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.
We hit the blue fields
In the blue sedan we didn't get much further
Just as the sun was rising in the mist
We were all alone we didn't need much more
So fast this expidition
So vast this heavy load
With a touch of luck and a sense of need
Seeing the guns and their faces
We look around the open shore
Waiting for something
Shoot high break low
Aim high shoot low
Break high let go
Shoot high aim low
This was to be our last ride
With the steel guitar and the love you give me
Underneath the skin a feeling, a breakdown
Well we sat for hours on the crimson sand
Exchanges in the currency of humans bought and sold
And the leaders seem to lose control
Shall we lose ourselves for a reason
Shall we burn ourselves for the answer
Have we found the place that we're looking for
Someone shouted "open the door"
Lookout
Shoot high break low
Aim high shoot low
Feeling of imagination
Break high let go
Shoot high aim low
Shoot high aim low
Nothing you can say
Shoot high let go
Takes me by surprise
Shoot high aim low
Who says's there's got to be a reason
Shoot high let go
Who says there's got to be an answer
We were all alone, we didn't need much more
Shoot high aim low
The sun's so hard on this endless highway
Shoot high let go
Shoot high aim low
I've heard the singers, who sing of love
Shoot high let go
In the blue sedan we never got much further
Shoot high aim low
In the blue sedan we didn't get much further
Just as the sun was rising in the mist
We were all alone we didn't need much more
So fast this expidition
So vast this heavy load
With a touch of luck and a sense of need
Seeing the guns and their faces
We look around the open shore
Waiting for something
Shoot high break low
Aim high shoot low
Break high let go
Shoot high aim low
This was to be our last ride
With the steel guitar and the love you give me
Underneath the skin a feeling, a breakdown
Well we sat for hours on the crimson sand
Exchanges in the currency of humans bought and sold
And the leaders seem to lose control
Shall we lose ourselves for a reason
Shall we burn ourselves for the answer
Have we found the place that we're looking for
Someone shouted "open the door"
Lookout
Shoot high break low
Aim high shoot low
Feeling of imagination
Break high let go
Shoot high aim low
Shoot high aim low
Nothing you can say
Shoot high let go
Takes me by surprise
Shoot high aim low
Who says's there's got to be a reason
Shoot high let go
Who says there's got to be an answer
We were all alone, we didn't need much more
Shoot high aim low
The sun's so hard on this endless highway
Shoot high let go
Shoot high aim low
I've heard the singers, who sing of love
Shoot high let go
In the blue sedan we never got much further
Shoot high aim low
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i see a post-apocalyptic situation. the blue fields could be Nicaragua, but i see somewhere midwest USA. the blue sedan. a group of people escaping into the countryside. "...so fast this expedition..." they split out without much notice, on the run from disaster. "...so vast this heavy load..." carrying with themselves a last hope for humanity and for some kind of civilization as chaos consumes all behind and before them. "...with a touch of luck and a sense of need..." desperation. it reminds me of the first 100 or so pages of Stephen King's THE STAND, when it is all breaking down and people are running away from disintegrating society. "...seeing the guns and their faces..." theyve run in among other desperadoes. there's killing, maybe. tense situations. Octavia Butler's PARABLE OF THE SOWER comes to mind. "...exchanges in the currency of humans bought and sold..." the ravages of capitalist civilization have brought mankind to the edge of ruin and have transcended, finally, that edge. "...and the leaders seem to lose control..." economic and environmental collapse ensue. "...shall we lose ourselves for a reason..." their system pretends to be based on reason but the reality of a system based on infinite growth in a finite world must inevitable lead to ruin. "...shall we burn ourselves for the answer..." of course the paradoxes of this system will lead to war and ruin. nuclear war is hinted at here. "...have we found the place we're looking for..." is this where our way of life was bound to lead all along? is this why all is chaos and war? "...someone shouted open the door, look out!..." the rapidly changing, exploding situation these refugees find themselves in intrude on the narrator's ruminations. "...feeling of imagination..." one of my favorite pieces of the scene. in the chaotic breakdown of systems of control, possibilities open themselves. if one could escape the ensuing, enveloping chaos and find a place of refuge, other kinds of society become possible. the breakdown of the greater system will allow alternative methods of social organization to develop. "...the sun so hard on that endless highway..." escaping into emptiness. a hard road. "...we were all alone. we didnt need much more..." out in open country. maybe enough supplies and knowhow to make a go of it. "...the singers, who sing of love..." carrying this flame forward. this is what was best of humanity and with luck, the coming endtimes war will not wipe it out completely. "...in the blue sedan we never got much further..." ambiguous. did the expedition fail. were they killed, wiped out, by other refugees, by military roadblock, by post nuclear storm, by chaotic circumstances. or did they proceed on foot? it's doubtful anyone will survive the next world war, the ongoing world war of which stages we are already entered upon. there's a chance, but it's not good.