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.
Who do you carry the torch for my young man?
Do you believe in anything?
Do you carry it around just to burn things down?
Meet me tonight on the turnpike, my darling
Cause we believe in everything,
If we sweat all these debts then we're sure to drown
So we'll strap ourselves up to this engine now,
With a God that we found laying under the backseat.
What did you learn tonight?
Shouting so loud you barely see,
You're this broken thing,
You're a voice that never sings, that's what I say.
You were freezing over hell,
You were bringing on the end you do so well
You can only blame yourself, that's what I say
All that you've taught is to ignore the things I was showing
And sweep me under the rug,
You're beating with a book everyone that book tells you to love,
There is an ember in the heart of the kiln and its burning hot with love,
Burning out my center till there's nothing but dust,
Rolling me with care into your cigarette,
Cause the God I believe in never worked on a campaign trail.
What did you learn tonight?
Shouting so loud you barely see,
You're this broken thing,
You're a voice that never sings, that's what I say.
You were freezing over hell,
You were bringing on the end, you do so well
You can only blame yourself, that's what I say
Who do you carry that torch for my young man?
Do you believe in anything?
Do you carry it around just to burn things to the ground?
What did you learn tonight?
Shouting so loud you barely see,
(feels like we could escape, I don't mind throwing away the filthy silver song.)
You're this broken thing,
You're a voice that never sings, that's what I say.
(if you try running the maze of your lies it's too hard to save,
If you've thrown out everyone.)
You were freezing over hell,
You were bringing on the end, you do so well
You can only blame yourself, that's what I say
Do you believe in anything?
Do you carry it around just to burn things down?
Meet me tonight on the turnpike, my darling
Cause we believe in everything,
If we sweat all these debts then we're sure to drown
So we'll strap ourselves up to this engine now,
With a God that we found laying under the backseat.
What did you learn tonight?
Shouting so loud you barely see,
You're this broken thing,
You're a voice that never sings, that's what I say.
You were freezing over hell,
You were bringing on the end you do so well
You can only blame yourself, that's what I say
All that you've taught is to ignore the things I was showing
And sweep me under the rug,
You're beating with a book everyone that book tells you to love,
There is an ember in the heart of the kiln and its burning hot with love,
Burning out my center till there's nothing but dust,
Rolling me with care into your cigarette,
Cause the God I believe in never worked on a campaign trail.
What did you learn tonight?
Shouting so loud you barely see,
You're this broken thing,
You're a voice that never sings, that's what I say.
You were freezing over hell,
You were bringing on the end, you do so well
You can only blame yourself, that's what I say
Who do you carry that torch for my young man?
Do you believe in anything?
Do you carry it around just to burn things to the ground?
What did you learn tonight?
Shouting so loud you barely see,
(feels like we could escape, I don't mind throwing away the filthy silver song.)
You're this broken thing,
You're a voice that never sings, that's what I say.
(if you try running the maze of your lies it's too hard to save,
If you've thrown out everyone.)
You were freezing over hell,
You were bringing on the end, you do so well
You can only blame yourself, that's what I say
Lyrics submitted by prayingmantis84, edited by josefineumuser
Untitled Lyrics as written by Vincent Accardi
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Light Up The Sky
Van Halen
Van Halen
When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Blue
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
American Town
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.
As confirmed by the people who have manipulated the track, it is indeed 'This never ends...' or something along those lines.
First of all I will point out the blinding obviousness of what this entails to those who don't seem to get it:- Anything that you can hear being 'said' when you play the track like normal is mere coincedence, even if the band intended for this when they released the record or not.
Secondly, it is a sample. This means technically there are no lyrics as it is not recorded vocals, but a sample imported into the track and edited therein (octave shift on the first two times it is used, the fade in when the 'sequence' first starts and wave stretch every fifth time on the 'sequence'.
Finally, IT IS NOT JESSE WHO IS SPEAKING ON THE SAMPLE. It is somebody else, maybe from an answering machine like somebody suggested. Whether or not this sample was recorded with intention for use on this record or it happens to be a message somebody left for Jesse (or somebody else) on an answering machine which the band decided to use is up for discussion, unless the band have said in an interview.
As for the meaning of the song, I believe it is up for personal interpretation. The band know that 99.9% of people will never bother to listen to it backwards and probably intended to create this sort of debate between people who have listened to the track. I personally thought it was 'I could never listen' when I first heard it. I think some of the suggestions people have made such as it being a message to the people who leaked the original demos are viable though it may also be possible that the band decided to leave it untitled so as to not create any discussion about the meaning of the song, therefore, as I said, to leave it upto the interpretation of the listener. I'm glad to say I avoided the leaks as I know myself how infuriating this can be. I believe the person on the sample may be a friend of Jesse's who passed away and he happened to have a message from them on his answering machine so they used it. It is obvious, however you view it, that this is a very emotionally charged song.