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.
Both our families after gathering
We're cutting a baby out
With my grandmother's heirloom antler-handled carving knife
They were under her grand chandelier
Where we all, together, have shared holiday dinner
But it was your father that was holding the knife
Yeah, I begged you not to make me tell ya
Yeah, I pleaded with you to, to leave it alone
I told ya
I told you that you didn't want to know
What went on in my horrible dream
I was peering in through the picture window
It was a heart-warming tableau
Like a Norman Rockwell painting
Until I zoomed in
I was making noises in my sleep
But you wouldn't believe me when I told ya
That I wasn't with someone in my dream
Catfish were wriggling in blood and gore in the kitchen sink
Yeah, I told ya
I told ya
I told you
Now sweetie, please promise me
That you won't see
This sad song, grim augury
We're cutting a baby out
With my grandmother's heirloom antler-handled carving knife
They were under her grand chandelier
Where we all, together, have shared holiday dinner
But it was your father that was holding the knife
Yeah, I begged you not to make me tell ya
Yeah, I pleaded with you to, to leave it alone
I told ya
I told you that you didn't want to know
What went on in my horrible dream
I was peering in through the picture window
It was a heart-warming tableau
Like a Norman Rockwell painting
Until I zoomed in
I was making noises in my sleep
But you wouldn't believe me when I told ya
That I wasn't with someone in my dream
Catfish were wriggling in blood and gore in the kitchen sink
Yeah, I told ya
I told ya
I told you
Now sweetie, please promise me
That you won't see
This sad song, grim augury
Lyrics submitted by ButtercupSaiyan
Grim Augury Lyrics as written by Mark Linkous Brian Joseph Burton
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
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A man awakes from a nightmare. His wife accuses him of "being with someone" during the dream but he denies this. He begs her not to make him tell her what the dream is but she forces him. In this dream, he was peering through the picture window of his grandmother's home into her dining room. Both the narrator's and his wife's families were present. For the narrator, this at first seems heartwarming and pleasant, until he "zooms in" and realized what is going on. In this dream, his wife is pregnant (it is unknown if this is also true in real life) and is apparently restrained or otherwise unable to defend herself while lying on the dining room table. The wife's father is holding the husband's grandmother's heirloom antler-handled carving knife, "for cutting the baby out". The implied violence is fleshed out in the line "Catfish were wriggling in blood and gore in the kitchen sink!"... At the song's conclusion the husband tells his wife not to take this dream as some "grim augury" of what is to come in the future, which dubiously implies that she is, in fact, pregnant.