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.
The snake bit the child on the hand
The father picked up the snake and cut its head off
The boy stood up touched the man
Mother saw him touch, her husband started buggin'
Grabbed a kitchen knife
Plunged it in her chest just to briefly see the covent
Boy steps over his dying father to creepily
Stare into the eyes of the child watching on the tv
Kid hits the floor until her epileptic seizure
Leaves her paramedics follow standard procedure
Dispatch radios: â??we got a jumper on the roofâ??
They pack up drive to the scene and almost hit a youth
Running from three armed teens pullin' death from their waists
He dips into an alley, paramedics climb the staircase
Bullets find a place in his back, he pounds the church door
Tires squeal, he falls in a priest's arms, they hit the floor
Jumper looks down at the priest, her toes grip the ledge
She picks up her arms and takes a step when he says
Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy
Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy
The preacher leaves the precinct, signed papers, then prayed soft
As he enters the church from the side front entrance taped off
Drops to his knees, reached to the ceiling for forgiveness
In his mind, every child's face he had inflicted his sickness
Turns to a woman crying with a gun to his lid
She pulls the trigger twice then screams, â??see if he forgives!â??
Runs to her car, ditches the gun in the dumpster
A homeless man picks up the pistol diggin' for his supper
Cops tell him to drop the weapon, he turns regardless
They shoot up the trash and leave him dead in the garbage
The coroner zips the black bag up over his head
Loads him in the truck and says
lord have mercy, Lord have mercy
Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy
Soft sounds of gospel play in the distance
From a radio the coroner surrounded by student physicians
He goes to work, removing lead from the cadaver
The group takes notes, returns upstairs shortly after
They joke of how the dead reek with no respect for the deceased
And curse to hell the homeless man who just killed a priest
Double doors slap open and force another episode
Little gamer shot in the chest, enters his health codes
They don't work; he twitches then spits his last breath to
One of the student doctors cryin' clutches his nephew
He turns to the tv but can't believe his head
When the boy on the screen holdin' a dead snake says
Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy
Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy
The father picked up the snake and cut its head off
The boy stood up touched the man
Mother saw him touch, her husband started buggin'
Grabbed a kitchen knife
Plunged it in her chest just to briefly see the covent
Boy steps over his dying father to creepily
Stare into the eyes of the child watching on the tv
Kid hits the floor until her epileptic seizure
Leaves her paramedics follow standard procedure
Dispatch radios: â??we got a jumper on the roofâ??
They pack up drive to the scene and almost hit a youth
Running from three armed teens pullin' death from their waists
He dips into an alley, paramedics climb the staircase
Bullets find a place in his back, he pounds the church door
Tires squeal, he falls in a priest's arms, they hit the floor
Jumper looks down at the priest, her toes grip the ledge
She picks up her arms and takes a step when he says
Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy
Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy
The preacher leaves the precinct, signed papers, then prayed soft
As he enters the church from the side front entrance taped off
Drops to his knees, reached to the ceiling for forgiveness
In his mind, every child's face he had inflicted his sickness
Turns to a woman crying with a gun to his lid
She pulls the trigger twice then screams, â??see if he forgives!â??
Runs to her car, ditches the gun in the dumpster
A homeless man picks up the pistol diggin' for his supper
Cops tell him to drop the weapon, he turns regardless
They shoot up the trash and leave him dead in the garbage
The coroner zips the black bag up over his head
Loads him in the truck and says
lord have mercy, Lord have mercy
Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy
Soft sounds of gospel play in the distance
From a radio the coroner surrounded by student physicians
He goes to work, removing lead from the cadaver
The group takes notes, returns upstairs shortly after
They joke of how the dead reek with no respect for the deceased
And curse to hell the homeless man who just killed a priest
Double doors slap open and force another episode
Little gamer shot in the chest, enters his health codes
They don't work; he twitches then spits his last breath to
One of the student doctors cryin' clutches his nephew
He turns to the tv but can't believe his head
When the boy on the screen holdin' a dead snake says
Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy
Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy
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i love this song. the snake is a religious symbol for original sin (religion obviously plays a pretty big part in this song), but the thing i love the most about this song is how its framed by transitions revolving around a television set. The first transition occurs when the son whos parents just died looks into the tv and sees the child who then has a seizure. The other transition occurs at the very end of the song when the doctor look into the tv and its back to the original son holding the snakes head. To me these two transitions completely blur whats real in this song. We're led to believe that everything is happening in real life throughout this song, yet by the end it seems that the majority of the events in this song have occurred on a television set in the sons house. or perhaps its the other way around as well? maybe it was the violent act of the father killing the mother that caused the little girl to seize, which was the catalyst for the rest of the events in the body of the song. Either way this song completely blows me away, cage has an amazing talent for haunting imagery and storytelling.
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The way Cage can tell and dwell in the most disturbing stories is awing in itself. Not many other rappers can do something like this without getting off track or annoyingly cheesy.
Cage tells a crazy story basically about violence and how we ask for the lord's mercy when we see or hear about these violent acts. Highly entertaining a real movies for the blind type of visual descriptive song. The song sort of is hard to make sense of but it all ties up at the end with the boy holding the dead snake saying lord have mercy. i also liked the themes of TV and videogame violence and religion.