its amazing how far music can come.. 24 years after it released and its one of the most heartfelt songs ive heard
You sit there in your heartache
Waiting on some beautiful boy to
To save you from your old ways
You play forgiveness
Watch it now, here he comes
He doesn't look a thing like Jesus
But he talks like a gentlemen
Like you imagined when you were young
Can we climb this mountain?
I don't know
Higher now than ever before
I know we can make it if we take it slow
Let's take it easy
Easy now, watch it go
We're burning down the highway skyline
On the back of a hurricane that started turning
When you were young
When you were young
And sometimes you close your eyes
And see the place where you used to live
When you were young
They say the devil's water, it ain't so sweet
You don't have to drink right now
But you can dip your feet
Every once in a little while
You sit there in your heartache
Waiting on some beautiful boy to
To save you from your old ways
You play forgiveness
Watch it now, here he comes
He doesn't look a thing like Jesus
But he talks like a gentlemen
Like you imagined when you were young
(Talks like a gentlemen, like you imagined)
When you were young
I said he doesn't look a thing like Jesus
He doesn't look a thing like Jesus
But more than you'll ever know
Waiting on some beautiful boy to
To save you from your old ways
You play forgiveness
Watch it now, here he comes
He doesn't look a thing like Jesus
But he talks like a gentlemen
Like you imagined when you were young
Can we climb this mountain?
I don't know
Higher now than ever before
I know we can make it if we take it slow
Let's take it easy
Easy now, watch it go
We're burning down the highway skyline
On the back of a hurricane that started turning
When you were young
When you were young
And sometimes you close your eyes
And see the place where you used to live
When you were young
They say the devil's water, it ain't so sweet
You don't have to drink right now
But you can dip your feet
Every once in a little while
You sit there in your heartache
Waiting on some beautiful boy to
To save you from your old ways
You play forgiveness
Watch it now, here he comes
He doesn't look a thing like Jesus
But he talks like a gentlemen
Like you imagined when you were young
(Talks like a gentlemen, like you imagined)
When you were young
I said he doesn't look a thing like Jesus
He doesn't look a thing like Jesus
But more than you'll ever know
Lyrics submitted by sam_attack, edited by tigerfishy
When You Were Young Lyrics as written by Dave Brent Keuning Brandon Flowers
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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He reuses the verse melody from the previous album's "Dirty Little Religion", the topics of the verses are all over the place, and he packs too many words into one line (goes to show...) and too few in another (it's pretty hard to find), and rhymes "Henley Regatta" with "Persona non grata", but gets away with it all as only he could.
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Like a lot of the other comments are saying, I think this mainly about voyeurism. If the song was about his girlfriend, then why would he use the word spy. If you are a spy it means you shouldn't be caught, that is kind of the whole point, and if you are a voyeur, the whole point of the pleasure you get from it, is the fact that the other people don't know you are watching them. See a bit of a connection there?
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The way this song speaks to me🥺🥺when I sing it I feel like I relate
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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.
This is the first song in a LONG time which has physically given me goosebumps. Absolutely incredible. Here's my two cents, although I could be completely off - this seems to fit more and more every time I listen to it, though...
"You sit there in your heartache, Waiting on some beautiful boy, to save you from your old ways" She has had so many bad relationships that she has withdrawn, and is now just "waiting" to be saved - think "Rapunzel". She expects this perfect savior to find her and save her from her past.
"He doesn't look a thing like Jesus, but he talks like a gentleman, like you imagined when you were young" The guy who finds her is just a normal guy, he's not a "savior", but he fits the image of the perfect guy she had as a young girl.
"Can we climb this mountain, I don't know Higher now than ever before, I know we can make it if we take it slow Let's take it easy Easy now, watch it go" This new guy understands her situation and that she is afraid to get involved with anyone because every time she has risked trying it, she has ended up heartbroken. He's telling her that they don't have to go any faster than she wants to, and that they need to "take it slow", if they do that, they can manage it (he includes himself in this because if their relationship fails because they went too fast, he, too, will end up heartbroken).
"We're burning down the highway skyline" The "highway" is the road they're on now, speeding away from her troubled past. the "skyline" represents her old relationships, which they are "burning down" - trying to erase the memory of them and leave it all behind them.
"on the back of a hurricane that started turning when you were young" It was her image of the "perfect, charming guy" when she was younger that caused her to end up falling for all the "charmers" who turned out to just be players. Just a tiny seed, a puff of wind when she was young, that image grew and grew into this monstrous "hurricane" which overwhelmed her. They are now speeding away from it, managing to just barely keep ahead if it so it doesn't swallow both of them up now.
"And sometimes you close your eyes and see the place where you used to live When you were young" - sometimes she is able to think back and remember a time before all of this happened, before her idealist image of life was destroyed by the bad relationships she ended up in.
"They say the devil's water, it ain't so sweet You don't have to drink right now But you can dip your feet Every once in a little while" - I think this is about commitment - he understands that she is now terrified of commitment because of where it has left her before, so he's telling her it isn't always a good thing, and that she doesn't have to jump right into it, but can "dip her feet" once in a while - don't get too serious too fast. He's basically repeating what he said when he mentioned "taking it slow" while climbing the mountain".
After the first two verses repet for emphasis, we are left with this final line: "He doesn't look a thing like Jesus But more than you'll ever know"
He may not have seemed like a "Savior", but it was him who saved her, and maybe she will never realize it, but he truly IS her savior.