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 haunted a basketmaker's shop.
Spending days ripping pictures from magazines,
taping them to the walls of my prison.
I remember walking by the sand,
each knob represented a different frequency range,
and I remember holding the hand of the skeleton prince
and he swept me into his arms, and he,
he had tremolo deep in the back of his black eye sockets, and he said,
"Do you want to come away with me into the pitch black pool?"
And I said, "I don't know, I don't know, I don't know..."
Photocopied
The wind ripped through the trees and all the
stained-glass windows rattled.
I haunted a basketmaker's shop in 1927 -
And on the beach in the summer there were thunderstorms constantly,
and they were unpredictable, nobody knew when they would come
and nobody knew how long they'd last.
Sometimes they'd only last five minutes, and sometimes, weeks.
I haunted a basketmaker's shop because I had nowhere to go
(one long weekend)
Stained-glass windows turning off and on and the tremolo
in the back dark corners,
cobwebs stripped, mildewed.
I remember acoustic guitars and bells, I remember the cathedral.
I remember cassettes, cathedral.
I remember cassette cathedral.
I remember cassette cathedral.
Spending days ripping pictures from magazines,
taping them to the walls of my prison.
I remember walking by the sand,
each knob represented a different frequency range,
and I remember holding the hand of the skeleton prince
and he swept me into his arms, and he,
he had tremolo deep in the back of his black eye sockets, and he said,
"Do you want to come away with me into the pitch black pool?"
And I said, "I don't know, I don't know, I don't know..."
Photocopied
The wind ripped through the trees and all the
stained-glass windows rattled.
I haunted a basketmaker's shop in 1927 -
And on the beach in the summer there were thunderstorms constantly,
and they were unpredictable, nobody knew when they would come
and nobody knew how long they'd last.
Sometimes they'd only last five minutes, and sometimes, weeks.
I haunted a basketmaker's shop because I had nowhere to go
(one long weekend)
Stained-glass windows turning off and on and the tremolo
in the back dark corners,
cobwebs stripped, mildewed.
I remember acoustic guitars and bells, I remember the cathedral.
I remember cassettes, cathedral.
I remember cassette cathedral.
I remember cassette cathedral.
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I feel his pain and fear when he says: I don't know, I don't know, I don't know
haunted by memories that aren't real. "taping them to the walls of my prison" i remember this all too well.
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