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.
It's just a bad movie where there's no crying
Handing the keys to me in this Red Lion
Where the lock that you locked in the suite
Says there's no prying
When the breath that you breathed in the street
Screams there's no science
When you look how you looked then to me
Then I cease lying and fall into silence
It's just a life story, so there's no climax
No more new territory, so pull away the IMAX
In the slot that you sliced through the scene
There was no shyness
In the plot that you passed through your teeth
There was no pity
No fade in, film begins on a kid in the big city
And no cut to a costly parade, that's for him only
No dissolve to a sliver of gray, that's his new lady
Where she glows just like grain on the flickering pane
Of some great movie
Hey, I didn't watch it
It's just a house burning, but it's not haunted
It was your heart hurting but not for too long, kid
In the socket you spin from with ease
There is no sticking
From the speakers your fake masterpiece
Comes serenely dribbling
And when the air 'round your chair fills with heat
That's the flames licking
Beneath the clock on the clean mantelpiece
It's got a calm clicking
Like a pro at his editing suite takes two weeks stitching
Up some bad movie
Handing the keys to me in this Red Lion
Where the lock that you locked in the suite
Says there's no prying
When the breath that you breathed in the street
Screams there's no science
When you look how you looked then to me
Then I cease lying and fall into silence
It's just a life story, so there's no climax
No more new territory, so pull away the IMAX
In the slot that you sliced through the scene
There was no shyness
In the plot that you passed through your teeth
There was no pity
No fade in, film begins on a kid in the big city
And no cut to a costly parade, that's for him only
No dissolve to a sliver of gray, that's his new lady
Where she glows just like grain on the flickering pane
Of some great movie
Hey, I didn't watch it
It's just a house burning, but it's not haunted
It was your heart hurting but not for too long, kid
In the socket you spin from with ease
There is no sticking
From the speakers your fake masterpiece
Comes serenely dribbling
And when the air 'round your chair fills with heat
That's the flames licking
Beneath the clock on the clean mantelpiece
It's got a calm clicking
Like a pro at his editing suite takes two weeks stitching
Up some bad movie
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i think it is about someone living thier life as if is scripted.
I love Okkervil River and i think this is thier best song.I love it.