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.
We had it all we were, young lovers, we were full of trust and faith
We were dead set on makin' it last forever, forever and a day.
I recall it was fall last year when, it started to die.
You standing still as the temperature kills, the summer's thrills that were keeping it alive.
The days got colder so I held you closer, in an effort to save us from time,
Almost like a wind came and ruined the spark and left us in the dark.
But hey, I coulda told you that I loved you and stayed,
Around to rekindle the fire but I was late,
On my return and now you've lost all faith.
And I am the liar,
I'm no longer what you require.
I still feel you at night, turning in the sheets when I turn out the light
That's how it goes, the ghost of your first love wont ever leave you til the day that you die
I wont ever live down leaving her behind even if the choice was the right one
It was a good thing staring me right in the face but I turned and ran away.
Hey, I coulda told you that I loved you and stayed,
Around to rekindle the fire but I was late
On my return and now you've lost all faith.
And I am the liar,
I'm no longer what you require.
Back then the days were so much faster,
We were young, stubborn, and in love with disaster.
You know you can't go back even if you try,
You better just forget her won't you close the door on me
Cause it'll never be the same
It'll never be the way it was before
Well hey, I coulda told you that I loved you and stayed,
Around to rekindle the fire but I was late,
On my return and so you've lost all faith.
And I am the liar,
Oh hey- I woulda told you that I loved you and stayed
Around to rekindle the fire but I was late
On my return and now you've lost all faith.
In the dying light, I'm no longer what you require.
I'm no longer what you require
No longer
We were dead set on makin' it last forever, forever and a day.
I recall it was fall last year when, it started to die.
You standing still as the temperature kills, the summer's thrills that were keeping it alive.
The days got colder so I held you closer, in an effort to save us from time,
Almost like a wind came and ruined the spark and left us in the dark.
But hey, I coulda told you that I loved you and stayed,
Around to rekindle the fire but I was late,
On my return and now you've lost all faith.
And I am the liar,
I'm no longer what you require.
I still feel you at night, turning in the sheets when I turn out the light
That's how it goes, the ghost of your first love wont ever leave you til the day that you die
I wont ever live down leaving her behind even if the choice was the right one
It was a good thing staring me right in the face but I turned and ran away.
Hey, I coulda told you that I loved you and stayed,
Around to rekindle the fire but I was late
On my return and now you've lost all faith.
And I am the liar,
I'm no longer what you require.
Back then the days were so much faster,
We were young, stubborn, and in love with disaster.
You know you can't go back even if you try,
You better just forget her won't you close the door on me
Cause it'll never be the same
It'll never be the way it was before
Well hey, I coulda told you that I loved you and stayed,
Around to rekindle the fire but I was late,
On my return and so you've lost all faith.
And I am the liar,
Oh hey- I woulda told you that I loved you and stayed
Around to rekindle the fire but I was late
On my return and now you've lost all faith.
In the dying light, I'm no longer what you require.
I'm no longer what you require
No longer
Lyrics submitted by ghostafteryou45, edited by Devilsbane
No Longer What You Require Lyrics as written by Stephen William Fiore Howie Day
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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i hate that there aren't more comments on this song, because it is SO amazing, but i think the commenter before me is pretty much right. the only thing i'm not sure of is that the leaving wasn't by choice. i think when he talks about when he left, i think it's because he was scared of the love turning into what it was, and just ran, and then by being "late" on his return, i think it's because he had been gone so long that she had moved on.
the great thing about this song, is that it's happened to us all, whether we were the one running from someone or someone ran from us. it's very relatable, but not cliche and overdone like so many songs are about this kind of thing. i loveee howie day! :)
You're right. We have all been there, and despite how different situations can be, the feeling is always the same and I can easily see relating it to whichever circumstance you happen to be in.<br /> <br /> For me, its drifting apart. I was with a girl and we drifted apart to the point that she cheated. I could have easily told her that I loved her and stayed to rekindle our fire, but I didn't. I let it go (as did she)<br /> <br /> "Back then the days were so much faster,<br /> we were young stubborn and in love with disaster."<br /> <br /> I just love this line. Young and stubborn, that described us perfectly. The disaster part makes me wonder if perhaps the people in the song just weren't right for each other. The days always seem so much faster when you're living them. For me, months of our relationship problems seemed to just go by. And after its over (hind sight is 20-20) you wonder how you missed all the signals and didn't react to the circumstance. It is all too easy for a bad day to turn into a bad week and then a bad month and then a bad year.<br /> <br /> <br /> The greatest and yet possibly worst thing about this song is the obscurity of it. I stumbled upon it by chance on youtube because I'm a Howie Day fan. But 99.9% of the world don't know what beauty they are missing. But at the same time, I would hate to see pop culture ruin this song like what happened to "somebody that you used to know".<br /> <br /> And by the way, while the album version of this song is good, my favorite is still the live version from Mix 106.5. youtube.com/watch Perhaps because that is how I first heard the song, but I like it better because it has so much more emotion than the recorded version. The album version has some nice effects too, but the emotion really does it for me. A good song is a good song anyway you look at it.
and yes the lyrics above are wrong.<br /> <br /> I also suggest the following lyric modification. Instead of "You better just forget it wont you close the door on me" I sing it "You better just forget her wont you close your eyes" Only reason being that eyes rhymes with try. Part of this is because of the live version that I first heard (and only heard until recently) doesn't have "on me" he just says door and drops off.