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.
TERROR be thy name
Burning thine bridge and (heart) the same
A year to drain my innocence
And course it through your blackened veins
Oh demoness, what has our daughter become?
Trash for the maggots to eat
What color eyes should be staring at me in my dreams?
Abomination, born in this union of hate
Killed in the name of the free!
And of our son,
To the sickle he clung
A featureless face for your nightmarish dreams!
Dilate and extract
Dilate and bury it all
Mother, vampiric mistress of nightfed blood
Who pets her child's head from a grave
Demon, enchantress of evil profound
Dead and nameless
(A noose to choke the memories from me)
Addicted to those forbidden hands
Thrust deep inside her helpless hull
Scrape! scrape it all away
Vacuum these pictures from my brain
Scrape it all away
How I shall laugh once you have DIED
How I will sleep once you've been DESTROYED
Dilate and extract
Dilate and bury it DEAD
Mother, vampiric mistress of nightfed blood
Who pets her child's head from a grave
Demon, enchantress of evil profound
Dead and nameless
(A noose to choke the memories from me)
Dead!
Burning thine bridge and (heart) the same
A year to drain my innocence
And course it through your blackened veins
Oh demoness, what has our daughter become?
Trash for the maggots to eat
What color eyes should be staring at me in my dreams?
Abomination, born in this union of hate
Killed in the name of the free!
And of our son,
To the sickle he clung
A featureless face for your nightmarish dreams!
Dilate and extract
Dilate and bury it all
Mother, vampiric mistress of nightfed blood
Who pets her child's head from a grave
Demon, enchantress of evil profound
Dead and nameless
(A noose to choke the memories from me)
Addicted to those forbidden hands
Thrust deep inside her helpless hull
Scrape! scrape it all away
Vacuum these pictures from my brain
Scrape it all away
How I shall laugh once you have DIED
How I will sleep once you've been DESTROYED
Dilate and extract
Dilate and bury it DEAD
Mother, vampiric mistress of nightfed blood
Who pets her child's head from a grave
Demon, enchantress of evil profound
Dead and nameless
(A noose to choke the memories from me)
Dead!
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Good god! what awsome lyrics! "Vampiric mistress of night fed blood." fave line.
i agree b12 its fucking awsome
i love drum solo in this song, and good lyrics to. i like how black dahlias songs actually mean stuff
There is quite a bit missing from the song.
I actually think he is talking about abortion. He asks what his daughter has become and refers to trash, abomination, dilating, extracting and burying. In the verses that are missing he refers to vacum and scraping. shrugs Just the impression I got.
Trevor has stated in at least one interview that this song is about a failed relationship he had which resulted in an abortion. He makes more than one reference to it on the album, suggesting that's it's haunted him quite a bit.
This is def about a relationship gone sour. He is trying to hurt his former lover with the lyrics... using their aborted child as ammunition. He wonders if it was going to be a boy or a girl, what it would have looked like had it been born ("what color eyes should be staring at me in my dreams?"). He tries to paint the child as a monster... the only possible outcome of breeding with such an evil woman. He references the abortion in "I'm Charming" as well: "Bury me deep, as I have an unborn child"
I totally agree with the whole "abortion" thing. "abomination, born in a union of hate (killed in the name of the free). A reference to the bad relationship. Born in a union of hate. It must have been a bad relationship. "killed in the name of the free". I assume that this talks about human rights, the right to have an abortion, and how we are free to make that choice. The baby was killed in the name of all those who fought to give us our freedom. Its quite beautifully done. All black dahlia murder lyrics are amazing. Trevor is great.
.Damn
I'm sure that's right.. A sour relationship, and an aborted baby that resulted from the union
I agree with fugativemascot, on the whole human rights issue.. Since trevor does state "killed in the name of the free" . Pretty clever lyrics, I think
this song is one of my favs its awesome
and it having heaps of missing lyrics is annoying lol. you cant fix them up or anything.
Terror is thy name! Burning thine bridge And death the same
A year to drain my innocence And course it through your blackened veins
Oh, Demoness! (Oh, Demoness!) What has our daughter become? Trash for the maggots to eat? What color eyes should be staring at me in my dreams?
Abomination born in this union of hate (Killed in the name of the free) And of our son? To the sickle he clung A featureless face for your nightmarish dreams
Dilate - extract Dilate - and bury it all Mother, vampiric mistress or night-fed blood Who pets her child's head from a grave (Demon!) Enchantress of evil profound Dead and nameless, dead (A noose to choke the memories from me)
Addicted to those forbidden hands Thrust deep inside her helpless hull
[solo]
(SCRAPE!) Scrape it all away Vacuum these pictures from my brain Scrape it all away
How I shall laugh once you have died! How I will sleep once you've been destroyed! (Destroyed, destroyed, destroyed, destroyed)
Dilate - extract Dilate - and bury it dead
Mother, vampiric mistress or night-fed blood Who pets her child's head from a grave (Demon!) Enchantress of evil profound Dead and nameless, dead (A noose to choke the memories from me)
DEAD!