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.
A state of perfection, immersed in filth
Equilibrium obtained
Pure in devotion to all things unwell
This sweet Zen of our ill condition sustained
A new belief-system salvation found in vomit and blood
Where deprivation, lies, corruption, war and pain is god
Balance
Harmony found in the sickly, the vile
Unflinching eyes, joyous and gleaming
Intense in their need to watch things die
A new belief-system
Salvation found in vomit and blood
Where deprivation, lies
Corruption, war and pain is god
Decay
Disgrace
Disgust
Our state of Zen
The grime of contempt and degeneration
Sticky, foul and pungent
The sediment of our creation
We flourish in this blood-red soil
Equilibrium obtained
Pure in devotion to all things unwell
This sweet Zen of our ill condition sustained
A new belief-system salvation found in vomit and blood
Where deprivation, lies, corruption, war and pain is god
Balance
Harmony found in the sickly, the vile
Unflinching eyes, joyous and gleaming
Intense in their need to watch things die
A new belief-system
Salvation found in vomit and blood
Where deprivation, lies
Corruption, war and pain is god
Decay
Disgrace
Disgust
Our state of Zen
The grime of contempt and degeneration
Sticky, foul and pungent
The sediment of our creation
We flourish in this blood-red soil
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Light Up The Sky
Van Halen
Van Halen
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
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.
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
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.
Blue
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
Describes mankind as a pestilence on earth for its selfish well-being and it's unyielding commitment to consumption. Greed seems to be the main theme yet lumps everyone who breathes into the same category. There's probably a buddhist ideal that says humanity can live with much less by simply 'being' or living as is. I think this is the underlying motive for the song, saying that our current ideals can only be maintained through blood. Were literally working ourselves to death and killing anyone who gets in the way.
Well, i heard the interpretation before I've heard the song and read the lyrics, so it's pretty hard to come up with an interpretation of my own.
By the way, you haven't posted any interpretation. Mind coming up with one?
The protaganists mind was rewired by the evil god (an entity both god and hell (or void) in itself) and he is now a drone yet again, like the rest of humanity. Combustion has been forgotten.
I think this song is talking about how humanity has found it's zen in the obscure and obscene => ObZen! Fredrik Thordendal stated this in an interview.
Yes, that's Fredrik's interpretion. Now you mind coming up with one that's your own?
I might be kicking in an open door now but i guess this song har the same theme as Tools Vicarious. And to say that is has a certain meaning might be a little far fetched.. to me it's rather a reflection on the state of the world.
Ill try to give it a proper, full interpretation cuz this song deserves credits.
All people no matter how pretty or ugly have same needs and feelings, but some experience it in a wicked way. For example rapers, mass-murderers, or people who torture etc. find their need of ecstacy and output of adrenaline in their own sick way.
Put in simple, its the psychopath or wacko way of thinking, feeling perfect when doing things that we may find insane.
This track is a summary of the whole idea of the album. The other tracks are each examining aspects of this.
To me this is about humanity's addiction to violence, pain, and obscenities. It seems that these things evoke strong emotional and mental reactions in people, and there is a high associated with viewing it, almost like curing a feeling of persistent boredom.