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.
(Whoa)
I thought
I was cool
But I just
Looked a fool for so long
Now you're gone
Now you're gone
Yeah
Don't speak to me
Don't speak to me, yeah
I recall
All the fights
Most of all
All the times you would lie
In my arms
Now you're gone
You're gone
Yeah
Don't speak to me
Don't be my aim
There's a lot that you don't notice
When you read between the lines
The future's out of focus
When you're blinded by the light
It's the hope for all the hopeless
In the worst of trying times
I resort to being speechless
'Cause our love won't survive, yeah
Our love won't survive
Don't speak a word
Don't speak to me
Don't speak to me, yeah
There's a lot that you don't notice
When you read between the lines
The future's out of focus
When you're blinded by the light
It's the hope for all the hopeless
(Hope for all the hopeless)
In the worst of trying times
(Worst of trying times)
I resort to being speechless
'Cause our love won't survive
I thought
I was cool
But I just
Looked a fool for so long
Now you're gone
Now you're gone
Yeah
Don't speak to me
Don't speak to me, yeah
I recall
All the fights
Most of all
All the times you would lie
In my arms
Now you're gone
You're gone
Yeah
Don't speak to me
Don't be my aim
There's a lot that you don't notice
When you read between the lines
The future's out of focus
When you're blinded by the light
It's the hope for all the hopeless
In the worst of trying times
I resort to being speechless
'Cause our love won't survive, yeah
Our love won't survive
Don't speak a word
Don't speak to me
Don't speak to me, yeah
There's a lot that you don't notice
When you read between the lines
The future's out of focus
When you're blinded by the light
It's the hope for all the hopeless
(Hope for all the hopeless)
In the worst of trying times
(Worst of trying times)
I resort to being speechless
'Cause our love won't survive
Lyrics submitted by thoseguiltyeyes
Don't Speak Lyrics as written by Joseph Jonas Nicholas Jonas
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Walt Disney Music Company, Hipgnosis Songs Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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i love this song so much. i really don't know what it is about this song, but it just sounds great.
it means a lot in a few words, you know?
it's about a relationship he's looking back upon that can't be fixed anymore. he wanted it to be better, but it's ended poorly.
This is probably my favorite song on the album even though I love all the songs! The way it's sung is pretty different than anything i've heard.
Anyway, this song is about someone who's been in a relationship with someone else and they are having a really hard time expressing their feelings, so they don't. ("There's a lot that you don't notice when you read between the lines") so they get into fights a lot. And then it's kind of like you just realize how you were played like a fool the entire relationship and you just get so upset that you don't ever want to talk to them again, hence "dont speak to me"
At least thats how I interpreted the song.
I can't believe this song only has two comments! Anyway, Brilliant tune, really nice lyrics, those above have basically interpreted for you
I think this song is about when the singer is taking their partner for granted and when they try to tell the singer what they feel, the singer isn't really listening to them - "There's a lot that you don't notice when you read between the lines." Usually when a person reads between the lines they notice more, but I think they've used this line to say that they were so focused on looking for things that were probably not even there, they missed the things that their partner was actually saying and doing.
This then leads to a lot of fighting in the relationship where the singer still isn't hearing what their partner is actually saying because they're still looking for signals and messages that aren't there.
Eventually their partner becomes distant and talks their feelings out with other people instead of the singer. The singer is hurt by this and finally realises how they were behaving - "I thought I was cool, but I just looked a fool for so long, now you're gone."
The singer is angry at themselves and takes that out on the partner when they try to fix the problems in their relationship - "Don't speak to me. Don't speak to me"
This damages the relationship further and the singer comes to the realisation that there's no point in trying to fix things because their relationship is too broken - "I resort to being speechless because our love won't survive."