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.
4 o'Clock
4 o'Clock
Never let me sleep
I close my eyes and pray
For the garish light of day
Like a frightened child I run
From the sleep that never comes
4 o'Clock
4 o'Clock
Out of bed I creep
To climb this tower of shame
But the hour's still the same
Only madness knows my name
At 4 o'Clock
4 o'Clock
4 o'Clock
Never let me sleep
I close my eyes and pray
For the garish light of day
Like a frightened child I run
From the sleep that never comes
4 o'Clock
4 o'Clock
Out of bed I creep
To climb this tower of shame
But the hour's still the same
Only madness knows my name
At 4 o'Clock
Why can we never go back to bed?
Whose is the voice ringing in my head?
Where is the sense in these desperate dreams?
Why should I wake when I'm half past dead?
Sure as the clock keeps its steady chime
Weak as I walk to its steady rhyme
Ticking away from the ones we love
So many girls, so little time
Why can we never go back to bed?
Whose is the voice ringing in my head?
Where is the sense in these desperate dreams?
Why should I wake when I'm half past dead?
4 o'Clock
4 o'Clock
Never let me sleep
I close my eyes and pray
For the garish light of day
Like a frightened child I run
From the sleep that never comes
4 o'Clock
4 o'Clock
Out of bed I creep
To climb this tower of shame
But the hour's still the same
Only slumber never came
Only madness knows my name
At 4 o'Clock
Why can we never go back to bed?
Whose is the voice ringing in my head?
Where is the sense in these desperate dreams?
Why should I wake when I'm half past dead?
Sure as the clock keeps its steady chime
Weak as I walk to its steady rhyme
Ticking away from the ones we love
So many girls, so little time
Why can we never go back to bed?
4 o'Clock
Never let me sleep
I close my eyes and pray
For the garish light of day
Like a frightened child I run
From the sleep that never comes
4 o'Clock
4 o'Clock
Out of bed I creep
To climb this tower of shame
But the hour's still the same
Only madness knows my name
At 4 o'Clock
4 o'Clock
4 o'Clock
Never let me sleep
I close my eyes and pray
For the garish light of day
Like a frightened child I run
From the sleep that never comes
4 o'Clock
4 o'Clock
Out of bed I creep
To climb this tower of shame
But the hour's still the same
Only madness knows my name
At 4 o'Clock
Why can we never go back to bed?
Whose is the voice ringing in my head?
Where is the sense in these desperate dreams?
Why should I wake when I'm half past dead?
Sure as the clock keeps its steady chime
Weak as I walk to its steady rhyme
Ticking away from the ones we love
So many girls, so little time
Why can we never go back to bed?
Whose is the voice ringing in my head?
Where is the sense in these desperate dreams?
Why should I wake when I'm half past dead?
4 o'Clock
4 o'Clock
Never let me sleep
I close my eyes and pray
For the garish light of day
Like a frightened child I run
From the sleep that never comes
4 o'Clock
4 o'Clock
Out of bed I creep
To climb this tower of shame
But the hour's still the same
Only slumber never came
Only madness knows my name
At 4 o'Clock
Why can we never go back to bed?
Whose is the voice ringing in my head?
Where is the sense in these desperate dreams?
Why should I wake when I'm half past dead?
Sure as the clock keeps its steady chime
Weak as I walk to its steady rhyme
Ticking away from the ones we love
So many girls, so little time
Why can we never go back to bed?
Lyrics submitted by Annaconda
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If you listen to this song on wingedzephyr's video of it on youtube, and look at the comments, people are saying things about 4 o'clock being the time that the Asylum girls wake up... I have no idea though XD
The line "Why should I wake when I'm half past dead?" is just awesome. I think this song's about some kind of disorder. "Only madness knows my name". That might be referring to, well, someone that's going insane? : < ... and want to sleep, to forget the whole thing, but at the same time she doesn't want to?
lol. I can't seem to say what I really want to in English, this is ridiculous.
"I dont sleep...I wish I was joking..there is something very common with manic depression where one wakes up every boomin night at 4am and simply cannot return to slumber...its not cool..."-Emilie Autumn
So the song is pretty much waking up in the middle of the night and you can't get back to sleep. Easy
What she was trying to explain in this song are her struggles with insomnia. No matter when she went to sleep, she would always wake up at 4 o'clock.
Love this song. I think it means a person that have insomnia or have trouble sleeping and most likely have some mental disorder. "Never let me sleep. I close my eyes and pary. For the garish light of day, like a frightened child I run. From the sleep that never comes" I think that means the person in begging for some sleep, and the person is afraid to maybe even sleep. So I personally think it's talking about herself going crazy from lack of sleep and mania depression. I am bi-polar so I get this song. After a while it feels hopeless and the voices usually gets to you after a while. It's the mania part of the polar sides
@LadyLuck1282 Bipolar disorder dose not normally have auditory hallucinations, and only very extreme cases of insomnia experience them. The most commonly referred case that deals with voices is Schizophrenia and it really depends on how involved they are with your daily life and how 'conscious' they seem to be about you. If you are hearing voices, depending on how negative they are, you shoud get some help but only if it's really effecting your daily life. <br /> I hear that bipolar is becoming more popular here in the states, I myself am at high risk of depression due to my heredity, and I really commend Autmn for show casing them in very I tresting time pieces that show that these disorders have been around for hundreds, perhaps thousands of years and we are only now becoming more aware of them. It's making me become more interested in the human mind with every tick of the clock! XD
That's what I heard too... Ha ha. Either that or its about how someone can't go back to sleep at night when they want to... D:
I believe it's about Emilie's insomnia.
No wait, I actualy think it's that 4 o'clock is the time most with bipolar disorder wake up and do odd things. Or so I heard.
"Like a frightened child I run From the sleep that never comes" and "Where is the sense in these desperate dreams?" give me the impression the song's about someone who doesn't want to sleep from fear of her nightmares. It also really reminds me of Phantom of the Opera. Mostly the sound of it, not lyrically. except for "the garish light of day".
I agree about the Phantom of the Opera bit. I thought the same exact thing! Lol
reminds me of those nights i can't sleep... i lay there listening to the clock tick all night. then when/if i do get to sleep i have nightmares 9 times out of ten