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.
howard melworm, you tried so hard to get your start
in the literary world but you couldn't make a mark,
all the people weren't prepared for what you had to say,
all the people were bastards anyway!
howard melworm, a modern day ibsen,
howard melworm, so full of conviction,
howard melworm, if you knew what you mean to me,
howard melworm, all your blues would be history.
howard melworm, a man with nerves of steel,
marginal relevance and reluctant sex appeal,
dedications to intellectual betters,
and casual acceptance of rejection letters.
howard melworm,
howard melworm,
howard melworm.
in the literary world but you couldn't make a mark,
all the people weren't prepared for what you had to say,
all the people were bastards anyway!
howard melworm, a modern day ibsen,
howard melworm, so full of conviction,
howard melworm, if you knew what you mean to me,
howard melworm, all your blues would be history.
howard melworm, a man with nerves of steel,
marginal relevance and reluctant sex appeal,
dedications to intellectual betters,
and casual acceptance of rejection letters.
howard melworm,
howard melworm,
howard melworm.
Lyrics submitted by DakotaFloyd
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Page
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There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
Well, first off, here's the way some of the things sound to me, at least:
"Howard Melworm, MY modern day Ibsen" ... "Howard Melworm, if you knew what you meanT to me," ... "Dedications to intellectual VENTURES"
But I could be crazy. I haven't back-checked any of that, it's just what I always heard and understood the song as.
Anyhow, I absolutely adore this song. I love it's tone, it's little double-tale, and especially it's sound. I admit that it's mostly the vocals that really carry this particular song, by which I mean to say that while nothing in this song is bad in any way, nothing else hits home quite as well as the lyrics (or maybe I am just (unapologetically) crazy). The overall sound of the vocals with the effects and the delivery strikes me as ridiculously appealing and charming. Either way, putting the rest of the band's sound with the vocals is, of course, something awesome. I secretly wish that Shinobu just always sounded more like this.
But I digress. The real meat of this song is the contents of its lyrics, believe it or not. To me, it seems the song is about one guy talking about how much he likes and looks up to another guy (Howard Melworm) whose time has already passed. While doing this, he gives a number of details about Howard Melworm himself, allowing the listener to come up with an understanding of, and the means to imagine, what Howard Melworm's life may have been like.
The really great part about all of this is that I think everyone can relate to that little slice of life. There are plenty of individuals from recent and not-so-recent times that, while they may have been ignored during their lifetime, are largely renowned by the populations of today. Many of us have our own old or small celebrities we look up to and admire, even if no one else does. Shinobu delivers me the greatest pleasure of presenting this small every-day nature that I usually don't take particular notice of in such a great way.
So, yeah, I guess it makes me feel all worm inside. Don't make me feel weird for it.