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're recording, shut up]
Strontium-90
Removed from milk
Is as curious an entity
As bullshit writ on silk
Cancer's airborne now
Do you hear the sound?
I was hanging out the washing, man
As the rain came falling down
Now the grass lies snakes
Has crowds of iodine and fire
On Jezebel's luminescence
I swear you are my heart's desire
Bombproof the embassy
Give infanticide a cemetery
You looked so good on the late night news
With your curtain and your deed
Yeah, I love you like a violin
I'll hunt you like an amputee
But I ain't gonna lose my skin
I would love to see you again,
Again...
I... I would love to see you again
I... I would love to see you again
You wrote me a letter
And this is how it went:
It said, "We're just backing up the supply lines
The first division's crossin' the Nile
Through the rushes and up the side
And into the machine gun fire"
Yeah, you tell me that this is not a dream
I've become a steel spring
Uranium tips, night vision cruise missiles
Gonna cut the belly out of the sky
I rode an Abrams
And we stopped in Bethlehem
They made the answers here
But there weren't so many questions then
And there I shot a woman
In a headscarf with my gun
She said, "Does my bomb look big in this?
Am I the only one?"
I was in the blitz, you know
When my heart was young and true
I had a Caesarean, but it was not any use
Oh, calamity! Oh, the vanity!
You can't ride a thunderbolt
You can't claim an enemy
There ain't nothing here
Except a darkness, Lord
I ain't gonna fail no test
I gave my dowry to a finger on a switch
Turn me to a fine pink mist
But I ain't nothing but your stranger still
If I'm even anyone at all
But I ain't gonna lose my skin
I would love to see you again,
Again...
I... I would love to see you again
I... I would love to see you again
But that ain't gonna happen now
It's no use to pretend
No
How many people gonna lie?
How many people gonna die?
What's best for the West and the greed?
Kill 'em all? Let 'em breed?
Another bomb for every atom you injure
Meet the Devil with extended ring finger
Saying "thou shalt not kill"
But I'm damned if I don't
So I'm thinking I will
Yeah, Dan Pearl
They cut your head off on TV
But I am not a camera
A man is not an effigy
But still all this horror
Has made a trench out of my soul
I'm gonna have to fall in love with a blind girl
So she will not see the shame that I know
Oh, new scar
You have raised the bar
Goliath rides an oil drum raft
Through a cyclone in my ear drums
You don't want a tyrant, we're sure
You'd prefer civil war
And I am gonna lose my skin
And I ain't gonna see you again
Again...
I... I would love to see you again
I... I would love to see you again
Strontium-90
Removed from milk
Is as curious an entity
As bullshit writ on silk
Cancer's airborne now
Do you hear the sound?
I was hanging out the washing, man
As the rain came falling down
Now the grass lies snakes
Has crowds of iodine and fire
On Jezebel's luminescence
I swear you are my heart's desire
Bombproof the embassy
Give infanticide a cemetery
You looked so good on the late night news
With your curtain and your deed
Yeah, I love you like a violin
I'll hunt you like an amputee
But I ain't gonna lose my skin
I would love to see you again,
Again...
I... I would love to see you again
I... I would love to see you again
You wrote me a letter
And this is how it went:
It said, "We're just backing up the supply lines
The first division's crossin' the Nile
Through the rushes and up the side
And into the machine gun fire"
Yeah, you tell me that this is not a dream
I've become a steel spring
Uranium tips, night vision cruise missiles
Gonna cut the belly out of the sky
I rode an Abrams
And we stopped in Bethlehem
They made the answers here
But there weren't so many questions then
And there I shot a woman
In a headscarf with my gun
She said, "Does my bomb look big in this?
Am I the only one?"
I was in the blitz, you know
When my heart was young and true
I had a Caesarean, but it was not any use
Oh, calamity! Oh, the vanity!
You can't ride a thunderbolt
You can't claim an enemy
There ain't nothing here
Except a darkness, Lord
I ain't gonna fail no test
I gave my dowry to a finger on a switch
Turn me to a fine pink mist
But I ain't nothing but your stranger still
If I'm even anyone at all
But I ain't gonna lose my skin
I would love to see you again,
Again...
I... I would love to see you again
I... I would love to see you again
But that ain't gonna happen now
It's no use to pretend
No
How many people gonna lie?
How many people gonna die?
What's best for the West and the greed?
Kill 'em all? Let 'em breed?
Another bomb for every atom you injure
Meet the Devil with extended ring finger
Saying "thou shalt not kill"
But I'm damned if I don't
So I'm thinking I will
Yeah, Dan Pearl
They cut your head off on TV
But I am not a camera
A man is not an effigy
But still all this horror
Has made a trench out of my soul
I'm gonna have to fall in love with a blind girl
So she will not see the shame that I know
Oh, new scar
You have raised the bar
Goliath rides an oil drum raft
Through a cyclone in my ear drums
You don't want a tyrant, we're sure
You'd prefer civil war
And I am gonna lose my skin
And I ain't gonna see you again
Again...
I... I would love to see you again
I... I would love to see you again
Lyrics submitted by shrodes
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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Hayalperest
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This song seemingly tackles the methods of deception those who manipulate others use to get victims to follow their demands, as well as diverting attention away from important issues. They'll also use it as a means to convince people to hate or kill others by pretending acts of terrorism were committed by the enemy when the acts themselves were done by the masters of control to promote discrimination and hate. It also reinforces the idea that these manipulative forces operate in various locations, infiltrating everyday life without detection, and propagate any and everywhere.
In general, it highlights the danger of hidden agendas, manipulation, and distraction, serving as a critique of those who exploit chaos and confusion to control and gain power, depicting a cautionary tale against falling into their traps. It encourages us to question the narratives presented to us and remain vigilant against manipulation in various parts of society.
No Surprises
Radiohead
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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.
Magical
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
Total amazing song, so many different ideas squeezed in there (nearly 8 minutes, but it still flies by). Some of this info comes from an interview Gareth did in Mess + Noise magazine, some I've interpreted myself. The Strontium 90, Iodine, milk, Jezebel (a cow, apparently) come from when nuclear testing was done in Woomera in outback South Australia. The fallout was carried to populated parts of Aust and "rained down", was absorbed into grass, eaten by cow and then affected a whole generation of kids. Gareth's home town of "Ether" a.k.a. Port Hedland, may have been one of the areas affected by this.
This next few verse switch to talking about war in the middle east. Uranium tips refer to the "depleted" uranium ammunition used by the US which is now suspected to be causing radiation sickness in their own troops. "Night vision, cruise missiles" refers to the footage ithat was seen almost nightly during the first gulf war.
Bethlehem is obviously a biblical reference. The "does my bomb look big in this" line I love, because it seems to reference 2 things, The use of suicide bombers/IEDs and also the westernisation of the middle east (i.e. the vanity of "does my bum look big in this)
Dan Pearl was a US journalist executed in the middle east (try youtube). The camera, effigy line I believe means: I am not a machine, I cannot view this image without emotion and a human cannot be treated as something to be destroyed in order to make a point, political or otherwise.
The next verse is about the "blood for oil" war. New Scar = G.W. Bush? Is Goliath (another biblical reference) the US, riding the middle eastern oil drum through their hurricane Katrina?
Tyrant: Saddam, now gone, but the Iraqis are left with a civil was.