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.
Life inside the music box ain't easy
The mallets hit, the gears are always turning
And everyone inside the mechanism
Is yearning to get out
And sing another melody completely
So different from the one they're always singing
I close my eyes and think that I have found me
But then I feel mortality surround me
I want to sing another melody
So different from the one I always sing
But when I do the dishes
I run the water very, very, very hot
And then I fill the sink to the top with bubbles of soap
And then I set all the bottle caps I own afloat
And it's the greatest voyage in the history of plastic
And then I slip my hands in and start to make waves
And then I dip my tongue in and take a taste
It tastes like soap, but it doesn't really taste like soap
And then I lower in my whole mouth and take a gulp!
And start to feel mortality surround me
I close my eyes and think that I have found me
But life inside the music box ain't easy
The mallets hit, the gears are always turning
And everyone inside the mechanism
Is yearning to get out
And sing another melody completely
Is yearning to get out
Is yearning to get out
Is yearning to get out
The mallets hit, the gears are always turning
And everyone inside the mechanism
Is yearning to get out
And sing another melody completely
So different from the one they're always singing
I close my eyes and think that I have found me
But then I feel mortality surround me
I want to sing another melody
So different from the one I always sing
But when I do the dishes
I run the water very, very, very hot
And then I fill the sink to the top with bubbles of soap
And then I set all the bottle caps I own afloat
And it's the greatest voyage in the history of plastic
And then I slip my hands in and start to make waves
And then I dip my tongue in and take a taste
It tastes like soap, but it doesn't really taste like soap
And then I lower in my whole mouth and take a gulp!
And start to feel mortality surround me
I close my eyes and think that I have found me
But life inside the music box ain't easy
The mallets hit, the gears are always turning
And everyone inside the mechanism
Is yearning to get out
And sing another melody completely
Is yearning to get out
Is yearning to get out
Is yearning to get out
Lyrics submitted by lunarxeclipse
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I never take the songs Regina sings as something that is very personal to her. She said so herself that she almost never ever writes about her own life. I love this song because it just makes me think of people bored with the same old routine.
First off, I see alot of people who have almost got the right idea, but fall just a bit short.
In the old days, before modern medicine, if you ate something poisonous or were bullimic you drank soap water because it makes you vomit.
Regina is saying that the "mechanism" isn't what she wants to be in, and she's yearning to get out, but when she does dishes she can't help but fall into the old, horrible habit of making herself vomit. Anyone who has thrown-up knows the sensation of thinking you might die while you're gasping for breathe. Bullimia and depression go hand in hand, and the control you think you have when you can just make yourself sick and not gain any weight "I close my eyes and think that I have found me." This song is truly chilling.
Well see I've heard a lot of people say this song is about suicide, and I think they may be correct. I would see it as: Music box= life gears are always turning= there is always something going on in life and it is just wearing her down And all the people in the mechanism are yearning to get out= either there are a lot of people in the world who are suicidal, or that we all will die eventually and our souls desperately want to escape drinking soap=poisoning herself, trying to leave her imprisonment and think that i have found me= as she feels the life drain from her body she thinks she did what she was suppose to do then i feel mortality surround me= she is dying
It's all up to the listeners point of view and maybe I'm wrong, but I still adore this song. It is quite beautiful in a haunting way.
I think that at times this song refers to her childhood. I read that Regina used to sing and make all sorts of noises whilst doing the dishes, and her family would all tell her to stop making bad noises etc. Hence the basic terminology ("i run the water very very very hot")
Music Box = her head, her mind "Life inside the music box ain't easy"... etc
It's completely associable, dont you think?
I agree with you. The whole part about doing the dishes is very childish. I mean: who's interested in the fact that she runs the water very, very, very hot. I feels like she sings this song while she's doing the dishes. And that her mind is full of music, so she sings everything she does.
Totally, and I've also read that her friends always would ask her to make up and play songs when she was little. And since she was so used to playing big, powerful symphonis by Beethoven and Bach etc, it wasn't until she was about fifteen that she actually realized that she was writing songs. Quite remarkable how you can be so neglectant of your talent...
for me:
this song is about getting bored of the same old pap.
in this case singing the same old melody.
this could be taken as a lot fo things really, saying the same stuff all the time, having the same old conversations, or it could even be taken as if the person is bored of his/her personality, and singing the same old song. or maybe she had started getting stuck in a certain way of writing songs and she wanted to break that, thats an almost literal take on it.
in this song the part where she starts washing the dishes seems to be her breaking out of this routine and singing a different melody.
what you've said about that reflecting summin u read about her childhood sounds like its gotta be true, either way this part of the song definately gets more childlike, its like she lets go of all the adult worrys etc and just becomes a child for a while....
then theres that line, 'I close my eyes and think that I have found me'... shows implies the song has gotsummin to do with her trying to find herself...
this finding herself stuff kinda links with some of the stuff i said earlier aswell.
thats the way i got the whole musicbox analogy anyway, i'm not quite sure about some fo the lines in it though.
another way of looking at it is all to do with writing music;
the people who are trapped inside the 'mechanism' of formulaic song writing are all crying to get out of it wether they know it or not.
and that analogy can be applied to a million different things.
i think it means that she wants to break the mold and sing something unique... hence 'sing another melody completely'
love this song.
I think that she is so tired of being bored and singing the same melody, that she tries to make things interesting by doing the dishes in a different way...like making boats with bottle caps...you know...
The bit about washing the dishes and the greatest voyage in the history of plastic made me laugh when I first heard it.
haha, i love this song. it's so simple and childlike in the way that the subject (whoever it is) speaks. i like the bit about the dishes...
funny. whenever i get bored, this song comes into my head and i just have to sing it.