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.
One-two-three-four-five... four, three, two, one
When I get back from hell again
I'm gonna be so elegant
The relevance of my benevolence is evident
I'm sentimental
Oh no, I mean I'm said to be mental
When I don't get what I want
I find it's hard just to be gentle
Gentle? The rental of some self control
When you lose your mind
Is when you start to find your soul unfold
This morning when I woke up
All the thoughts that I had just broke up
Broken fragments of my dreams left me choked up
Distant memories I'd repressed all spoke up
Oooh fuck!
This was something that I wasn't expecting
My dreams solidified and started asking me questions
And the deeper I looked into their hate-filled eyes
I realised they were you, only in disguise
So I jumped to my feet
How the fuck did I become so weak?
Too soon did I admit defeat
I grabbed a pen and start writing to the beat
And I wrote:
When I get back from hell again
I'm gonna be so elegant
The relevance of my benevolence is everything
As time went by
I realised you can't just drop out
But I'm telling you man
It's hard to block out
The sound that rebounds and resounds
And resounds again
Off the walls of my mind
'cause I miss my... friend
But now I'm on a mission to mend
Everything that broke and make it glisten again
Strip down redesign construct and improve
While the rest procrastinate I'll be making my move
I hope in years to come I've elevated
But chances are I'll be inebriated
But that's cool
As long as my mind ain't sedated
And the things that I've learned
Haven't been erased and wasted
When you forget about the hand you're dealt
All that really matters is the things you've felt
So fuck it, bring on the good and bad times
If rapping don't work I'll start a band of mimes
When you forget about the hand you're dealt
All that really matters is the things you've felt
So fuck it, bring on the good and bad times
If rapping don't work I'll start a band of mimes
When I get back from hell again
I'm gonna be so elegant
The relevance of my benevolence is evident
When I get back from hell again
I'm gonna be so elegant
The relevance of my benevolence is evident
I'm sentimental
Oh no, I mean I'm said to be mental
When I don't get what I want
I find it's hard just to be gentle
Gentle? The rental of some self control
When you lose your mind
Is when you start to find your soul unfold
This morning when I woke up
All the thoughts that I had just broke up
Broken fragments of my dreams left me choked up
Distant memories I'd repressed all spoke up
Oooh fuck!
This was something that I wasn't expecting
My dreams solidified and started asking me questions
And the deeper I looked into their hate-filled eyes
I realised they were you, only in disguise
So I jumped to my feet
How the fuck did I become so weak?
Too soon did I admit defeat
I grabbed a pen and start writing to the beat
And I wrote:
When I get back from hell again
I'm gonna be so elegant
The relevance of my benevolence is everything
As time went by
I realised you can't just drop out
But I'm telling you man
It's hard to block out
The sound that rebounds and resounds
And resounds again
Off the walls of my mind
'cause I miss my... friend
But now I'm on a mission to mend
Everything that broke and make it glisten again
Strip down redesign construct and improve
While the rest procrastinate I'll be making my move
I hope in years to come I've elevated
But chances are I'll be inebriated
But that's cool
As long as my mind ain't sedated
And the things that I've learned
Haven't been erased and wasted
When you forget about the hand you're dealt
All that really matters is the things you've felt
So fuck it, bring on the good and bad times
If rapping don't work I'll start a band of mimes
When you forget about the hand you're dealt
All that really matters is the things you've felt
So fuck it, bring on the good and bad times
If rapping don't work I'll start a band of mimes
When I get back from hell again
I'm gonna be so elegant
The relevance of my benevolence is evident
Lyrics submitted by stoneystoney
Back from Hell Lyrics as written by Daniel Stephens David Meads
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Songtrust Ave
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I think its about grieving over someone close to them who has died. their death has been a huge emotional blow and has lead to them suffering bad dreams (within which the dead friend appears to them) and general abnormalities that develop because of these issues. The second part of the song discusses the idea of improving yourself and getting better again - moving on from the grief. It then goes on to say that the most likely outcome of the current situation is that they will end up becoming an alcoholic, however they would prefer that to being sedated, i.e. being incarcerated in a mental institute. If the subject did end up in an institute they would then lose all that they had learnt as a result of their treatment, which is something they didnt want to consider. It talks about how if verbal communication fails, then a physical alternative is the way forward.
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I think the Chorus is basically saying, "just wait untill I've come through this, once this is over, I'm coming out the other side a better person, I'm going to beat this"