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 recall when I was small
How I spent my days alone
The busy world was not for me
So I went and found my own
I would climb the garden wall
With a candle in my hand
I'd hide inside a hall of rock and sand
On the stone an ancient hand
In a faded yellow-green
Made alive a worldly wonder
Often told but never seen
Now and ever bound to labor
On the sea and in the sky
Every man and beast appeared
A friend as real as I
[Chorus]
Before the fall when they wrote it on the wall
When there wasn't even any Hollywood
They heard the call
And they wrote it on the wall
For you and me we understood
Can it be this sad design
Could be the very same
A wooly man without a face
And a beast without a name
Nothin' here but history
Can you see what has been done
Memory rush over me
Now I step into the sun
[Chorus]
How I spent my days alone
The busy world was not for me
So I went and found my own
I would climb the garden wall
With a candle in my hand
I'd hide inside a hall of rock and sand
On the stone an ancient hand
In a faded yellow-green
Made alive a worldly wonder
Often told but never seen
Now and ever bound to labor
On the sea and in the sky
Every man and beast appeared
A friend as real as I
[Chorus]
Before the fall when they wrote it on the wall
When there wasn't even any Hollywood
They heard the call
And they wrote it on the wall
For you and me we understood
Can it be this sad design
Could be the very same
A wooly man without a face
And a beast without a name
Nothin' here but history
Can you see what has been done
Memory rush over me
Now I step into the sun
[Chorus]
Lyrics submitted by Nightvoice
The Caves of Altamira Lyrics as written by Walter Carl Becker Donald Jay Fagen
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fagan is using the Cave Paintings or Altamira as a metaphor for youth/ ancient man vs. adulthood/ modern man.
A young child in verse one - so young he didn't even know of the marvels of Hollywood movies - spent his time and imagination drawing pictures on the rocks with what is probably a crayon.
When he goes back as an adult he looks at the lost treasures of his young creation as 'sad designs'. But the memories rush upon him unexpectedly - like an physical reaction.
The chorus pulls it together - 'They heard the call and wrote it on the wall'. Who are 'They'? Prehistoric mankind? The children we were and are inside us? What "they wrote on the wall" conveys man's need to create and document his world around him. Or - as some anthropologist's could argue - the images that pop inside your head after being in a dark cave for a while. There is a connection between ancient and modern man that is made in art. That is Fagen's point. It's 'understood'.
Stepping into the sun is the movement into adulthood, the modern age.