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.
Trees will make a forest
Trees will make a bow
These are all the harder
Words you have to know
If everyone's a structure
Where their own savior sits
I'm a little red house
But no one's living in it
Cars are little blood cells
We are oxygen
City is the airways
Suburbs appendages
She was feeling lonely
Tired of the hive
Rented out a family
And he bought a bride
Bought a bride
Bought a bride
Bought a bride
Little cities' names on very lonely maps
They tied her up and laid her on the train tracks
Where are all the seedlings
We grew for violins?
Down in Jersey lumber
Still in prosthetic limbs
Should've been a soldier
I could've fought and died
There's no revolution
So I bought a bride
Bought a bride
Bought a bride
Bought a bride
Coming down the aisle while the horns play Taps
They tied her up and laid her on the train tracks
If somehow I was new and everything was unsaid
I'd go and buy a hammer, never sing again
Trees will make a bow
These are all the harder
Words you have to know
If everyone's a structure
Where their own savior sits
I'm a little red house
But no one's living in it
Cars are little blood cells
We are oxygen
City is the airways
Suburbs appendages
She was feeling lonely
Tired of the hive
Rented out a family
And he bought a bride
Bought a bride
Bought a bride
Bought a bride
Little cities' names on very lonely maps
They tied her up and laid her on the train tracks
Where are all the seedlings
We grew for violins?
Down in Jersey lumber
Still in prosthetic limbs
Should've been a soldier
I could've fought and died
There's no revolution
So I bought a bride
Bought a bride
Bought a bride
Bought a bride
Coming down the aisle while the horns play Taps
They tied her up and laid her on the train tracks
If somehow I was new and everything was unsaid
I'd go and buy a hammer, never sing again
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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Alright, my attempt (at the meaning, not individual lyrics). Don't hate, I'm not claiming to have any special knowledge, but I have listened to his song about 200 times.
Trees will make a forest Trees will make a bow These are all the harder Words you have to know If everyone's a structure Where their own savior sits I'm a little red house But no one's living in it
--Trees makes both good and bad things. --He has no savior, no faith.
Cars are little blood cells We are oxygen City is the airways Suburbs appendages She was feeling lonely Tired of the hive Rented out a family And he bought a bride Bought a bride Bought a bride Bought a bride
--The city is our lifeblood. She wanted something more than this. She rented out a family and bought a bride. The bride is the Church, perhaps, a rough Biblical reference to John saying Christ is the bride of the Church, or something like that. Thus this person went to Church and made new friends (renting them out by tithing, essentially - in a way, this is like paying for a group of supportive friends).
Little cities' names on very lonely maps They tied her up and laid her on the train tracks
--Little cities could be where all the Churches are? The Church members she "rented out" have not accepted her and laid her on the train tracks?
Where are all the seedlings We grew for violins? Down in Jersey lumber Still in prosthetic limbs Should've been a soldier I could've fought and died There's no revolution So I bought a bride Bought a bride Bought a bride Bought a bride
--All the good things we did for beauty and happiness (violins) have been misused for other tragic things (prosthetic limbs). He could have given his life meaning by fighting in a war and dieing for a noble cause, but there is no revolution, no cause, that is worth fighting for. Thus, he rented out a family and bought a bride (tithed and thus had new church friends)
Coming down the aisle while the horns play Taps They tied her up and laid her on the train tracks
--The marriage between himself and the church - his new way of life - is like, for better or worse, a death of his old self. Thats why the horns are playing taps, which are what play at a funeral (especially military funerals). Again, the church has killed the person (tied her up...).
If somehow I was new and everything was unsaid I'd go and buy a hammer, never sing again
--Not sure..a hammer to build something new (a new self?), never be this lonely person he has become?
Sleeping on a stairway Dreamt I had a boat Sailed it out the harbor Shot it full of holes Folded up my prayer book I couldn't see the lines Drowning in a kelp bed I bought a bride.
--Sleeping on a stairway - He is stuck between stages of life - belief and non-belief. --The rest (which is only in the Daisy Sessions version on Youtube), is confusing. I think he could be saying that he is drowning himself why holding on to a prayer book as a way of dieing and going to Heaven? Or perhaps he is drowning, and since he "couldn't see the lines," its more a rejection of faith...but I don't know what buying a bride would be..a new worship without a prayer book? More mystical in nature? Fuck, this song might be even be about religion at all.