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.
I've been chatting with a fisherman
Who just can't stand his own life
He wakes up every day and
Says not one word to his wife
He tells me listen boy
I do love her, But I'm afraid I have lost my touch
Oh, there's got to be a way to make this right
If you just help me I would fix this all tonight
And I would pick her up
and I would spin her around
and I would never let her down
I would never let her down
I would pick her up
and I would spin her around
and I would never let her down
I would never let her down
So now he walks into the bedroom
and finds nothing but a note
It reads "Dear baby boy I think it's time we let this go"
Now he can't control his crying
As he falls down to his knees
Just an hour ago she might have been his queen
So now he hates himself for waiting all these years
And he can't pick her up
and he can't spin her around
and he won't ever let her down
He won't ever let her down
He can't pick her up
and he can't spin her around
and he won't ever let her down
he won't ever let her down
So now he lays awake every night
In the bed that they used to share
In hopes one day he'll wake up
and she'll be lying there
and now whenever i see this man,
He said don't you let love go
And as he puts my hand in my girls he says hey
There's a couple things that you should do each day
And you should pick her up
and you should spin her around
and don't you ever let her down
don't you ever let her down
You should pick her up
and you should spin her around
and don't you ever let her down
don't you ever let her down
and they all say na na na...
Don't be afraid to show her love
Who just can't stand his own life
He wakes up every day and
Says not one word to his wife
He tells me listen boy
I do love her, But I'm afraid I have lost my touch
Oh, there's got to be a way to make this right
If you just help me I would fix this all tonight
And I would pick her up
and I would spin her around
and I would never let her down
I would never let her down
I would pick her up
and I would spin her around
and I would never let her down
I would never let her down
So now he walks into the bedroom
and finds nothing but a note
It reads "Dear baby boy I think it's time we let this go"
Now he can't control his crying
As he falls down to his knees
Just an hour ago she might have been his queen
So now he hates himself for waiting all these years
And he can't pick her up
and he can't spin her around
and he won't ever let her down
He won't ever let her down
He can't pick her up
and he can't spin her around
and he won't ever let her down
he won't ever let her down
So now he lays awake every night
In the bed that they used to share
In hopes one day he'll wake up
and she'll be lying there
and now whenever i see this man,
He said don't you let love go
And as he puts my hand in my girls he says hey
There's a couple things that you should do each day
And you should pick her up
and you should spin her around
and don't you ever let her down
don't you ever let her down
You should pick her up
and you should spin her around
and don't you ever let her down
don't you ever let her down
and they all say na na na...
Don't be afraid to show her love
Lyrics submitted by ickynikki
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In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
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This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"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"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
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"
When We Were Young
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This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
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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.
In hopes one day he'll wake up and she'll be lying there and now whenever i see this man, he says don't you let love go****