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.
In Düsseldorf i met a clown
His nose, it was red
In gelterkinden i forgot to frown
Then remembered again
In Paris i saw a big fish
Swimming slow in the seine
It made me hopeful that someday our
Water will be breathable again
In frankfurt i heard ein zwei drei
Counting cookies and no one was shot
In berlin stopped by the polizai
For drunk driving and everyone smiled
In prague i knew i'd been a witch
Burnt alive, a pyre of soviet kitsch
It made me miss my moscow mother
It made me miss my New York nothing
In Montpelier i stayed in a chateau
A girl climbed into my bed and she knew no boundaries
And in Amsterdam i got quite crazy
Might have been all the tulips and canals
Or it might have been all that hash, and in
Barcelona - buenos dias, chocolate, le picasso
And in Brussels, clean-cut hostel
And in London, me and the french existentialists
In corsica i floated away
All the way to marseilles
I should have held an afterparty
For all the thoughts i didn't say
In dusseldorf i met a dwarf
With bad breath and a really good tan
In gelterkinden i remembered how to laugh
And i never ever forgot it again
His nose, it was red
In gelterkinden i forgot to frown
Then remembered again
In Paris i saw a big fish
Swimming slow in the seine
It made me hopeful that someday our
Water will be breathable again
In frankfurt i heard ein zwei drei
Counting cookies and no one was shot
In berlin stopped by the polizai
For drunk driving and everyone smiled
In prague i knew i'd been a witch
Burnt alive, a pyre of soviet kitsch
It made me miss my moscow mother
It made me miss my New York nothing
In Montpelier i stayed in a chateau
A girl climbed into my bed and she knew no boundaries
And in Amsterdam i got quite crazy
Might have been all the tulips and canals
Or it might have been all that hash, and in
Barcelona - buenos dias, chocolate, le picasso
And in Brussels, clean-cut hostel
And in London, me and the french existentialists
In corsica i floated away
All the way to marseilles
I should have held an afterparty
For all the thoughts i didn't say
In dusseldorf i met a dwarf
With bad breath and a really good tan
In gelterkinden i remembered how to laugh
And i never ever forgot it again
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
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it should also be: Moscow muttdom not moscow mother