the flower's doing real good
The wildwood flower grew wild on the farm
And we never knowed what it was called
Some said it was a flower and some said it was a weed
I never gave it much thought
One day I was out there talking to my brother
And I reached down for a weed to chew on
Things got fuzzy and things got blurry
And then everything was gone
Didn't know what happened
But I knew it beat the hell out of sniffin' burlap
I come to and my brother was there
And he said, What's wrong with your eyes?
I said, I don't know, I was chewing on a weed
And he said, Let me give it a try
We spent the rest of that day and most of that night
Trying to find my brother, Bill
Caught up with him, 'bout six o'clock the next morning
Naked, swinging on the windmill
He said he flew up there
I had to fly up and get him down, he was about half crazy
The very next day we picked a bunch of them weeds
And we put 'em in the sun to dry
Then we mashed 'em up and we cleaned them up
And put 'em in the corncob pipe
Smokin' that wildwood flower got to be a habit
We never sees no harm
We thought it was kind of handy
Take a trip and never leave the farm
They go puff that Wildwood Weed, next thing you know
You just wanderin' around behind the little animals
All good things gotta come to an end
And it's the same with the wildwood weeds
One day this feller from Washington came by
And he spied it and turned white as a sheet
Then they dug and they burned
And they burned and they dug
And they killed all our cute little weeds
Then they drove away
We just smiled and waved
Sittin' there on that sack of seeds
"Y'all come back now, y'hear?"
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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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Country folks always knew how to have fun, (ie moonshine, wildwood weed, and good lookin' girls) it's city folks that mess things up for us.
Awesome song. and obviously about weed
Discovery of Pot/Weed, its an oldie tho, from 70's i think. wash rong wi yourn eyes?