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.
My face is finished, my body's gone
And I can't help but think standin' up here
In all this applause and gazin' down
At all the young and the beautiful
With their questioning eyes
That I must above all things love myself
That I must above all things love myself
That I must above all things love myself
I saw a girl in the crowd
I ran over I shouted out
I asked if I could take her out
But she said that she didn't want to
I changed the sheets on my bed
I combed the hairs across my head
I sucked in my gut and still she said
That she just didn't want to
I read her Eliot, read her Yeats
I tried my best to stay up late
I fixed the hinges on her gate
But still she just never wanted to
I bought her a dozen snow-white doves
I did her dishes in rubber gloves
I called her honeybee, I called her love
But she just still didn't want to
She just never wants to
Dammit!
I sent her every type of flower
I played a guitar by the hour
I patted her revolting little chihuahua
But still she just didn't want to
I wrote a song with a hundred lines
I picked a bunch of dandelions
I walked her through the trembling pines
But she just even then didn't want to
She just never wants to
I thought I'd try another tack
I drank a litre of cognac
I threw her down upon her back
But she just laughed and said
That she just didn't want to
I thought I'd have another go
I called her my little O
I felt like Marcel Marceau
Must feel when she said
That she just never wanted to
She just didn't want to
I got the no pussy blues
I got the no pussy blues
I got the no pussy blues
Damn, damn, woo
No pussy blues
I got the no pussy blues
I got the no pussy blues
I got the no pussy blues, woo
Yeah, yeah, woo
And I can't help but think standin' up here
In all this applause and gazin' down
At all the young and the beautiful
With their questioning eyes
That I must above all things love myself
That I must above all things love myself
That I must above all things love myself
I saw a girl in the crowd
I ran over I shouted out
I asked if I could take her out
But she said that she didn't want to
I changed the sheets on my bed
I combed the hairs across my head
I sucked in my gut and still she said
That she just didn't want to
I read her Eliot, read her Yeats
I tried my best to stay up late
I fixed the hinges on her gate
But still she just never wanted to
I bought her a dozen snow-white doves
I did her dishes in rubber gloves
I called her honeybee, I called her love
But she just still didn't want to
She just never wants to
Dammit!
I sent her every type of flower
I played a guitar by the hour
I patted her revolting little chihuahua
But still she just didn't want to
I wrote a song with a hundred lines
I picked a bunch of dandelions
I walked her through the trembling pines
But she just even then didn't want to
She just never wants to
I thought I'd try another tack
I drank a litre of cognac
I threw her down upon her back
But she just laughed and said
That she just didn't want to
I thought I'd have another go
I called her my little O
I felt like Marcel Marceau
Must feel when she said
That she just never wanted to
She just didn't want to
I got the no pussy blues
I got the no pussy blues
I got the no pussy blues
Damn, damn, woo
No pussy blues
I got the no pussy blues
I got the no pussy blues
I got the no pussy blues, woo
Yeah, yeah, woo
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"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
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Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
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This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
LOL at your "it's the 'tash" comment, Morbid, because I had the same thought.
I'm not too sure about all the songs coming from his "fertile imagination" though, since Boatman's Call was straight from the heart and real life. Maybe it's just a certain someone who "just fucking doesn't want to". Susie Bick?